Between 2002 & 2013 statin use in the US nearly doubled, cholesterol levels are falling, yet cardiovascular deaths appear to be on the rise; statin usage may lead to unhealthy behaviours that may actually increase risks

Hit or miss: the new cholesterol targets. Robert DuBroff, Aseem Malhotra, Michel de Lorgeril. BMJ Evidece-Based Medicine, Aug 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111413

Abstract: Drug treatment to reduce cholesterol to new target levels is now recommended in four moderate- to high-risk patient populations: patients who have already sustained a cardiovascular event, adult diabetic patients, individuals with low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels ≥190 mg/dL and individuals with an estimated 10-year cardiovascular risk ≥7.5%. Achieving these cholesterol target levels did not confer any additional benefit in a systematic review of 35 randomised controlled trials. Recommending cholesterol lowering treatment based on estimated cardiovascular risk fails to identify many high-risk patients and may lead to unnecessary treatment of low-risk individuals. The negative results of numerous cholesterol lowering randomised controlled trials call into question the validity of using low density lipoprotein cholesterol as a surrogate target for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

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What to do now

Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. Between 2002 and 2013 statin use in the US nearly doubled, cholesterol levels are falling, yet cardiovascular deaths appear to be on the rise.30 31 In Sweden, recent widespread and increasing utilisation of statins did not correlate with any significant reduction in acute myocardial infarction or mortality, while in Belgium a very modest reduction in cardiovascular events was reported between 1999 and 2005, but primarily in elderly individuals not taking statins.32 33 These population studies suggest that, despite the widespread use of statins, there has been no accompanying decline in the risk of cardiovascular events or cardiovascular mortality. In fact, there is some evidence that statin usage may lead to unhealthy behaviours that may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.34 35 The evidence presented in this analysis adds to the chorus that challenges our current approach to cardiovascular disease prevention through targeted reductions of LDL-C. Given the lack of clarity on how best to prevent cardiovascular disease, we encourage informed decision-making. Ideally, this includes a discussion of absolute risk reduction and/or number needed to treat at an individual patient level in addition to reviewing the potential benefits and harms of any intervention.

Exploring the Roles of Conformity, Hazard, & Convenience in Risk Mitigation Decisions: An Observational Study of Helmet Use Among Bicyclists and E-scooter Riders in Los Angeles During Two Natural Experiments

Sparks, Adam M., Daniel M. Fessler, and Marlee Zinsser. 2019. “Exploring the Roles of Conformity, Hazard, and Convenience in Risk Mitigation Decisions: An Observational Study of Helmet Use Among Bicyclists and E-scooter Riders in Los Angeles During Two Natural Experiments.” PsyArXiv. October 7. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gspbm

Abstract: Despite the protection offered by bicycle helmets, their use varies substantially across populations of riders. Building on previous efforts to understand helmet use as reflecting tradeoffs between convenience and safety, we explore whether helmet use is influenced by conformity, that is, by a preference to make the same helmet use decision as other riders. If so, an experiment introducing more riders with or without helmets in a specific location might shift helmet use patterns among other nearby riders. We conducted an observational study of helmet use over eight months at five locations across two university campuses in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. During this time, a bikeshare program and electronic scooter rental services were introduced in the local area. The low use of helmets among riders of these vehicles allow us to treat these as natural experiments testing the conformity hypothesis. Corresponding to the sudden appearance of numerous helmetless e-scooter riders, helmet use declined among riders of ordinary bicycles at the more hazardous study locations, a pattern we cautiously interpret as consistent with a conformity preference among ordinary cyclists traveling long distances along city streets among helmetless e-scooter riders. At the safer locations, helmet use rates increased among ordinary cyclists, which we suggest was driven by vehicle selection decisions, with the most convenience-oriented riders preferring to use e-scooters, leaving a more safety-oriented population of ordinary cyclists. The possibility that social conformity may influence risk mitigation decisions has important implications for designing and measuring the impact of public health interventions. Also of note are are empirical demonstrations that helmet use patterns can vary substantially across seemingly similar populations and over short periods of time

Moral Psychology and Artificial Agents (part 1): Ontologically Categorizing Bio-cultural Humans

Laakasuo, Michael, Anton Berg, Jukka Sundvall, Marianna Drosinou, Volo Herzon, Anton Kunnari, Mika Koverola, et al. 2020. “Moral Psychology and Artificial Agents (part 1): Ontologically Categorizing Bio-cultural Humans.” PsyArXiv. August 19. http://osf.io/29bsp

Abstract: In this chapter, we will provide theoretical background of discussion on issues related to AIs. Some of the main topics, theories and frameworks are mind perception and moral cognition, moral psychology, evolutionary psychology, trans-humanism and ontological categories shaped by evolution.



Pre-print of:
Laakasuo et al. (in press). Moral Psychology and Artificial Agents (Part 1): Ontologically
Categorizing Bio-Cultural Humans. Machine Law, Ethics and Morality in the Age of
Artificial Intelligence. Steven Thompson (ed). New York: Igi Global.

The continued influence effect refers to continuing to rely on misinformation in their reasoning even if the information has been retracted; study of impact of retraction source credibility on this effect

Ecker, Ullrich K. H., and Luke Antonio. 2020. “Can You Believe It? an Investigation into the Impact of Retraction Source Credibility on the Continued Influence Effect.” PsyArXiv. August 20

Abstract: The continued influence effect refers to the finding that people often continue to rely on misinformation in their reasoning even if the information has been retracted. The present study aimed to investigate the extent to which the effectiveness of a retraction is determined by its credibility. In particular, we aimed to scrutinize previous findings suggesting that perceived trustworthiness but not perceived expertise of the retraction source determines a retraction’s effectiveness, and that continued influence arises only if a retraction is not believed. In two experiments, we found that indeed source trustworthiness but not source expertise influences retraction effectiveness, with retractions from low-trustworthiness sources entirely ineffective. We also found that retraction belief is indeed a predictor of continued reliance on misinformation, but that substantial continued influence effects can still occur with retractions designed to be and rated as highly credible.

Consumers’ associations, perceptions and acceptance of meat and plant-based meat alternatives: While meat is being associated with positive terms, meat alternatives were viewed more negatively

Consumers’ associations, perceptions and acceptance of meat and plant-based meat alternatives. Fabienne Michel, Christina Hartmann, Michael Siegrist. Food Quality and Preference, August 20 2020, 104063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.104063

Highlights
• Meat alternatives are associated with “tofu,” “vegan and vegetarian,” as well as “disgust.”
• Meat alternatives are similarly perceived to their processed meat counterparts.
• Eating meat alternatives is perceived to be more appropriate in informal situations.
• Meat alternatives similar to processed meat have the best chance to replace meat.

Abstract: The consumption of meat contributes significantly to undesirable effects on the environment. In order to reduce the impact of animal husbandry, one approach is to decrease meat consumption by substituting plant-based meat alternatives. Because the consumption of such meat alternatives is currently rather low, the aim of this research was to identify the barriers that keep people from consuming meat alternatives and increase the probability of future consumption. This was accomplished by exploring free associations people have towards meat and meat alternatives, comparing selected meat products with their respective meat alternatives using the semantic differential, and studying the perceived appropriateness of eating meat alternatives in different consumption situations. To achieve these objectives, we carried out an online survey with participants from Germany (N=1039). Our results suggest that while meat is being associated with positive terms, meat alternatives were viewed more negatively. The previous findings that meat alternatives should be similar to meat with regard to taste, texture, and ease of preparation were confirmed. Results from the direct comparison of meat with corresponding meat alternatives indicate that meat alternatives are similarly perceived to their processed meat counterparts. Regarding different consumption situations, our results show that eating meat alternatives is perceived to be more appropriate in situations where one eats alone or with family and friends. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that meat alternatives have the best chance of successfully replacing meat when they closely resemble highly processed meat products in taste and texture and are offered at competitive prices. The recommendation for producers of meat alternatives is thus to focus on replicating processed meat products instead of trying to imitate meat cuts such as steak or escalope.

Keywords: meatmeat alternativesmeat replacementsmeat substitutesvegetarianveganplant-based

Sex Disparities in Psychiatric and Neurodegenerative Disorders: Insights from Large-scale Neuroimaging

Salminen, Lauren, Meral Tubi, Joanna Bright, and Paul Thompson. 2020. “Sex Disparities in Psychiatric and Neurodegenerative Disorders: Insights from Large-scale Neuroimaging.” PsyArXiv. August 17. doi:10.31234/osf.io/m59dg

Abstract: Sex differences are found in the incidence and expression of psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions, and many studies suggest these differences are influenced by innate biological differences between males and females and risk factors that interact with these differences. However, few studies have used neuroimaging to examine brain signatures of disease separately by sex, and many studies of sex differences have been based on small samples and their findings have not been replicated in larger cohorts. Large-scale neuroimaging initiatives such as the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analyses (ENIGMA) consortium, the UK Biobank, Human Connectome Project, and others offer an unprecedented source of power to address important questions about the role of sex as a risk or protective factor for suboptimal brain health, as well as sex-specific neuroimaging phenotypes in brain-related illnesses. Here we review the existing neuroimaging literature on sex differences in the human brain in healthy adults and those with the most common and debilitating psychiatric and age-related neurodegenerative conditions. Finally, we discuss key gaps in this literature and opportunities of large-scale collaborative efforts to identify, characterize, and explain how biological sex influences the human brain in health and disease.

I'm Simply the Best, Better Than All the Rest - Narcissistic Leaders and Corporate Fundraising Success

Gruda, Dritjon, Jim McCleskey, Dimitra Karanatsiou, and Athena Vakali. 2020. “I'm Simply the Best, Better Than All the Rest - Narcissistic Leaders and Corporate Fundraising Success.” PsyArXiv. August 17. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110317

Abstract: We examine the relationship between leader grandiose narcissism, composed of admiration and rivalry, and corporate fundraising success in a sample of 2377 organizational leaders. To examine a large sample of leaders, we applied a machine-learning algorithm to predict leaders' personality scores based on leaders' Twitter profiles. We found that admiration was positively related to - while rivalry was negatively related to corporate fundraising success (in '000s). Analyses also showed that leader gender does not moderate this relationship, unlike initially expected. We discuss and compare our findings to previous work on narcissism and crowdfunding.

Interventions intended to reduce beliefs in climate change had much stronger effect than interventions to increase beliefs; we might tend to cling to information that gives us hope, downplaying the consequences

Rode, Jacob B., Amy Dent, Caitlin N. Benedict, Daniel B. Brosnahan, Ramona L. Martinez, and Peter Ditto. 2020. “Influencing Climate Change Attitudes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” OSF Preprints. August 20. doi:10.31219/osf.io/bjen5

Abstract: Researchers interested in climate change communication have investigated how people respond to messages about it. Through meta-analysis, the current research synthesizes the multitude of experimental studies on this topic to uncover which interventions are most effective at influencing attitudes about climate change. The meta-analysis focuses on experimental studies that included a control condition and measured climate change attitudes among participants in the United States. After a large literature search, 396 effect sizes were retrieved from 76 independent experiments (N = 76,054 participants). Intervention had a small, significant positive effect on attitudes, g = 0.08, 95% CI [0.06, 0.10], p < .001. Surprisingly, type of intervention was not a statistically significant moderator of this effect, nor was political affiliation. However, type of attitude was a significant moderator: the treatment-control difference in attitudes was smaller for policy support than for belief in climate change, indicating that policy attitudes are more resistant to influence than belief in climate change. Other moderators and publication bias were also tested. We conclude with policy implications and recommendations for future research.


Policy Support is Difficult to Influence

Our results indicate that climate change belief is much easier to influence than support for climate change policy. Unfortunately, policy support is arguably more important than belief with belief often seen as only instrumentally important to drive support for climate policies. Even if interventions were not effective for beliefs, meaningfully moving the dial in policy support would produce important implications for policymakers. For example, P. S. Hart and Feldman (2018) found that people were more receptive to policy when it was framed around air pollution rather than climate change, suggesting that there may be ways to garner policy support among climate skeptics without changing their minds about the existence of climate change. Although it is difficult to sway policy attitudes, there may be ways to influence policy support without first changing belief in climate change. Targeted interventions for specific policies may be articularly effective for meaningful climate action (e.g., highlighting policy effectiveness; Reynolds et al., 2020).


Future Directions

Future research should examine how and why attitudes about climate change are more sensitive to negative than positive messages about it. Moreover, future research could examine ways of offsetting this increased malleability to skeptical messages about climate change. Doing so would reduce the potential for increased uncertainty around climate science that so often sparks skepticism (e.g., Dunlap & Jacques, 2013).
In addition, our findings indicate that interventions were more effective if they were conducted in samples with a higher percentage of participants identifying as female and that attitude phrasing interacted with political affiliation. While we did not develop predictions about gender or attitude phrasing, the results may spark interest in future primary research on the topics. For example, a substantial body of research has investigated gender differences in environmental concern (e.g., Bloodhart & Swim, 2020; McCright, 2010). Future research could continue to investigate not only gender differences in climate change beliefs but also in differential response to interventions. In addition, we found that interventions were slightly more effective for conservatives when they used the term “global warming” than “climate change” (with the opposite pattern for liberals and moderates). These results add to a growing body of work on this topic (e.g., Soutter & Mõttus, 2020) and pose a new way of studying responses to the terms, namely comparing if interventions are differentially effective between them.
Our findings also suggest that research should investigate ways of making climate policy palatable. For example, previous research shows that avoiding the term “tax” is useful for garnering policy support (Hardisty et al., 2010, 2019). Additionally, framing policy as being supported by the ingroup may increase support, although findings using this strategy are somewhat mixed (Bolsen et al., 2019b; Fielding et al., 2020; Zhou, 2016). Future research should continue to focus on policy support as an intervention outcome (for a review, see Kyselá et al., 2019) and consider testing different types of policy support (e.g., word framing) along with the effectiveness of different types of interventions (e.g., ingroup support) on these more nuanced aspects of policy support.
Finally, the current meta-analysis is one of the first to organize the varied interventions on climate change attitudes into specific categories. While other unnamed categories of interventions may remain, future research could build upon past work in the same category identified in this project to help facilitate future attempts to integrate and reconcile this growing -- and potentially fracturing -- area of research.

The Dark Side of Morality: Neural Mechanisms Underpinning Moral Convictions and Support for Violence

Workman, Clifford I., Keith J. Yoder, and Jean Decety. 2020. “The Dark Side of Morality: Neural Mechanisms Underpinning Moral Convictions and Support for Violence.” PsyArXiv. August 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/t69w4

Abstract: People are motivated by shared social values that, when held with moral conviction, can serve as compelling mandates capable of facilitating support for ideological violence. The current study examined this dark side of morality by identifying specific cognitive and neural mechanisms associated with beliefs about the appropriateness of sociopolitical violence, and determining the extent to which the engagement of these mechanisms was predicted by moral convictions. Participants reported their moral convictions about a variety of sociopolitical issues prior to undergoing functional MRI scanning. During scanning, they were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of violent protests that were ostensibly congruent or incongruent with their views about sociopolitical issues. Complementary univariate and multivariate analytical strategies comparing neural responses to congruent and incongruent violence identified neural mechanisms implicated in processing salience and in the encoding of subjective value. As predicted, neuro-hemodynamic response was modulated parametrically by individuals’ beliefs about the appropriateness of congruent relative to incongruent sociopolitical violence in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and by moral conviction in ventral striatum. Overall moral conviction was predicted by neural response to congruent relative to incongruent violence in amygdala. Together, these findings indicate that moral conviction about sociopolitical issues serves to increase their subjective value, overriding natural aversion to interpersonal harm.

Conclusion
Sociopolitical beliefs, when held with moral conviction, can license violence in service of those beliefs despite ordinarily being morally prohibited. This study characterized the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning moral convictions about sociopolitical issues and beliefs about the appropriateness of ideological violence. Believing violence to be appropriate was associated with parametric increases in vmPFC, while stronger moral conviction was associated with parametric increases in VS and, overall, correlated negatively with activation in amygdala. Together, these findings indicate that moral convictions about sociopolitical issues may raise their subjective value, overriding our natural aversion to interpersonal harm. Value-based decision-making in social contexts provides a powerful platform for understanding sociopolitical and moral decision-making. Disentangling the neurocognitive mechanisms fundamental to value and choice can reveal—at a granular level—physiological boundaries that ultimately constrain our moral psychologies. The theoretical advances afforded by such an undertaking enable more accurate predictions about moral conviction and its impact on social decision-making.

Check also John Villasenor's Views among college students regarding the First Amendment: Results from a new survey. Brookings, September 18, 2017. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/09/18/views-among-college-students-regarding-the-first-amendment-results-from-a-new-survey/

[...] a surprisingly large fraction of students believe it is acceptable to act—including resorting to violence—to shut down expression they consider offensive. And a majority of students appear to want an environment that shields them from being exposed to views they might find offensive.

Despite its apparent intuitiveness and widespread interest from across various fields, ‘effort’ is a variable that seems difficult to define; this article consider & define ‘effort’ during task performance

Steele, James. 2020. “What Is (perception Of) Effort? Objective and Subjective Effort During Task Performance.” PsyArXiv. June 6. doi:10.31234/osf.io/kbyhm

Abstract: Despite its apparent intuitiveness and widespread interest from across various fields, ‘effort’ is a variable that seems difficult to define. The purpose of this article is to consider and define ‘effort’ during task performance. In doing so I argue for a distinction between the actual effort (objective effort) required, and the perception of that effort (subjective effort), during intentional performance of tasks. I adopt a set theoretical approach to defining both actual effort and the perception of effort as both constructs and concepts. Further, I aim to present discussion and definitions that are agnostic of the specific task demands being performed (i.e. physical, cognitive, self-control, or a combination of task demands). Throughout, I attempt to draw upon and synthesise thoughts and ideas from across a multitude of disciplines (though note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive interdisciplinary review), engage in considerable armchair philosophising, and also offer what small insights I have from my own experience both as someone experiencing ‘effort’, and as a third-person observer investigating it. This work is intended to, at the very least, make my own current conceptualisation and understanding of ‘effort’ transparent to other researchers, and aid in the interpretation of any subsequent empirical work on the topic. Further, I hope that it might be of use to researchers from the various fields interested in this topic, and assist in fostering opportunities for integration of learnings across disciplines. It is my intention for this work to support further understanding of the role of ‘effort’ and its perception from a broad scientific perspective.

Adopted Children with Lesbian, Gay, & Heterosexual Parents: Children & parents alike generally demonstrated a gender-conforming presentation; also no difference by parental orientation in children’s reports of friendship quality

Longitudinal Gender Presentation and Associated Outcomes Among Adopted Children with Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Parents. Samuel T. Bruun & Rachel H. Farr. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, Aug 18 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/1550428X.2020.1802382

Abstract: Appearing culturally “gender-normative” represents one of the ways that gender identity is salient to others. In the context of continued controversy surrounding children’s gender role development in sexual minority parent families, the current study examined gender presentation (i.e., appearing gender-conforming or nonconforming) among adopted children and their lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents across two time points over a five-year period (Wave 1: N = 106 families, child Mage  = 36.07 months; Wave 2: N = 96 families, child Mage  = 8.34 years). Children’s and parents’ gender presentation were observed and rated, focusing on gender-typed clothing and accessories, and then children’s gender presentation was compared with their self-reported friendship quality. Children and parents alike generally demonstrated a gender-conforming presentation; there were limited differences by parental sexual orientation (e.g., lesbian mothers displayed greater nonconforming presentation than other parents). There was also no difference by parental sexual orientation in children’s reports of friendship quality. Gender presentation was associated across time, with children’s nonconforming gender presentation in Wave 1 being positively associated with their nonconforming presentation in Wave 2. Children’s nonconforming gender presentation was negatively associated with children’s friendships with an interaction effect such that gender-nonconforming girls, but not boys, reported lower quality friendships.

Keywords: Children’s friendships, gender development, gender presentation, lesbian and gay parent families, longitudinal

The increasing availability of high potency cannabis increases the risk of developing cannabis psychosis, as a dose response relationship has been established as a risk factor

Are we any closer to identifying a causal relationship between cannabis and psychosis? Ian Hamilton, Harry Sumnall. Current Opinion in Psychology, August 1 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.07.027

Highlights
• The increasing availability of high potency cannabis increases the risk of developing cannabis psychosis, as a dose response relationship has been established as a risk factor.
• Defining and standardizing terms and measurement of cannabis products and use could usefully transform research and practice for cannabis psychosis.
• Evidence based interventions for patients with cannabis psychosis are limited and those that show promise are symptom-specific rather than treating all symptoms.
• Liberalisation of cannabis policy in some countries may support studies designed to better understand the impact of cannabis on mental health

Abstract: This review provides the reader with an update on developments in research relating to cannabis psychosis. For over four decades researchers and clinicians have focused on the relationship between exposure to cannabis and the emergence of psychotic symptoms. This has proved to be a complicated topic to investigate but research has provided some valuable insights as to the nature of this relationship while also identifying the limits of our understanding.

There are significant gaps in understanding of almost every aspect of the journey that people who have cannabis psychosis experience. Not only are treatment options limited, but we still have little evidence to help reliably predict who is at risk of developing cannabis psychosis. This would provide an opportunity to intervene early to reduce the number of people who experience this type of problem, although it is unrealistic to think it would be eliminated completely.

You Can Learn a Lot About Religion From Food

You Can Learn a Lot About Religion From Food. Adam B Cohen. Current Opinion in Psychology, August 6 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.07.032

Highlights
• Religions have a lot of rules about food and fasting, such as what foods are acceptable for which people to eat, and when.
• Understanding food practices can provide insight into religion, such as what it means to obey God, and the social order and worldview.
• Thinking about religious food practices can generate testable psychological hypotheses, such as whether caste- and gender-based food practices make people more attuned to class, hierarchy, and sex distinctions.
• Religious food practices provide basis for theorizing about the evolution of religious cultures, and about group and individual differences, which likely interact at multiple levels of analysis (individual motivations and dispositions, with ecological and cultural level influences).

Abstract: Religions’ food practices can illustrate a lot about religions, and can raise new research questions. I will give examples of ways in which religious food practices are reflections of broader religious ideals. Foods contain essences and are religiously symbolic; foods are a window into how people understand the necessity to obey God; food practices relate to health outcomes; and food practices reflect and inculcate social structures and worldviews. The article will go on to consider some broader questions raised including the origins and cultural evolution of food rules, and how food practices relate to group differences and individual differences.

The development of narrative identity & the emergence of personality disorders in adolescence: Adolescents & adults with PD narrate their lives in ways that are more negative & express lower agency

The development of narrative identity and the emergence of personality disorders in adolescence. Rebecca Shiner et al. Current Opinion in Psychology, August 6 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.07.024

Abstract: Narrative identity is likely to be important in the development of personality disorder (PD) in adolescence. Adolescents’ life narratives provide rich material that is near to their lived experiences and reveal individual differences in self and relatedness and in ways of constructing meaning. Narrative identity is linked with well-being and psychopathology and shapes coping with adversity. Preliminary research suggests that adolescents and adults with PD narrate their lives in ways that are more negative and express lower agency; narratives may also contain content reflecting PD symptoms. Youth’s narrative identities may express personality disturbances in self and relationship processes and may affect the consolidation of or recovery from emerging PD in the transition to adulthood—all possibilities worthy of future investigation.

Religions facilitate long-term, committed mating strategies by increasing paternal certainty or by pooling parenting resources; religious individuals are seen as sexually restricted, which has implications for mate choice & trust

Why are world religions so concerned with sexual behavior? Jordan W Moon. Current Opinion in Psychology, August 8 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.07.030

Highlights
• Religious beliefs and behavior across the world are closely linked to restricted sexual attitudes and behavior.
• Religions facilitate long-term, committed mating strategies by increasing paternal certainty or by pooling parenting resources.
• Social perceivers view religious individuals as sexually restricted, which has implications for mate choice and for trust.
• These aspects of religion may help explain why certain religions spread successfully, and why religions vary cross-culturally.

Abstract: Many religions emphasize the importance of sexual morality. This article argues mating strategies are central to understanding religion. I highlight the reproductive-religiosity model, which suggests that religious behavior is partly motivated by preferences for restricted mating strategies. I then discuss how religion can lead to reproductive benefits. Specifically, religions can make parenting a relatively safer strategy by increasing paternal certainty, which drives men toward parental investment, and alloparenting, which reduces offspring mortality rates. Next, I discuss the social implications of reproductive-religiosity, including mate selection and trust. Finally, I discuss the potential role of mating strategies in the evolution and cultural evolution of religion and discuss future directions for developing an approach to religion rooted in mating interests.

Death anxiety and religious belief relationship is inconsistent & probably near zero; extremely religious & irreligious individuals report lower death anxiety; nonbelievers pursue nonreligious forms of literal immortality

Death anxiety and religion. Jonathan Jong. Current Opinion in Psychology, August 19 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.08.004

Highlights
• The linear relationship between death anxiety and religious belief is inconsistent and probably averages around zero.
• There is some—albeit limited and culturally specific—evidence for a quadratic relationship between death anxiety and religion, such that extremely religious and irreligious individuals report lower death anxiety than others.
• Experiences with and proximity to death do not consistently predict religious belief.
• Reminders of death probably temporarily strengthen religious belief among believers, but not nonbelievers. Early evidence suggests that nonbelievers pursue nonreligious forms of literal immortality.

Abstract: This review summarises research on the relationship between death anxiety and religiosity. The fear of death is commonly hypothesized as a motivation for religious belief. From a Terror Management Theory perspective, religious beliefs are especially attractive because they offer both literal and symbolic immortality in the form of afterlife beliefs and belonging in venerable systems of value respectively. However, the evidence for any relationship—whether correlational or causal—between death anxiety and religious belief is weak. Indeed, evidence for death anxiety under normal (i.e., non-life threatening) circumstances is surprisingly hard to find. If the fear of death motivates religiosity, it does so subtly, weakly, and sporadically.

Self-reported ideology does drift left at liberal arts colleges, but this is explained by a peer effect: students at liberal arts colleges drift more to the left because they have more liberal peers

Why College Students Drift Left: The Stability of Political Identity and Relative Malleability of Issue Positions among College Students. Matthew Woessner, April Kelly-Woessner. PS: Political Science & Politics, August 18 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520000396

Abstract: In considering the liberalizing effect of college on students’ political values, we argue that political identities—in the form of self-identified ideology or partisanship—are components of social identity and are resistant to change. Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute’s student surveys, we show that what movement in identity does occur is mostly a regression to the mean effect. On several issue positions, however, students move in a more uniform leftward direction. We find that liberal drift on issues is most common among students majoring in the arts and humanities. Self-reported ideology does drift left at liberal arts colleges, but this is explained by a peer effect: students at liberal arts colleges drift more to the left because they have more liberal peers. The results have implications for future research on college student political development, suggesting that attitudinal change can be more easily identified by examining shifts in policy preferences rather than changes in political identity.

Common wisdom in paleoanthropology is that Neandertals had bigger brains than recent humans; but only had significantly larger endocranial volume when compared with recent human females

Did Neandertals have large brains? Factors affecting endocranial volume comparisons. Caroline VanSickle  Zachary Cofran  David Hunt. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, August 16 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24124

Abstract
Objectives: Common wisdom in paleoanthropology is that Neandertals had bigger brains than recent humans. Here we tested the hypothesis that there is no difference in brain size between Neandertals and recent humans while accounting for methodological variation and the makeup of both the Neandertal and recent human samples.

Materials and Methods: We examined endocranial volume (ECV) derived from virtually reconstructed endocasts of 11 Neandertals, six of which had associated femoral head diameters (FHD). Our recent human comparative dataset consisted of virtually measured ECV and associated FHD from 94 recent humans from the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection (63 male, 31 female). ECV of Neandertals and recent humans was compared using bootstrap resampling, repeating the analysis for two groupings of Neandertals (all and classic) and for three groupings of recent humans (all, males, and females). To examine brain size scaling, we completed an ordinary least squares regression of log (ECV) against log (FHD) for Neandertals and recent humans.

Results: The results of the bootstrap resampling analyses indicated that Neandertals only had significantly larger ECV when compared with recent human females. The regression between ECV and FHD suggested that Neandertals fall within the range of variation for larger humans.

Discussion: Our results demonstrate that Neandertals do not have uniquely large brains when compared with recent humans. Their brain size falls in the large end of the recent human range of variation, but does not exceed it. These results have implications for future research on Neandertal encephalization.

Those who believed they had contracted COVID-19 engaged in greater rates of concealment of their social distancing practices & evaluated concealment more positively compared to those without the virus

Dishonesty during a pandemic: The concealment of COVID-19 information. Alison M O’Connor, Angela D Evans. Journal of Health Psychology, August 17, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320951603

Abstract: Honest disclosures of COVID-19 behaviors and symptoms is critical. A sample of adults on MTurk (N = 451, 20–82 years of age) were asked if they have concealed social distancing practices, COVID-19 symptoms, and quarantine instructions, as well as how they evaluated others’ COVID-19 concealment. Those who believed they had contracted COVID-19 engaged in greater rates of concealment and evaluated concealment more positively compared to those without the virus. As age and communal orientation increased, COVID-19 concealment behaviors decreased, and evaluations of this concealment were rated more negatively. Implications for public health initiatives and psychological theory on concealing health information is discussed.

Keywords: age, community, disclosure, health, lie-telling

Participants preferred quality over quantity when choosing for a friend vs for themselves because of heightened self-presentation concerns: People choosing for friends are more concerned about conveying poor taste

The Quality Versus Quantity Trade-Off: Why and When Choices for Self Versus Others Differ. Peggy J. Liu, Ernest Baskin. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, August 17, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220941677

Abstract: The trade-off between quality and quantity pervades many domains of life, including that of making product choices for ourselves and others, whether as gifts or as everyday favors. In five studies (four pre-registered), participants preferred quality over quantity when choosing for a friend versus for themselves. We demonstrate that one reason why this difference in choice for self and other arises is because of heightened self-presentation concerns: People choosing for friends (vs. self) are more concerned about conveying poor taste, thus increasing choice of quality (vs. quantity). Consistent with this process, the effect is mitigated when choosing for a nonjudgmental friend or when choosing for a person whom one does not highly value. Finally, this effect is particular to quality-quantity trade-offs; it does not occur for flavor-quantity trade-offs, indicating that the effect is driven by the quality aspect rather than by the quantity aspect or by cost-per-unit considerations.

Keywords: self–other decision-making, quality, quantity, self-presentation, trade-offs

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Appearing as of bad taste was stronger motivation than appearing as cheap

Both rivalry and admiration-seeking increased with time on task & were particularly enhanced in individuals high in trait dominance or narcissism; we saw more rivalry when pitted against high-ranked opponents

Szücs, Anna, Katalin Szanto, Jade Adalbert, Aidan G. Wright, Luke Clark, and Alexandre Dombrovski. 2020. “Status, Rivalry and Admiration-seeking in Narcissism and Depression: A Behavioral Study.” PsyArXiv. April 23. doi:10.31234/osf.io/mxve9

Abstract: Humans seek admiration to boost their social rank and engage in rivalry to protect it when fearing defeat. Traits such as narcissism and affective states such as depression are thought to influence perception of rank and motivation for dominance in opposite ways, but evidence of the underlying behavioral mechanisms is scant. We investigated the effects of trait dominance, dimensionally-assessed narcissism, and depression on behavioral responses to social defeat in a rigged video game tournament designed to elicit rivalry (stealing points from opponents) and admiration-seeking (paying for rank). We tested an undergraduate sample (N = 70, mean age = 21.5 years) and a clinical sample of predominantly depressed elderly (N = 85, mean age = 62.6 years). Both rivalry and admiration-seeking increased with time on task and were particularly enhanced in individuals high in trait dominance or narcissism. Participants engaged in more rivalry when pitted against high-ranked opponents, a tendency accentuated by trait dominance and partially mitigated by depression. Our findings provide behavioral evidence that social dominance and narcissism manifest in increased rivalry and admiration-seeking during social contests. Depression does not suppress general competitiveness but selectively inhibits upward-focused rivalry.

The Threat of Symbolic Incompatibility Looms Larger Than the Threat of Status Rivalry: Symbolic Threat from Others Determines Feelings for Them More Than Status Threat

Bai, Max H., and Jeremy C. Simon. 2020. “The Threat of Symbolic Incompatibility Looms Larger Than the Threat of Status Rivalry: Symbolic Threat from Others Determines Feelings for Them More Than Status Threat.” PsyArXiv. August 15. doi:10.31234/osf.io/7wux6

Abstract: Evidence from three studies shows that the perceived symbolic threat from a group, more so than the perceived status threat, determines how people feel about it (i.e., how much they like the group). Study 1 shows that Whites’ perception of symbolic threat from racial minorities, but not status threat, predicts Whites’ favorability toward racial minorities. Using a 2×2 experiment, Study 2 shows that hypothetical immigrants described as capable of posing a status threat to Americans (versus not) or capable of posing a symbolic threat to Americans (versus not) are evaluated based on their potential symbolic threat, but not their potential status threat. Finally, the results from Study 2 replicated in another 2×2 experiment where American participants evaluated a hypothetical foreign country. Thus, the perceived symbolic threat from a group, more so than the perceived status threat, determines people’s overall attitude toward them.

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Realistic threat refers to the types of threat that imperil an in-group’s political and economic power, material well-being, and very existence.

Symbolic threats, meanwhile, originate from perceived differences in world values, morality, or beliefs between the in-group and out-groups. In other words, symbolic threats may portend conflict due to intangible value incompatibilities.

There is a consistent, substantial, & replicable connection between deep‐seated pathogen‐avoidance motivations & socially conservative party preferences due to individual differences in disgust sensitivity

The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Partisan Preferences in Modern Democracies: Disgust Sensitivity Predicts Voting for Socially Conservative Parties. Lene Aarøe  Michael Bang Petersen  Kevin Arceneaux. Political Psychology, August 17 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12665

Abstract: While there is growing interest in the relationship between pathogen‐avoidance motivations and partisanship, the extant findings remain contradictory and suffer from a number of methodological limitations related to measurement and internal and external validity. We address these limitations and marshal the most complete test to date of the relationship between the behavioral immune system and partisanship, as indexed by which party people identify with and vote for. Using a unique research design, including multiple well‐powered, nationally representative samples from the United States and Denmark collected in election and nonelection contexts, our study is the first to establish in cross‐national data a consistent, substantial, and replicable connection between deep‐seated pathogen‐avoidance motivations and socially conservative party preferences across multiple validated measures of individual differences in disgust sensitivity and using large representative samples. We explore the relative contribution of the pathogen‐avoidance model and sexual strategies for accounting for this relationship.

Germany: Like-minded discussions increase one’s likelihood to perceive media as hostile; yet, only among those more politically engaged & ideologically on the left

Whose media are hostile? The spillover effect of interpersonal discussions on media bias perceptions. Laia Castro, David Nicolas Hopmann and Lilach Nir. Communications, 000010151520190140, Aug 11 2020. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2019-0140

Abstract: Since Eveland and Shah (2003) published their seminal study on the impact of social networks on media bias perceptions in the US, little has been researched about the interpersonal antecedents of hostile media perceptions. In this study we address this gap by investigating the role of safe, or like-minded, political discussions on individuals’ likelihood to perceive media as hostile. We use survey data from more than 5,000 individuals in Germany. Our findings reveal that like-minded discussions increase one’s likelihood to perceive media as hostile; yet, only among those more politically engaged and ideologically on the left. The significance and theoretical implications of the results are discussed in the concluding section.

Keywords: hostile media perceptions; interpersonal communication; ideology; survey; like-minded

What Processes Are Disrupted During the Attentional Blink?

Zivony, Alon, and Dominique Lamy. 2020. “What Processes Are Disrupted During the Attentional Blink? An Integrative Review of Event-related Potentials Research.” PsyArXiv. August 15. doi:10.31234/osf.io/epfbt

Abstract: Reporting the second of two targets is impaired when these appear in close succession, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). Despite decades of research, what mechanisms are affected by the AB remains unclear. Specifically, two central issues remain open: Does the AB disrupt attentional processes or reflect a structural limitation in working memory encoding? Does it disrupt perceptual processing or only post-perceptual processes? We address these questions by reviewing event-related potentials (ERP) studies of the AB. The findings reveal that the core influence of the AB is by disrupting attentional engagement (indexed by N2pc). As a consequence, while early processing (indexed by P1\N1) is spared, semantic processing (indexed by N400) and working memory (WM) encoding (indexed by P3b) are compromised: minor disruptions to attentional engagement weaken but do not eliminate semantic processing, whereas they prevent encoding in WM. Thus, semantic processing can survive the blink, whereas encoding in WM does not. To accommodate these conclusions, we suggest a Disrupted Engagement and Perception (DEaP) account of the attentional blink.

Observers underestimated the egocentric distances when there was a fence on the ground surface relative to the no-fence condition; the effect of widely spaced thick fences was larger than that of narrowly spaced ones

Inaccurate Space Perception Seeing Through Fences. Bo Dong et al. Perception, August 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006620946525

Abstract: According to the sequential surface integration process hypothesis, the fine near-ground-surface representation and the homogeneous ground surface play a vital role in the representation of the ground surface. When an occluding box or opaque wall is placed between observers and targets, observers underestimate egocentric distance. However, in our daily life, many obstacles are perforated and cover the ground surface and targets simultaneously (e.g., fences). Humans see and observe through fences. The images of these fences and targets, projected onto observers’ retinas, overlap each other. This study aims to explore the effects of perforated obstacles (i.e., fences) on space perception. The results showed that observers underestimated the egocentric distances when there was a fence on the ground surface relative to the no-fence condition, and the effect of widely spaced thick wood fences was larger than that of narrowly spaced thin iron fences. We further demonstrated that this effect was quite robust when the target size had a visual angle of 1°, 2°, or 4° in three virtual reality experiments. This study may add support for the notion that the sequential surface integration process hypothesis is applicable even if the obstacle is perforated and covers the target.

Keywords: space perception, the ground-surface representation, SSIP hypothesis, fences, egocentric distance perception

How does meaning come to mind when hearing a word? Principles of Semantic Processing include that the relationship between form & meaning is not so arbitrary; that more semantic richness is better, & that experience matters

Pexman, Penny M. 2020. “How Does Meaning Come to Mind? Four Broad Principles of Semantic Processing.” PsyArXiv. August 16. doi:10.31234/osf.io/scwau

Abstract: When we see or hear a word, we can rapidly bring its meaning to mind. The process that underlies this ability is quite complex. Over the past two decades, considerable progress has been made towards understanding this process. In this paper, I offer four broad principles of semantic processing derived from lexical-semantic research. The first principle is that the relationship between form and meaning is not so arbitrary and I explore that by describing efforts to understand the relationship between form and meaning, highlighting advances from my own lab on the topics of sound symbolism and iconicity. The second principle is that more is better and I summarize previous research on semantic richness effects, and how those effects reveal the nature of semantic representation. The third principle is the many and various properties of abstract concepts. I point to abstract meaning as a challenge for some theories of semantic representation. In response to that challenge, I outline what has been learned about how those meanings are acquired and represented. The fourth principle is that experience matters, and I summarize research on the dynamic and experience-driven nature of semantic processing, detailing ways in which processing is modified by both immediate and long-term context. Finally, I describe some next steps for lexical-semantic research.

Anxiety & compulsivity have been linked to a belief that the environment is uncontrollable; we lack a mechanistic explanation of how such a belief might form; seems a difficulty in building probabilistic internal maps between actions & environmental states

Sharp, Paul B., Raymond J. Dolan, and Eran Eldar. 2020. “Cognitive Map Learning Is Disrupted in Compulsivity and Anxious Arousal.” PsyArXiv. June 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/x29jq

Abstract: Both anxiety and compulsivity have been linked to a belief that the environment is uncontrollable. We lack a mechanistic explanation regarding how such a belief might form. Here, we propose a novel hypothesis that individuals with anxiety and compulsivity have difficulty in building probabilistic internal maps between actions and environmental states, specifically state transition learning. To address this hypothesis, we recruited a large (n=174) online sample of individuals exhibiting a range of psychopathology. We created a novel one-step revaluation task that isolated state transition learning from other processes with which it is typically confounded in computational psychiatry investigations. Results from the one-step revaluation paradigm demonstrated that both compulsivity and anxious arousal are associated with a basic disruption in state transition learning. To strengthen mechanistic inferences from this online study we developed a computational model of state transition learning and tested its validity by fitting it to a separate publicly available (n=1413) sequential decision-making data. In this independent dataset we show that compulsivity-related disruptions in state transition learning arise out of overly fast updating of state transitions estimates. We suggest that disrupted state transition learning is a promising computational phenotype that may shed light on the genesis of these pathologies as well as provide a potential target for prevention and intervention. Future work can determine if a deficit in transition learning represents a cause, consequence, or maintenance factor in compulsivity and anxious arousal.

From ‘it Has Stopped Our Lives’ to ‘spending More Time Together Has Strengthened Bonds': The Varied Experiences of Australian Families During COVID-19

Evans, Subhadra, Antonina Mikocka-Walus, Anna Klas, Lisa Olive, Emma Sciberras, Gery Karantzas, and Elizabeth Westrupp. 2020. “From ‘it Has Stopped Our Lives’ to ‘spending More Time Together Has Strengthened Bonds': The Varied Experiences of Australian Families During COVID-19.” PsyArXiv. August 17. doi:10.31234/osf.io/a9jhe

Abstract: The present study uses a qualitative approach to understand the impact of COVID-19 on family life. Australian parents of children aged 0-18 years were recruited via social media between April 8th and April 28th, 2020, when Australians were experiencing social distancing/isolation measures for the first time. As part of a larger survey, participants were asked to respond via an open-ended question about how COVID-19 had impacted their family. A total of 2,130 parents were included and represented a diverse range of family backgrounds. Inductive template thematic analysis was used to understand patterns of meaning across the texts. Six themes were derived from the data, including: 'Boredom, depression and suicide: A spectrum of emotion'; 'Families are missing the things that keep them healthy'; 'Changing family relationships: The push pull of intimacy'; 'The unprecedented demands of parenthood'; 'The unequal burden of COVID-19'; and 'Holding on to positivity'. Overall, the findings demonstrated a breadth of responses. Messages around loss and challenge were predominant, with many families reporting mental health difficulties and strained family relationships. However, not all families were negatively impacted by the restrictions, with some families reporting positive benefits and meaning, including opportunities for strengthening relationships, finding new hobbies, and developing positive characteristics such as appreciation, gratitude and tolerance

Gratitude promotes prosociality and long-term reciprocal relationships; the Dark Triad, specifically psychopathy and Machiavellianism, is negatively associated with trait gratitude

Puthillam, Arathy, Sampada Karandikar, Hansika Kapoor, and Aneree Parekh. 2020. “Gratitude Blindness: How Does the Dark Triad Experience Gratitude?.” PsyArXiv. August 7. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110309

Abstract: Gratitude promotes prosociality and long-term reciprocal relationships. The Dark Triad is associated with maladaptive interactions in their social and interpersonal relationships. The present study aimed at understanding whether these individuals experience gratitude at state and trait levels, when presented with situations that differentially benefit them. The Dark Triad, specifically psychopathy and Machiavellianism, is negatively associated with trait gratitude. In situations where others are uncooperative towards them, individuals with Dark Triad traits, specifically Machiavellianism and narcissism, report poorer state gratitude. Implications are discussed, particularly in light of the Dark Triad as a defector personality hindering reciprocal altruism.

South India: Consistent with Western findings, environmental stress appeared to hasten sexual debut, decrease self-regulation & educational attainment, & increase current environmental stress in the peri-urban sample

Environmental stress and human life history strategy development in rural and peri-urban South India. George B. Richardson et al. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 41, Issue 3, May 2020, Pages 244-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.03.003

Abstract: Few studies have examined the role of early vs. later environment in the development of life history (LH) strategies, whether age at sexual debut mediates LH development, or whether LH indicators contribute to environmental stress in adulthood. In the current study, we addressed these gaps cross-culturally using data from Jenu Kurubas who live in the rural outskirts of Mysore (n = 133), India, and mixed-caste peri-urban residents in Mysore city (n = 222). Research took place from October 2016–July 2017. First, participants engaged in semi-structured interviews to formulate quantitative measures of current environmental stress (n = 60). Next, participants (n = 355) completed structured questionnaires that measured demographics; early and current environmental stress; and LH indicators including age at sexual debut, facets of impulsivity, education, and number of children. Structural equation modeling was used to test for the developmental cascade reported in Western studies of psychosocial acceleration (e.g., indirect effect of early environmental stress on number of children through age at sexual debut). Consistent with Western findings, environmental stress appeared to hasten sexual debut, decrease self-regulation and educational attainment, and increase current environmental stress in the peri-urban sample. Early environmental stress forecasted younger age at sexual debut in both samples; however, no other effects of early environmental stress nor any associations with current environmental stress were consistent between samples. Although age at sexual debut appeared to translate early environmental stress into greater numbers of children and current environmental stress in the peri-urban and rural samples, respectively, it was associated with different outcomes between the samples and forecasted adult environment only in the rural sample. Taken together, our findings indicate more research is needed to determine whether the developmental cascade suggested by most applications of LH theory to humans generalizes across cultures and rural and peri-urban environments.

Keywords: Life history theoryEnvironmentImpulsivitySexual debutIndia

Cultural and reproductive success and the causes of war: A Yanomamö perspective

Cultural and reproductive success and the causes of war: A Yanomamö perspective. Raymond Hames. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 41, Issue 3, May 2020, Pages 183-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.02.008

Abstract: Inter-group competition including warfare is posited to be a key force in human evolution (Alexander, 1990; Choi & Bowles, 2007; Wrangham, 1999). Chagnon's research on the Yanomamö is seminal to understanding warfare in the types of societies characteristic of human evolutionary history. Chagnon's empirical analyses of the hypothesis that competition for status or cultural success is linked to reproduction (Irons, 1979) and warfare attracted considerable controversy. Potential causal factors include “blood revenge”, mate competition, resource shortages or inequality, and peace-making institutions (Boehm, 1984; Keeley's (1997); Meggitt, 1977; Wiessner and Pupu, 2012; Wrangham et al., 2006). Here we highlight Chagnon's contributions to the study of human warfare.

Welfare trade-off ratios (the computational element which dictate our willingness to benefit others at some cost to ourselves) & moral elevation (social emotion triggered by observing third parties behaving benevolently)

Moral elevation: Indications of functional integration with welfare trade-off calibration and estimation mechanisms. Amy Monroe. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 41, Issue 4, July 2020, Pages 293-302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.05.002

Abstract: Moral elevation is a positive social emotion, which is triggered by observing third parties behaving benevolently, and which in turn triggers a motivation to behave benevolently towards others in general. It has been suggested that this relatively obscure emotion may be the output of a naturally selected cognitive adaptation which functions to help us retain our position in the competition for access to beneficial social relationships. This suggestion is here interpreted within the framework of ‘recalibrational emotions’. This framework offers the computational vocabulary necessary to understand how mental adaptations governing affect and motivation perform their functions at the cognitive level. Parallels are drawn between the suggested function and known phenomenological attributes of moral elevation, and the recently explicated functional operation of other social emotions (such as anger, guilt, and gratitude). Specifically, these other social emotions are thought to share a common computational pathway; recalibration of our welfare trade-off ratios (WTRs). WTRs are the computational element which dictate our willingness to benefit others at some cost to ourselves.

A series of studies was conducted to explore whether a reliable relationship exists between moral elevation and WTRs. The results suggest that elevation does have a positive recalibrational effect on our WTRs, and that it may also be functionally integrated with a mental mechanism designed by natural selection to estimate the WTRs of other social actors.

Keywords: Moral elevationWelfare trade-off ratiosCompetitive altruismEmotion

Impulsive behavior is not always adaptive in harsh & unpredictable conditions, it depends on the exact definitions of harshness, unpredictability, & impulsivity; may be adaptive when resource encounters are likely to be interrupted

Is impulsive behavior adaptive in harsh and unpredictable environments? A formal model
Jesse Fenneman, Willem E. Frankenhuis. Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 41, Issue 4, July 2020, Pages 261-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.02.005

Abstract: Evolutionary social scientists have argued that impulsive behavior is adaptive in harsh and unpredictable conditions. Is this true? This paper presents a mathematical model that computes the optimal level of impulsivity in environments varying in harshness and unpredictability. We focus on information impulsivity, i.e., choosing to act without gathering or considering information about the consequences of one's actions. We explore two notions of harshness: the mean level of resources (e.g., food) and the mean level of extrinsic events (e.g., being the victim of a random attack). We explore three notions of unpredictability: variation in resources, variation in extrinsic events, and the interruption risk (the chance that a resource becomes unavailable). We also explore interactions between harshness and unpredictability. Our general model suggests four broad conclusions. First, impulsive behavior is not always adaptive in harsh and unpredictable conditions; rather, this depends on the exact definitions of harshness, unpredictability, and impulsivity. Second, impulsive behavior may be adaptive in environments in which the quality of resources is low or high, but is less likely to be adaptive when their quality is moderate. Third, impulsive behavior may be adaptive when resource encounters are likely to be interrupted. Fourth, extrinsic events have only a limited effect on whether impulsive behavior is adaptive. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research, consider limitations, and suggest future directions.

Keywords: ImpulsivityHarshnessUnpredictabilityBayesian inferenceLife history theoryFormal model

4  Discussion

Evolutionary social scientists have argued that impulsive behavior is adaptive in harsh and unpredictable environments. We have developed a formal model that explores how commonly used definitions of harshness and unpredictability affect the optimal level of information impulsivity. Our results show that this hypothesis is not universally true, but rather, depends on the exact definition of harshness, unpredictability, and impulsivity; harsh and unpredictable environments can favor high or low levels of impulsivity, or have no effect on impulsive behavior.

Our model suggests five conclusions about how harshness and unpredictability shape the optimal level of impulsive behavior. Two of these are also supported by existing models: individuals should sample more cues when the prior uncertainty of resources is higher (i.e., when the variance in resource quality is high); and individuals that are close to a somatic threshold (starvation or satiation) should sample more information, regardless of the state of their environment. Three other findings may be novel. First, impulsive behavior is adaptive when the resource quality is either low or high, but not when it is moderate. Second, impulsive behavior is almost always adaptive when resources are likely to be interrupted. Models of temporal impulsivity often find that temporal impulsivity increases as interruptions become more common. However, to our knowledge, this is the first model that finds similar effects on information impulsivity. Third, the mean and variance of extrinsic events only affect impulsivity when agents are in a very bad or a very good state. This is surprising because harshness is commonly defined (although not typically measured, see section 1.2.1) as a high rate in which external factors cause disability and death.

The conclusion that harshness and unpredictability can have multiple influences on impulsivity highlights the need for clear and explicit definitions. Although different interpretations of harshness and unpredictability are typically empirically related (e.g., resource scarcity can increase violence and disease), they are conceptually different. An environment can simultaneously be harsh and unpredictable in some sense, but affluent and predictable in others. Empirical support for the adaptive impulsivity hypothesis is mixed (see section 1.1). This might be partly due to the jingle fallacy, the erroneous belief that two constructs are the same because they have the same name. However, if empirical results depend on what notion of harshness, unpredictability, or impulsivity is measured, findings from one study might not generalize to other studies or to other populations. This makes it difficult for studies to incrementally build upon each other, stifling academic progress. We therefore strongly recommend that future studies use explicit, ideally formal, definitions of harshness and unpredictability. Such explicit definitions can help improve empirical measurements of harshness and unpredictability. For instance, future measurements of harshness could explicitly differentiate between resource scarcity and high levels of extrinsic morbidity-mortality.

4.1. Formalizing life history theory in the social sciences

Our model also contributes to a larger conversation about how to use life history theory in evolutionary social sciences. A recent bibliometric analysis shows that in the previous decade the life history literature has fragmented into different clusters with dividing lines between the evolutionary psychology, evolutionary anthropology, and non-human animal literatures (Nettle & Frankenhuis, 2019). Alarmingly, studies within the evolutionary social science cluster have few ties with formal models of life history theory. These weak connections are problematic, because references are sometimes used in support of claims that are different, absent, or even contradictory to the source model. One example is the proposed fast-slow continuum. Although its existence is often described as a fundamental prediction of life history theory (Ellis et al., 2009), formal support for the fast-slow continuum is limited and mixed (Mathot & Frankenhuis, 2018; Zietsch & Sidari, 2019). Some models show that harsh and unpredictable conditions can favor slow life histories (e.g., Abrams, 1993, Baldini, 2015). Similarly, our model shows that one kind of impulsivity, which is often viewed as part of a fast life history, is not necessarily favored in harsh and unpredictable environments.

4.2. Empirical predictions, limitations, and future directions

All models are simplifications of reality (Smaldino, 2017). However, they differ in whether they are general or specific (Houston & McNamara, 2005; Parker & Smith, 1990). The goal of a general model is to study abstract qualitative patterns. For instance, a prisoner's dilemma model captures the logic of cooperation and defection between two rational players – it does not matter whether the players are people, companies, or rivaling states. The parameters of general models are often difficult to operationalize, predict, and measure. Specific models study the dynamics of a particular real-world system. The parameters of these models are frequently based on empirical data, and these models might provide predictions. We have presented a general model; our goal was to provide a formalization of the adaptive impulsivity hypothesis. As such, we made simplifying assumptions. These assumptions allowed us to explore a decision problem in depth, facilitating theoretic insight about the ways in which key variables interact with each other. Simple models are well suited to producing such insights, but at a cost to realism (Levins, 1968). We think this is acceptable, because our primary goal is not to make empirical predictions. However, this does not necessarily mean that the conclusions of our model cannot be used as empirical prediction. Rather, this depends on the extent to which the assumptions of our general model capture essential features of real environments. If this match is sufficiently high, the conclusions of our model on how harshness and unpredictability shape impulsive behavior can be used as empirical predictions. Estimating this match is difficult, if not impossible. There are, however, several limitations that reduce realism and limit the scope of our model. These limitations are hierarchical: we can only address some limitations (e.g., our model does not include life history trajectories) after we have addressed more fundamental limitations (e.g., our model does not address development or environmental change). Here we discuss four fundamental limitations. For each limitation we discuss how potential extensions can incorporate more realistic and more complicated assumptions that address these limitations.

First, in order to reduce complexity we assumed that the parameters of the environment are fixed within and between generations. We further assumed that an agent learned the (meta) parameters of its environment through its evolutionary and developmental history. Although extreme outcomes may be unexpected, they do not change an agent's beliefs about its environment. For some organisms a fixed world assumption may be realistic: if the rate of environmental change is slow compared to the lifespan of an organism, the environment might appear to be fixed from that organism's perspective (Fawcett & Frankenhuis, 2015). However, for species with a longer life span, such as humans, the environment might change both temporally (e.g., due to economic cycles) and spatially (e.g., due to labor or educational migration). In a fixed environment an organism ‘only’ has to infer the value of an encountered resource. In a varying environment, it also has to infer the current state of the environment and forecast what the future might hold. This results in a tradeoff between exploration (sampling information) and exploitation (saving costs by relying on current estimates of the environment). Moreover, in a varying environment, there might be lean years where resources are scarce and/or extrinsic events more extreme. An organism can buffer against such variability by storing resources. This might increase (to save costs on information gathering) or decrease (to reduce the variance in outcomes) impulsivity. Besides reducing realism, this assumption also reduced the scope of our model: unpredictability is often interpreted as changes in the environmental state (e.g., this kind of unpredictability is the focus of Ellis et al., 2009). Future models could incorporate both temporal and spatial unpredictability.

Second, our model includes no development. We studied organisms that (a) are fully developed at birth, (b) are affected by the environment regardless of their age, and (c) reproduce only at the end of life. These assumptions do not hold for many species, including humans. Rather, individuals typically go through early developmental stages in which they acquire the skills needed to integrate information. If the individual faced early-life adversity, or if this acquisition is costly or time consuming, investing in this skillset might not outweigh the cost. Moreover, both the young and the old might be more affected by resource scarcity and extrinsic events than adults. In hunter-gatherer societies, only adults produce more food than they consume (Kaplan, Hill, Lancaster, & Hurtado, 2000). Consequentially, in lean years the old and young might be more susceptible for starvation than adults. Similarly, negative extrinsic events such as disease and violence might disproportionally affect the young (who are less able to defend themselves) and the old (who might be weakened due to senescence). Finally, we studied an organism that is semelparous, rather than iteroparous. However, in many species fecundity and fertility often peak during middle age. As both reproduction and the subsequent investment in offspring are costly, individuals in middle age might face a higher demand for resources. Future models can build in age structure and reproduction, with survival and fecundity differing at different ages, and explore how such selection regimes shape the optimal level of impulsivity.

Our model can also be extended to include developmental processes in order to explore to two empirical patterns. First, impulsivity and risk taking are highest during adolescence, when individuals enter the mating competition market (Figner, Mackinlay, Wilkening, & Weber, 2009; Steinberg, 2007). For risk behavior, a common explanation is that securing a high quality mate requires intense competition for resources and social status (Ellis et al., 2012), which demands high levels of risk taking (e.g., engaging in physical fights). Future models could examine whether this increased need for resources and social status likewise results in more impulsive behavior. Another empirical pattern is the paradoxical (but robust) finding that both behavioral tasks and self-report questionnaires predict real-world impulsivity, yet the two sets of measurement show little to no correlation (Cyders & Coskunpinar, 2011; Reynolds, Ortengren, Richards, & de Wit, 2006; Stahl et al., 2014). A popular explanation is that both sets of measurements tap into separate constructs. Self-reports measure a stable baseline of impulsivity (i.e., trait impulsivity), whereas behavioral tasks measure the capability to flexibly deviate from this baseline in situations that require higher or lower levels. This explanation raises such interesting questions as: Why there is a baseline? Why do we not always adjust our impulsivity to match the current situation? Why do individuals differ in their baseline levels? Is this baseline continuously updated throughout development, or are there sensitive periods in which the baseline is set for the rest of life? Part of the answer to these questions might be that flexibility comes at a cost. For instance, the cognitive machinery needed to make constant adjustments might be expensive to maintain. If we always need the same level of impulsivity – for instance, when our environment is sufficiently stable – the cost of plasticity might outweigh its benefits (Fawcett & Frankenhuis, 2015). Moreover, if the environment is very stable, the best strategy might be to set a fixed baseline early in life (i.e., a sensitive period). Future models can explore these questions by incorporating developmental processes.

Third, we committed to the ‘behavioral gambit’: we studied a single behavioral trait in isolation, and implicitly assumed that the expression of this trait is not hindered by other life history, behavioral, or physiological traits (Fawcett, Hamblin, & Giraldeau, 2013). Furthermore, our model did not address genetic, developmental, physiological, or cognitive limitations that prevent an organism from following the optimal policy. In real life there are limitations. For example, we assumed that organisms behave as-if they perform Bayesian updating. However, Bayesian updating is computationally expensive at the best of times, and computationally intractable in most realistic situations (Trimmer, McNamara, Houston, & Marshall, 2012; van Rooij, Wright, Kwisthout, & Wareham, 2018).

The behavioral gambit is a useful simplification when testing under what environmental conditions impulsivity might be adaptive. However, it limits the scope and realism of our results. Future extensions might explore two different avenues. First, they can incorporate more realistic cognitive processes. For example, future models can study agents that rely on heuristics that human decision-makers are known to use. This extension can study in which environment a specific heuristic performs well, and when it performs poorly. Alternatively, rather than simulating agents that use known heuristics, future models can use the computed optimal policies to explore new heuristics. Specifically, based on modeling results, future research can explore which heuristics would allow animals to approximate optimal decisions. Second, they can increase realism by incorporating other behavioral traits. Such a model can provide novel insights for two different debates. Different notions of impulsivity are only weakly correlated or even uncorrelated (section 1.2.3). A model incorporating multiple types of impulsivity can explore whether environmental conditions moderate the correlation between different conceptualizations. That is, it can explore whether some environments favor high (or low) levels of all types, whereas others favor high levels of one type but low levels of the other. Alternatively, extensions can incorporate other behavioral, physiological, or life history traits that are proposed to cluster on a fast-slow continuum. This extension can test the claim that harsh and unpredictable environments result in faster life-history strategies.

Fourth, we assumed that agents did not interact, nor needed to consider the behavior of other agents (i.e., our model is not game theoretic). This assumption is reasonable for some decisions. For instance, if resources are (practically) infinite, the actions of one agent do not noticeably change the number of available resources (e.g., when job supply is high, accepting a job does not meaningfully decrease the total number of available jobs). In other decisions agents do interact, but only indirectly. In this case, accepting may reduce the resources available for other agents. However, the behavior of other agents does not influence the consequences of an action during a resource encounter. For instance, two predators may share overlapping domains. Although they rarely are in close proximity, resources consumed by one are no longer available for the other. However, whether or not one predator should give chase to prey does not depend on the actions of the other predator. Our model can incorporate some indirect interactions by changing the parameters of an environment. For instance, our graphical interface allows users to increase or decrease the interruption rate (e.g., prey might be more or less easily scared) or to assume that resources are non-normally distributed (e.g., competitors might be more likely to consume positive than negative resources). However, in many real-world decisions an agent does need to consider the actions of other agents. For instance, resources might become scarce if everyone acts impulsively. If so, acting impulsively may be the only way to collect resources. Such policy, where one is impulsive because everybody else is, results in a positive feedback loop that might increase impulsivity. Alternatively, high levels competition may foster selective cooperation, which requires low levels of impulsivity. It can also result in even more complex patterns, where multiple phenotypes coexist, or the population might cycle between multiple phenotypes (Bear & Rand, 2016; Tomlin, Rand, Ludvig, & Cohen, 2015). It will be hard if not impossible to predict outcomes without building the model. Future models might therefore incorporate interactions between agents.

To end, we have presented a formal model of the increasingly common claim impulsive behavior is adaptive in harsh and unpredictable environments. Our results show that this hypothesis is not universally true, but rather, depends on the exact definition of harshness, unpredictability, and impulsivity. We hope our model will contribute to the corpus of formal models of theories that feature centrally in the evolutionary social sciences.

People with greater olfactory discrimination acuity were higher in dispositional sexual disgust, but not pathogen or moral disgust; were also less inclined towards short-term mating

Investigating the relationship between olfactory acuity, disgust, and mating strategies. Marjorie L. Prokosch Zachary Airington Damian R. Murray. Evolution and Human Behavior, August 15 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.08.002

Abstract: Although humans' sense of smell is relatively diminished compared to other species, olfaction is still a central sensory modality through which people evaluate both potential threats and prospective romantic partners. Despite olfaction's role in interpersonal relationships and disease avoidant responses, however, it remains unknown whether variation in olfactory acuity is associated with disease- and mating-relevant psychological constructs and behaviors. In the current exploratory study, we examined the relationships between olfactory acuity, disgust sensitivity, and mating strategies in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 162) at a university in the Southern United States using an extended assessment of olfactory acuity (measuring olfactory threshold, discrimination, and identification). Results revealed that people with greater discrimination acuity were higher in dispositional sexual disgust, but not pathogen or moral disgust. People with greater discrimination acuity were also less inclined towards short-term mating. Further, sexual disgust mediated the relationship between discrimination acuity and short-term mating orientation. These results provide further evidence for the importance of olfaction and olfaction-related disgust in close relationships.

Keywords: OlfactionDisgustMating strategySociosexualityIndividual differences

Women’s demand for redistribution is higher; the gender difference appears only when the source of inequality is based on relative abilities, but not when it is based on luck; men are more overconfident on their abilities

Overconfidence and gender gaps in redistributive preferences: Cross-Country experimental evidence. Thomas Buser et al. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 178, October 2020, Pages 267-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2020.07.005

Abstract: Gender differences in voting patterns and political attitudes towards redistribution are well-documented. The experimental gender literature suggests several plausible behavioral explanations behind these differences, relating to gender differences in confidence concerning future relative income position, risk aversion, and social preferences. We use data from lab experiments on preferences for redistribution conducted in the U.S. and several European countries to investigate gender differences and their causes. On aggregate, women’ s demand for redistribution is higher than men’ s, but the differences vary considerably across locations and countries. Moreover, the gender difference appears only when the source of inequality is based on relative abilities, but not when it is based on luck. Our most robust finding is that across all sampled locations, men’ s relatively higher (over)confidence in their abilities, in comparison to women, leads them to specify lower redistribution levels. We discuss the role of confidence in accounting for gender differences in political and redistributive choices outside the lab.

Keywords: GenderRedistributionOverconfidenceRisk attitudesVotingTaxation

Speed of perceived time is slower for those of higher IQ

Measures of Temporal Perception as Predictive Factors for Individual Intelligence and Further Relationships Between Intelligence and Temporal Perception. Cole Tibbs. Capella Univ, Aug 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343530713

Abstract: Intelligence (IQ) and speed of perceived time (SPT) are known to strongly correlate with numerous factors, including reaction time, inter-hemispheric transfer, and cerebellum volume. While these relationships are well understood, very little evidence has been presented for the relationship between intelligence and speed of perceived time themselves. This essay aims to determine the sources and strength of the relationship between IQ and SPT. The author posits that a negative correlation exists between IQ and SPT. A review of relevant literature provided insight into connections between multiple variables inversely correlated to IQ and SPT, respectively. A correlation of r = -0.606, R2  = 0.368 between IQ and SPT is predicted. A study of 117 nationally representative adult participants is used to support the predictive ability of intelligence based on SPT, reaction time (RT), and number memory (NM). The results demonstrate correlation between IQ and SPT as r = -0.654, R2 = 0.428, p < .0001, confirming the predicted value and supporting the primary hypothesis. This paper highlights the correlation between intelligence and speed of perceived time. It also highlights a 46.2% variability of IQ attributed to SPT and RT. Implications are discussed. Recommendations for future investigation are given.

Voting Republican was associated with higher levels of commitment compared with voting Democrat; being partnered with someone voting Republican was associated with higher relationship adjustment & commitment

Fangmeier, T. L., Stanley, S. M., Knopp, K., & Rhoades, G. K. (2020). Political party identification and romantic relationship quality. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 9(3), 167–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000141

Abstract: Although there are studies on voting similarity in mate selection, very little research has examined party identification and relationship quality. We assessed associations between reports of personal and partner voting behavior (Democrat, Republican, or Independent) and both relationship adjustment and commitment to one’s partner. We used a national (U.S.) sample of individuals (N = 510) in their 20s and 30s who were mostly in different-sex, serious relationships (Mdn duration = 5.25 years; 50% married). Controlling for age, college graduation, income, religiosity, minority status, and duration of relationship, voting Republican was associated with higher levels of commitment compared with voting Democrat. Similarly, being partnered with someone voting Republican was associated with higher relationship adjustment and commitment compared with being partnered with someone voting Democrat. Notably, differences in commitment were found only among those who were not already married or engaged. Findings were largely consistent with numerous online reports of survey data that have shown modestly greater relationship quality among those who report being politically conservative. Although research has shown that people are less attracted to those who vote differently and that voting differently can be associated with lower relationship quality, we did not generally find perceived voting similarity to be associated with relationship adjustment or commitment. There was one exception: In exploratory analyses, Republicans paired with Democrats tended to report substantially lower relationship adjustment than if paired with Republicans. Implications for political differences among intimate partners and clinical work around these themes are discussed.

Although there is a small segment that chooses the newer option for what they infer to be its higher efficacy, most consumers believe that an older drug is both safer and more efficacious

Older is better: Consumers prefer older drugs. Yun Jie. Psychology & Marketing, August 13 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21395

Abstract: Despite increasing research attention to healthcare marketing in academia and the concerted effort of the pharmaceutical industry to market its latest products, limited research has explored the effect of launch time on individuals' drug choices. Building upon findings in medical literature that many newly launched drugs are indeed no better than existing ones, this study found that the majority of consumers consistently prefer older drugs when both options are claimed equally safe and/or effective. The reason is that consumers disregard declarative information and, instead, make their own inferences. Although there is a small segment that chooses the newer option for what they infer to be its higher efficacy, most consumers believe that an older drug is both safer and more efficacious. Further, promotion‐focused consumers are more likely to choose newer drugs. The underlying mechanism for how promotion focus affects choice is identified. A sample of practicing doctors cross‐validated our findings, which have implications for practitioners in the pharmaceutical industry.

16 Possible Factors for Sweden’s High Covid Death Rate among the Nordics: It is plausible that Sweden’s lighter lockdown accounts for but a small part of Sweden’s higher Covid death rate

16 Possible Factors for Sweden’s High Covid Death Rate among the Nordics. Daniel B. Klein, Joakim Book, Christian Bjørnskov. SSRN, August 14, 2020. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3674138

Abstract: What accounts for Sweden’s high Covid death rate among the Nordics? One factor could be Sweden’s lighter lockdown. But we suggest 15 other possible factors. Most significant are: (1) the “dry-tinder” situation in Sweden; (2) Stockholm’s larger population; (3) Sweden’s higher immigrant population; (4) in Sweden immigrants probably more often work in the elderly care system; (5) Sweden has a greater proportion of people in elderly care; (6) Stockholm’s “sport-break” was a week later than the other three capital cities; (7) Stockholm’s system of elderly care collects especially vulnerable people in nursing homes. Other possible factors are: (8) the Swedish elderly and health care system may have done less to try to cure elderly Covid patients; (9) Sweden may have been relatively understocked in protective equipment and sanitizers; (10) Sweden may have been slower to separate Covid patients in nursing homes; (11) Sweden may have been slower to implement staff testing and changes in protocols and equipage; (12) Sweden elderly care workers may have done more cross-facility work; (13) Sweden might have larger nursing homes; (14) Stockholmers might travel more to the Alpine regions; (15) Sweden might be quicker to count a death "a Covid death.” We give evidence for these other 15 possible factors. It is plausible that Sweden’s lighter lockdown accounts for but a small part of Sweden’s higher Covid death rate.

Keywords: Coronavirus, pandemic, lockdown, elderly care, nursing home