Kin-Avoidance in Cannibalistic Homicide

Kin-Avoidance in Cannibalistic Homicide. Marlies Oostland and Michael Brecht. Front. Psychol., August 31 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02161

Abstract: Cannibalism in the animal kingdom is widespread and well characterized, whereas the occurrence of human cannibalism has been controversial. Evidence points to cannibalism in aboriginal societies, prehistory, and the closely related chimpanzees. We assembled a non-comprehensive list (121 offenders, ~631 victims) of cannibalistic homicides in modern societies (since 1900) through internet-searches, publications, and expert questioning. Cannibalistic homicides were exceedingly rare, and often sex-related. Cannibalistic offenders were mainly men and older than offenders of non-cannibalistic homicides, whereas victims were comparatively young. Cannibalistic offenders typically killed manually (stabbing, strangulating, and beating) rather than using a gun. Furthermore, they killed more strangers and fewer intimates than conventional offenders. Human cannibals, similar to cannibalism in other species, killed and ate conspecifics, occasionally vomited and only rarely (2.5% of victims) ate kin. Interestingly, cannibalistic offenders who killed their blood relatives had more severe mental problems than non-kin-cannibals. We conclude that cannibalistic homicides have a unique pattern of murder methods, offenders, and victims.

Discussion

Cannibalistic homicides were very rare, often violent, manual and sex-related crimes. Victims were younger and offenders were older than in conventional homicide offenses. Cannibalistic offenders only rarely consumed kin and most who did suffered from serious mental problems.

Our data set consists of 121 offenders with approximately 631 victims. This is a very large number of victims, but note that we are dealing with the entirety of easily accessible cannibalism cases in modern societies since 1900. The case numbers in the US and Germany might be of particular relevance, because, in these two countries, we made a special attempt for a complete coverage of cases. Unsurprisingly, cannibalistic homicide is an exceedingly rare crime, accounting for a minute fraction of homicides. For the US in the period 1960–2018, we estimated the fraction of cannibalistic homicides, being the number of cannibalistic homicides divided by the total homicides [Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2020], to be 0.01%.

The cannibalistic homicides described here had many hundreds of victims but included only one cannibalized neonate. The two other children 2 years or younger killed by cannibalistic offenders were not cannibalized. Since in non-cannibalistic homicides the killing of children 2 years or younger is quite common (accounting for ~2.6% of homicides as reported in FBI data), it appears that this victim population is largely missing in cannibalistic offenses, i.e., we would have expected >15 cases. From a biological perspective, the absence of cannibalistic neonaticide in humans is surprising. Human neonaticide shares many features of cannibalistic neonaticide in rodents and lagomorphs (Sawin et al., 1960; DeSantis and Schmaltz, 1984). In humans, neonaticide, as defined by the killing of a neonate on the day of its birth by his/her own mother, incidence varied from 0.07 to 8.5 per 100,000 births (Tanaka et al., 2017). This behavioral pattern is strongly promoted by maternal stress and intrusion by novel partners or detection of predators. Thus, even though neonaticide has been suggested to be a prototypical “biologically” predetermined behavior (Hausfater and Hrdy, 2017), it still shows differences between rodents and humans.

Our data suggest kin-avoidance in cannibalistic homicide. About 97.5% of the victims were non-kin, a statistical difference to occurrence of kin-homicides in conventional homicides (Figure 6). The consanguinity of victim-offender pairs was very low. This conclusion agrees with findings from two other large-scale studies on cannibalistic homicides (Rajs et al., 1998; Lester et al., 2015). A diverging result with a large fraction of kin-cannibalism was only observed in one study with only five cases (Raymond et al., 2019). We think these discrepancies reflect different sampling of cases, i.e., while our internet search sampled mostly cases by news coverage, Raymond et al. (2019) focused on psychiatric patients. Indeed, in our sample the cannibalistic offenders with the most obvious mental problems killed more kin (Figure 6D). This reduced kin avoidance in offenders with mental problems might not be limited to cannibalistic homicides. Offenders of conventional homicides in Scotland targeted three times more kin when they had a psychiatric diagnosis at the time of trial. The fraction of kin victims for offenders with a psychiatric diagnosis at the time of trial was 30.9%, compared to a kin victim rate of 11.3% for mentally healthy offenders (Gillies, 1976).

The fact that mental problems can reduce kin-selectivity in cannibalistic homicides does not argue against the existence of strong anti-kin-ingestion mechanisms, whether such mechanisms are a result of nature, nurture, or a combination of both. In rats, there are kin-responsive neurons in the lateral septum (Clemens et al., 2020), which might point to a possible biological basis of kin recognition at least in rodents. Humans use stable psychosocial cues to distinguish different types of kin from non-kin, and the cues used for kin detection depends on the specific dyad (Lieberman et al., 2007; Tal and Lieberman, 2008; Antfolk et al., 2018; Billingsley et al., 2018). One such cue is early co-residence between purported siblings as suggested by Westermarck (i.e., the hypothesis of Westermarck, 1922). It might be that this system of kin detection is affected in offenders with a psychiatric diagnosis and thereby prevents the offenders from recognizing and avoiding kin.

Spitting out conspecifics or parts of them is a characteristic behavior of cannibalistic animals and humans. We found five such throwing up /spitting out events, which may not sound like a lot in 631 victim cases, but our documentation is not comprehensive and it is important to keep in mind that many humans may eat a thousand meals a year without any one such throw up event. In sticklebacks, a strongly cannibalistic fish species, spitting out of newly hatched fish has been carefully documented and referred to as “testing” (Bruijn and Sevenster, 1982). Similarly, the cannibalistic spadefoot tadpoles have been seen to nip at and spit out conspecifics (Pfennig et al., 1993), a behavior referred to as “tasting”. Our observations on humans and a review of the animal literature suggest, however, that it is very unlikely that spitting out meat from cannibalistic events indeed reflects a sensory discriminatory behavior or gustatory “tasting”. The reasons, why we reject the tasting/testing hypothesis are the following: (i) Stickleback, spadefoot tadpoles, and humans have potent non-gustatory kin-discrimination mechanisms. In stickleback (Mehlis et al., 2008) and in salamander tadpoles (Pfennig et al., 1994), such mechanisms are olfactory in nature and in humans and apes (Parr and de Waal, 1999) such mechanisms are presumably visual; (ii) when tested intadpoles by nare occlusion, olfactory mechanisms were necessary for kin discrimination, whereas the remaining gustatory mechanism (after nare occlusion) were insufficient for kin-discrimination (Pfennig et al., 1994); (iii) human gustatory kin-discrimination appears highly implausible from our screening of cannibalism reports. On numerous occasions, human meat was sold (and probably eaten) by cannibals as ostrich, pork, horse, or tenderloin, mostly without any customer complaints reported. For instance, J.R.M. sold meat of his victims as special barbecue meat in a stand next to his trailer. He mixed the meat together with pork, which he claims tastes very similar to human meat, so that nobody could tell the difference (Serial killer who “cut up victims and sold them as BBQ” dies, 2017). If humans cannot discriminate human meat from beef, how could humans or animals taste kin? (iv) “Testing” behavior in stickleback is strongly dependent on the state of satiation (Bruijn and Sevenster, 1982); it is not obvious why a sensory discriminatory behavior should strongly depend on the state of satiation; and (v) in interviews with human cannibalistic offenders, they do not report that kin had a bad taste. We propose an alternative explanation for cannibalistic spitting-out: We suggest that this behavior is driven by internally generated repulsion and reflects a conflict between kin-protective, anti-cannibalistic drives, and predatory/consumptive systems. This explanation makes sense, because (i) we do not assume gustatory kin-discrimination, (ii) it is consistent with strong dependence on internal variables like hunger, and (iii) it fits with reports from cannibalistic offenders. In our explanation we explain a contradictory behavior (spitting out, a reversion of the decision to ingest), by an internal contradiction (preying vs. protection of potential kin).

Forensic awareness could be another explanation for the kin-avoidance observed in our study. Accordingly, cannibalistic offenders would avoid eating kin in order to escape prosecution, which is conceivably more likely for kin offenses. While we think forensic awareness is an important consideration, we do not think this hypothesis can fully explain our data. In particular, we do not see any evidence for a differential “forensic awareness” of cannibalistic and conventional offenders. Instead, many cannibalistic offenders enjoyed the celebrity emanating from their deeds; indeed, cannibal P.K. sends a letter to the press detailing the whereabouts of the grave of one of his victims, an action not speaking to forensic awareness. Also, other considerations do not align with the forensic awareness hypothesis. Offenders of cannibalistic crimes who showed forensic awareness were excluded from this study. For example, it is thought that the “confession” of cannibalism by E.K. is the result of forensic awareness, and he is, therefore, excluded from this study on the grounds of not enough evidence for cannibalism (Supplementary Data Sheet 3). However, we cannot exclude that other offenders still included in our study had a similar tactic unknown to us. It could be that offenders with forensic awareness will target strangers more often than family to dismiss any suspicions which might fall on them. In that case, one might argue that a reduced mental health also likely reduces the forensic awareness and that that could explain our finding that offenders with reduced mental health targeted kin more often. While we can not exclude this theory, we deem it unlikely because (i) this would then also be true for non-kin relatives such as intimate partners, and this is not the case (Figure 6E), and (ii) we excluded cases with suspicions of forensic awareness, and in first-hand reports by cannibals included in this study, they claim to really kill and eat for the purpose of pleasure, and (iii) cannibalistic offenders, who had enough forensic awareness to never be detected, are also not included in this study for the obvious reason that they are unknown. According to the theory above, uncaught cannibalistic offenders would target strangers more often than family, and those cannibals are missing from our study. Thus, if this is true, we are missing more strangers victims but we are not missing as many kin victims, in which case the actual effect size would be even larger than reported here.

War and hunger related cases of cannibalism appear to share features of cannibalistic homicide identified here. In war crimes, it is often the enemy which is cannibalized (Tanaka, 2018). In hunger-related cannibalism there are also indications of kin-avoidance. In the famous Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 incident, where starving victims of the plane crash fed on meat from deceased co-passengers to survive, it is said that at least some survivors made efforts to avoid eating kin (Arijón, 2008). Specifically, when one of them could only eat his kin for survival, he decided to cross the Andes to search for help instead (Parrado and Rause, 2013), which is the journey which eventually led to their rescue. Internally generated disgust is evident in such cases, i.e., the plane crash victims were appalled by eating human meat.

To achieve a correct interpretation of the results reported here, it is necessary to consider the limitations of our data set. Cannibalistic homicide is a secretive crime and our study is based on second hand and potentially distorted information. Thus, despite the best of our efforts, some errors are inevitable and we expect that our data set may contain mistakes about homicides, offenders, victims, and victim-offender relationships. The case of cannibalistic offender J.K. provides a warning. No less than five putatively innocent people were arrested for his crimes (three of whom committed suicide and a fourth was wrongly convicted of murder). Furthermore, some homicide offenders may give a calculated “confession” of cannibalism in order to use an insanity plea, as is suspected to be the case with E.K. (who for this reason has been excluded from this study, see Supplementary Data Sheet 3). In anthropology, the mere existence of human cannibalism in, for example, aboriginal cultures has been questioned on grounds of sensationalistic reporting in travelogs (Arens, 2004). Does this mean that one can dismiss our evidence about cannibalistic homicides, because these crimes seldom have eyewitnesses or video evidence and, without exception, incidents have been hyped by the press? We think the answer is a resounding no. The hundreds of cases documented in our report leave no room for doubt. We acknowledge, however, that our worldwide collection of cases is subject to a variety of sampling biases.

Limitations of Our Approach

The value of the data provided in our study might be limited by the following weaknesses:

1. The secretive nature of cannibalistic homicide. Cannibalistic homicide is nothing that can be openly performed in modern societies. The vast majority of cannibalistic homicides described here have been performed secretively and often there have been considerable efforts by offenders to destroy evidence. Hence, this paper largely describes deeds that nobody witnessed and cannibalism – the defining characteristic of what is talked about here – has rarely been directly established.

2. The need for estimates. Given the secretive nature of cannibalistic homicide, many details of the offenses described here can only be estimated. Many of these estimates are based on excellent evidence such as confessions, post-mortem examinations, or strongly suggestive circumstance (a child’s hand cooking in salted water on the stove), but nevertheless the evidence remains inferential.

3. Sampling biases. Perhaps the biggest problem of the data presented here is that our “news-based” search for cannibalistic incidents is subject to sampling biases. In particular, the data presented here will be biased towards particularly newsworthy cases with high victim numbers or gruesome case details.

4. Outright distortions. Sensationalism in the press might also lead to inflated presentation of evidence and distortion of the facts.

5. Reliance on second hand information. Our data set relies largely on web and newspaper reports and less so on official documents (original verdicts, interviews, letters and notes from the cannibal offender, autobiographies by offenders, and the like). Hence, verification of incident details is largely indirect.

6. Unintentional mistakes. Our data set is very large and unquestionably contains mistakes. Such mistakes would happen less in official documents double-checked and based on primary crime evidence but are unavoidable in our type of analysis.

7. Language barriers. We decided for a worldwide search of cannibalism cases, which allowed us amassing a large sample, but led us to encounter language problems. In several instances we used tools such as Google Translate to check local news sources. Such tools are powerful, but imperfect.

Strengths of Our Approach

1. Numbers. The biggest strength of the worldwide internet-based search for cannibalistic homicides is the sheer number of cases it returns.

2. Substantial coverage. The news coverage of cannibalistic cases is substantial. In a contemporary society, it is therefore simply unlikely that a cannibalistic homicide is not covered, unless (a specific detail of) a case is prohibited to be covered by the press.

3. Rich detail. Our data set contains very detailed information about cannibalistic homicides.

4. Good estimates. A lot of the evidence presented here is inferential, but many of the estimates presented here are good estimates. In modern societies an immense amount of effort is made to clear up homicides. Thus, a lot of the estimates about the deeds of serial murderers presented come from police investigators, who spent years of their life chasing the perpetrators; such detailed police work entitles to estimates about the deeds of offenders.

5. Documentation effort in internet-data sets. A lot of our searches and results rely on pages like murderpedia.org and lists of cannibalistic incidents. Many of these data sets do not comply with strict scientific standards of referencing; nevertheless, it would be a mistake to underestimate the effort and expertise that went into aggregating these data sets.

6. Access to rare cases. Cannibalistic homicides are rare and if one wants to investigate subclasses of such cases (i.e., very rare cases) the comprehensive search strategy is indispensable.

7. Informal cross validation. Whenever possible we informally cross-validated data sets against each other.

Our results indicate that cannibalistic homicide is a distinctive offense with a special pattern of murder methods, a strong relation to sexual acts, distinctive patterns of victims and offenders, and unique victim-offender relationships. There is a seemingly high amount of kin-avoidance in such crimes, in particular, if offenders do not suffer from serious mental health problems. We suggest that kin-avoidance and spitting out of conspecifics might be triggered by internally generated disgust against kin-ingestion.

Social status is a universal and consequential dimension of variation within human groups; multiple prominent theories have been proposed to explain how status is allocated

Psychological foundations of human status allocation. Patrick K. Durkee, Aaron W. Lukaszewski, and David M. Buss. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 18, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006148117

Significance: Social status is a universal and consequential dimension of variation within human groups. Multiple prominent theories have been proposed to explain how status is allocated, but extant evidence is insufficient to adjudicate between their conflicting predictions. Here we show that distinctions between each theory hinge on the relative importance of four key affordance dimensions: benefit-generation ability, benefit-generation willingness, cost-infliction ability, and cost-infliction willingness. Each theory makes a different prediction about the role of each affordance in status allocation. We test these competing predictions to explain status allocations across 14 nations. We found that benefit-generation affordances uniquely predicted status allocations across nations, whereas cost-infliction affordances were weak or null competing predictors.

Abstract: Competing theories of status allocation posit divergent conceptual foundations upon which human status hierarchies are built. We argue that the three prominent theories of status allocation—competence-based models, conflict-based models, and dual-pathway models—can be distinguished by the importance that they place on four key affordance dimensions: benefit-generation ability, benefit-generation willingness, cost-infliction ability, and cost-infliction willingness. In the current study, we test competing theoretical predictions about the relative centrality of each affordance dimension to clarify the foundations of human status allocation. We examined the extent to which American raters’ (n = 515) perceptions of the benefit-generation and cost-infliction affordances of 240 personal characteristics predict the status impacts of those same personal characteristics as determined by separate groups of raters (n = 2,751) across 14 nations. Benefit-generation and cost-infliction affordances were both positively associated with status allocation at the zero-order level. However, the unique effects of benefit-generation affordances explained most of the variance in status allocation when competing with cost-infliction affordances, whereas cost-infliction affordances were weak or null predictors. This finding suggests that inflicting costs without generating benefits does not reliably increase status in the minds of others among established human groups around the world. Overall, the findings bolster competence-based theories of status allocation but offer little support for conflict-based and dual-pathway models.

Keywords: statushierarchyaffordancesdominanceprestige

Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion, but more sweet than bitter

The Hedonic Character of Nostalgia: An Integrative Data Analysis. Joost Leunissen et al. Emotion Review, August 30, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073920950455

Abstract: We conducted an integrative data analysis to examine the hedonic character of nostalgia. We combined positive and negative affect measures from 41 experiments manipulating nostalgia (N = 4,659). Overall, nostalgia inductions increased positive and ambivalent affect, but did not significantly alter negative affect. The magnitude of nostalgia’s effects varied markedly across different experimental inductions of the emotion. The hedonic character of nostalgia, then, depends on how the emotion is elicited and the benchmark (i.e., control condition) to which it is compared. We discuss implications for theory and research on nostalgia and emotions in general.

Keywords: ambivalence, integrative data analysis, negative affect, nostalgia, positive affect

Ambivalence and the Function of Nostalgia

The ambivalent hedonic character of nostalgia can provide
clues to its functional value. The dynamic model of affect
(Zautra et al., 2000) and the coactivation model of health (J. T.
Larsen et al., 2003) point to the resilience and coping functions
of ambivalent affect. According to the dynamic model of affect,
positive and negative affect function to provide information
about one’s immediate environment that is relevant to one’s
well-being. In calm and predictable times, positive and negative
affect are relatively independent. However, during times of
stress, an attentional shift occurs where negative affect gains
priority, resulting in a stronger inverse association between positive
and negative affect (Davis et al., 2004; Zautra et al., 2002).
The key to maintaining psychological well-being during times
of stress is the “uncoupling” of positive and negative affect
(Reich et al., 2003, p. 77). This uncoupling allows one to experience
positive and negative affect simultaneously, and this emotional
complexity is a key driver to cope with stressful life
circumstances. For example, dispositional resilience is positively
associated with emotional ambivalence (Ong &
Bergeman, 2004), emotional ambivalence is positively associated
with resilience during bereavement (Coifman et al., 2007),
and emotional ambivalence is positively associated with psychological
well-being during psychotherapy (Adler &
Hershfield, 2012). The coactivation model of health similarly
proposes that ambivalent affect facilitates coping with stressful
life events (J. T. Larsen et al., 2003). The results of a 10-year
longitudinal study are consistent with the idea that ambivalent
affect is positively associated with well-being (Hershfield et al.,
2013). The ability to tolerate and harness emotional ambivalence,
then, is a resource for coping with stressful life experiences
(Lindquist & Barrett, 2008; Ong et al., 2009).

Research on the psychological functions of nostalgia dovetails
with the demonstrated benefits of emotional ambivalence.
Ambivalent affect could influence cognitive flexibility (Mejía &
Hooker, 2017; Rothman & Melwani, 2017). Ambivalent affect
facilitates contradictory appraisals of a situation (e.g., certain
and uncertain, under control and not under control). This, in turn,
may activate a wider range of (atypical) information, give awareness
to new priorities, and encourage the pursuit of novel options
(Mejía & Hooker, 2017; Rothman & Melwani, 2017). Indeed,
emotional ambivalence (e.g., recalling an event such as a graduation)
fosters creativity (Fong, 2006). This literature is in line
with findings illustrating that nostalgia boosts inspiration
(Stephan et al., 2015) and creativity (van Tilburg et al., 2015). In
addition, emotional ambivalence (i.e., the blend of positive and
negative emotions) enhances judgmental accuracy (Rees et al.,
2013). Nostalgia may do the same. By extrapolation, nostalgia
may also aid in decision making by reducing susceptibility to
biases such as anchoring, escalation of commitment (Rothman &
Melwani, 2017), or risk aversion (Zou et al., 2019).

Nostalgia is triggered by stressful experiences, such as loneliness
(Zhou et al., 2008), meaninglessness (Routledge et al.,
2011), and identity discontinuity (Sedikides, Wildschut,
Routledge, & Arndt, 2015). In turn, nostalgia restores a sense of
social connectedness (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2019; Wildschut
et al., 2011), meaningfulness (Leunissen et al., 2018; Sedikides
& Wildschut, 2018), and identity continuity (Sedikides et al.,
2016; van Tilburg, Sedikides, et al., 2019). Nostalgia has a similar
function in the workplace, counteracting the deleterious
effects of low procedural justice on cooperation (van Dijke
et al., 2015), and the detrimental effects of low interactional justice
on intrinsic motivation (van Dijke et al., 2019). In all, the
extant literature supports the notion that nostalgia acts as a coping
resource for stressful life experiences. A key direction for
future research is to substantiate the postulated role of affective
ambivalence in mediating nostalgia’s capacity to enhance cognitive
flexibility and foster resilience to adversity. Testing such
mediational models poses theoretical and methodological challenges
(Spencer et al., 2005), not least because the effect of nostalgia
on affective ambivalence was relatively small, even at its
strongest point (i.e., in ERT experiments). Nevertheless, even
small, short-term effects can produce larger, long-term benefits
(Cohen & Sherman, 2014; Walton & Wilson, 2018).

Voters seem to react more to relatively smaller scandals by high-quality officials compared to low-quality ones

Strategic Opposition Research. Benjamin Ogden & Alejandro Medina. Texas A&M University Working Paper, June 2020. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d51841f673aa70001587348/t/5eed1373f54506483b4d82db/1592595316471/MO_2_19_20.pdf

Abstract: We develop a model of strategic opposition research within a campaign. A candidate faces an opponent of unknown relative quality. After observing an unverifiable private signal (e.g., rumor of a scandal), the candidate chooses whether to undertake opposition research, attempting a costly search for verifiable bad news, and then whether to reveal what the research found to the voters. Increasing the ex-ante quality of an opponent deters opposition research, but also increases voter response to any given revelation in equilibrium because the voter knows the (unobserved) private signal was sufficient to launch research. This "Halo Effect" can explain both why voters seem to react more to relatively smaller scandals by high-quality officials compared to low-quality ones, and why even high-quality challengers may want to raise the cost of searching their backgrounds, despite their expected lack of scandal. This effect may be sufficiently strong that parties prefer lower expected quality candidates on average. These results also rationalize the mixed empirical literature showing that exogenously generated negative information about candidates (i.e., experiments) tend to show smaller effects on voter behavior than endogenously generated negative information over the course of campaigns (i.e., surveys).

Behavioral Response to Increased Pedestrian and Staying Activity in Public Space: Men may be more likely to be attracted to places with more public users, while females may be less likely to stay

The Behavioral Response to Increased Pedestrian and Staying Activity in Public Space: A Field Experiment. Oscar Zapata and Jordi Honey-Rosés. Environment and Behavior 1 –22. Aug 2020. DOI: 10.1177/0013916520953147

Abstract: William Whyte originally hypothesized that the presence of people in a public space would attract more people. Contemporary planners now refer to “sticky streets” as places where pedestrians are compelled to linger and enjoy vibrant public life. We test the hypothesis that adding users to a public space will attract more people using an experimental design with confederates to add pedestrian movement and staying activity in a residential street for 45 randomly selected hours. We observed staying behavior by gender with and without our intervention. We find that the addition of public users reduced the total number of people staying in our study area, especially among women. We find that women’s right to the city may be constrained by the mere presence of other individuals, even in safe spaces and during daylight hours. Our findings suggest that Whyte’s claim is not universal, but depends on the conditions of a particular site.

Keywords: behavior, field experiment, gender, public life study, public space, urban design

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In sum, our results suggest that increasing the number of users in public space has a differentiated effect among males and females. On average, men may be more likely to be attracted to places with more public users, while females may be less likely to stay. However, the difference in number of people staying in the public space is statistically significant only among women. We do not find evidence that the addition of public users increased total staying behavior.

Conclusion
Since the work of Jane Jacobs (1961) and William H. Whyte (1980), urban-ists have thought carefully about how to entice people to stay in well-designed urban plazas, parks and streets. With the work of Jan Gehl and others, the study of public life has emerged as a distinct subfield, with its own methods and tools (Ciocoletto, 2014; Gehl & Svarre, 2013). A major premise of research on public life is that people attract other people. More than anything else, people enjoy watching other people (Toderian, 2014). Well-designed spaces are those that succeed at enticing others to linger, stay longer and in this way, help to build vibrant and inclusive communities. The presence or absence of people in a public space may be interpreted as an indicator of its quality, and these ideas have influenced the design of public spaces, such as plazas, parks, and streets.
We examined the behavioral effect of adding more people to a pedestrian-ized street in a residential community. We test the hypothesis that adding people to the public space might make it more attractive to others. We con-ducted our experiment in a high-quality and pedestrianized street that offers formal and informal seating. We find that the addition of public users reduced the total number of people staying in our study area, especially among women.We observe a strong differential effect by gender in which adding people to a space may invite more males while simultaneously push away females. Our results show that women and men perceive public space differently, and these different perceptions translate into different behavioral responses. We find additional evidence that women’s right to the city is restricted in comparison to men’s. Importantly, this remains true even in high-quality, pedestrianized and safe places. This suggests that gendered spaces are not limited to those areas that are clearly perceived to be unsafe, poorly lit, or otherwise perceived as dangerous for women. Rather even in safe spaces, during day-light hours, women’s right to the city may be constrained by the mere presence of other individuals.Our experimental design does not allow us to identify the underlying factors or mechanisms that might explain the gender difference in the use of the public space. However, the literature already identifies the elements that may explain how the experience of the public space is different for men and women. It is clear that perceptions of safety and the opportunities for social interaction in public areas are conditioned by gender.Our results appear to contradict Whyte’s assertion that people attract peo-ple. Yet we cannot refute this claim for all sites and conditions. Whether our findings would hold in public spaces that are more social in nature, such as plazas or commercial streets, remains an open question. At the very least, we find that Whyte’s claim is not universal, but depends on the conditions of a particular site. It is possible that the particular geometry or conditions of our study site may have contributed to the observed results.

Our results bolster Whyte’s claim that people have an intuitive sense of the carrying capacity of a public space. In his observational work, he noticed that each site had a maximum number of people that it would support, and people would intuitively move somewhere else once that level had been reached. It appears that our intervention reached or surpassed the intuitive carrying capacity of our site. It also seems that men and women perceive density differently, and consequently have different density thresholds regarding what density levels are tolerable. In short, our results are consistent with Whyte’s notion of carrying capacity but there are likely to be differences between genders on what the intuitive carrying capacity might be.

We are intrigued by Whyte’s notion that we have an intuitive sense of the right number of people is to occupy a space. As noted, this intuitive notion is contingent on gender, but probably other cultural notions and tastes as well. It is also possible that these cultural notions or our perceptions of safety in public space might be evolving, potentially as a result of changing norms or our use of technology in public space. For example, an underlying assumption driving the sticky streets hypothesis is that we enjoy watching other people. When Whyte studied public users in New York, this was certainly true, and people watching was a New York pastime. Surveys of visitors to Central Park in 1982 showed that people watching was the most popular passive activity in Central Park, followed by relaxation, thinking and reading (Barlow Rogers, 1987). Times have changed and perhaps emerging cultural norms are less tolerant of people watching behavior than in the past. Younger generations may feel less comfortable with watching others or being watched, resulting in different behavioral responses to others in public space. If indeed there are changing cultural norms, we would expect to observe these differences by age (Aoki & Downes, 2003). We did not include age in our head-counts of staying behavior, leaving this unresolved in our study. Does the behavioral response of increasing pedestrian and staying behavior have het-erogenous effects by age as well as by gender? Are younger generations less interested in people watching and more attracted to the use of electronic devices? Our results merely raise more questions about under which conditions would we observe different effects. How can planners estimate or predict the carrying capacity of a particular site? What simple design interventions may increase or decrease perceived carrying capacity? What can be done to reduce the gender gap in terms of perception of safety, sense of belonging and staying behavior?

More work is needed to identify the factors that explain people’s decisions around the use of public space. It would be particularly useful to have meth-ods for estimating the carrying capacity of particular sites, as Whyte suggests, or the characteristics of spaces that may make adding people tolerable or desirable. It may also be worth considering how experimental designs may assist in answering these questions. Field experiments on questions about public space remain rare, yet have untapped potential. Field experiments may complement other research methods that aim to understand individual choices, movements and staying behavior in public. Learning when and why certain places are attractive and welcoming to both women and men will provide valuable insights for the theory and practice of urban design and planning.

In relation to heterosexual and homosexual women and men, bisexual women and men appear to experience less sexual satisfaction

Björkenstam C, Mannheimer L, Löfström M, et al. Sexual Orientation–Related Differences in Sexual Satisfaction and Sexual Problems—A Population-Based Study in Sweden. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX–XXX. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.07.084

Abstract
Introduction Human sexuality is a natural and important part of peoples’ life and well-being. The underlying interactions affecting sexual satisfaction are complex, and sexual orientation differences partly remain to be identified as well as explained.

Aim Our aim was to investigate sexual orientation–related differences in sexual satisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction and differences in sexual function and sexual-related problems.

Methods We used Swedish data from SRHR2017 (sexual and reproductive health and rights), based on self-administered surveys, linked to nationwide registers. The national sample consisted of 14,537 women and men aged 16–84 years. With logistic regression, we examined sexual orientation–related differences in self-reported sexual satisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction, stratified by sex.

Main outcome measures The main outcome measures of this study are odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results Bisexual women were more dissatisfied with their sex life, as compared with heterosexual women (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.3–2.6), as were bisexual men compared with heterosexual men (OR: 2.7; 95% CI: 1.7–4.4). A bisexual or lesbian identity was a robust risk factor for premature orgasm (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.1–3.9 and OR: 8.0; 95% CI: 3.2–20.0, respectively). Lesbian women seemed to have lower risk for many sexual-related problems (however not significant). Gay men lacked arousal (OR: 3.3; 95% CI: 1.6–6.9), had no orgasm (OR: 2.6; 95% CI: 1.4–4.7), and were at lower risk of experiencing premature ejaculation (OR: 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2–0.9), as compared with heterosexual men.

Conclusion Our findings contribute to the sparse evidence of some sexual orientation differences in sexual satisfaction and sexual dysfunctions. Especially bisexual women and men appear to experience less sexual satisfaction in relation to heterosexual and homosexual women and men.

Key Words: LBGTSexualitySexual DysfunctionsSwedenPopulation-Based Survey

Low-ranking Group Members Are Perceived as the Best Sources of Group Norms from the assumption that lower-ranking team members are more attentive to and aware of the descriptive norms

Dannals, Jennifer E., Emily Reit, and Dale T. Miller. 2020. “From Whom Do We Learn Group Norms? Low-ranking Group Members Are Perceived as the Best Sources.” PsyArXiv. August 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/vbtqr

Abstract: Social norm perception is ubiquitous in small groups and teams, but how individuals approach this process is not well understood. When individuals wish to perceive descriptive social norms in a group or team, whose ad- vice and behavior do they prefer to rely on? Four lab studies and one Teld survey demonstrate that when individuals seek information about a team’s social norms they prefer to receive advice from lower-ranking individuals (Studies 1–4) and give greater weight to the observed behavior of lower-ranking individuals (Study 5). Results from correlation (Study 3) and moderation (Study 4) approaches suggest this preference stems from the assumption that lower-ranking team members are more attentive to and aware of the descriptive social norms of their team. Alternative mechanisms (e.g., perceived similarity to lower-ranking team members, greater honesty of lower-ranking team members) were also examined, but no support for these was found.

Humans in specific instances are psychologically prepared to prioritize misinformation over truth to, inter alia, mobilize the ingroup against the outgroup & signal commitment to the group to fellow ingroup members

Petersen, Michael Bang, Mathias Osmundsen, and John Tooby. 2020. “The Evolutionary Psychology of Conflict and the Functions of Falsehood.” PsyArXiv. August 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/kaby9

Abstract: Truth is commonly viewed as the first causality of war. As such the current circulation of fake news, conspiracy theories and other hostile political rumors is not a unique phenomenon but merely another example of how people are motivated to dispend with truth in situations of conflict. In this chapter, we theorize about the potentially evolved roots of this motivation and outline the structure of the underlying psychology. Specifically, we focus on how the occurrence of intergroup conflict throughout human evolutionary history has built psychological motivations into the human mind to spread information that (a) mobilize the ingroup against the outgroup, (b) facilitate the coordination of attention within the group and (c) signal commitment to the group to fellow ingroup members. In all these instances, we argue, human psychology is designed to select information that accomplishes these goals most efficiently rather than to select information on the basis of its veracity. Accordingly, we hypothesize that humans in specific instances are psychologically prepared to prioritize misinformation over truth.

Check also Echo Chambers Exist! (But They're Full of Opposing Views). Jonathan Bright, Nahema Marchal, Bharath Ganesh, Stevan Rudinac. arXiv Jan 30 2020. arXiv:2001.11461. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/02/echo-chambers-exist-but-theyre-full-of.html

And: The rise in the political polarization in recent decades is not accounted for by the dramatic rise in internet use; claims that partisans inhabit wildly segregated echo chambers/filter bubbles are largely overstated:

Deri, Sebastian. 2019. “Internet Use and Political Polarization: A Review.” PsyArXiv. November 6. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/11/the-rise-in-political-polarization-in.html

And Testing popular news discourse on the “echo chamber” effect: Does political polarisation occur among those relying on social media as their primary politics news source? Nguyen, A. and Vu, H.T. First Monday, 24 (5), 6. Jun 4 2019. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/10/testing-popular-news-discourse-on-echo.html

Check also
Why Smart People Are Vulnerable to Putting Tribe Before Truth. Dan M Kahan. Scientific American, Dec 03 2018. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/12/why-smart-people-are-vulnerable-to.html

Baum, J., Rabovsky, M., Rose, S. B., & Abdel Rahman, R. (2018). Clear judgments based on unclear evidence: Person evaluation is strongly influenced by untrustworthy gossip. Emotion, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/12/clear-judgments-based-on-unclear.html

The key mechanism that generates scientific polarization involves treating evidence generated by other agents as uncertain when their beliefs are relatively different from one’s own:

Scientific polarization. Cailin O’Connor, James Owen Weatherall. European Journal for Philosophy of Science. October 2018, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp 855–875. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/12/the-key-mechanism-that-generates.html

Polarized Mass or Polarized Few? Assessing the Parallel Rise of Survey Nonresponse and Measures of Polarization. Amnon Cavari and Guy Freedman. The Journal of Politics, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/03/polarized-mass-or-polarized-few.html

Tappin, Ben M., and Ryan McKay. 2018. “Moral Polarization and Out-party Hate in the US Political Context.” PsyArXiv. November 2. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/11/moral-polarization-and-out-party-hate.html

Forecasting tournaments, epistemic humility and attitude depolarization. Barbara Mellers, PhilipTetlock, Hal R. Arkes. Cognition, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/10/forecasting-tournaments-epistemic.html

Does residential sorting explain geographic polarization? Gregory J. Martin & Steven W. Webster. Political Science Research and Methods, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/10/voters-appear-to-be-sorting-on-non.html

Liberals and conservatives have mainly moved further apart on a wide variety of policy issues; the divergence is substantial quantitatively and in its plausible political impact: intra party moderation has become increasingly unlikely:

Peltzman, Sam, Polarizing Currents within Purple America (August 20, 2018). SSRN: https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/09/liberals-and-conservatives-have-mainly.html

Does Having a Political Discussion Help or Hurt Intergroup Perceptions? Drawing Guidance From Social Identity Theory and the Contact Hypothesis. Robert M. Bond, Hillary C. Shulman, Michael Gilbert. Bond Vol 12 (2018), https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/10/having-political-discussion-with-out.html


All the interactions took the form of subjects rating stories offering ‘ammunition’ for their own side of the controversial issue as possessing greater intrinsic news importance:

Perceptions of newsworthiness are contaminated by a political usefulness bias. Harold Pashler, Gail Heriot. Royal Society Open Science, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/08/all-interactions-took-form-of-subjects.html

When do we care about political neutrality? The hypocritical nature of reaction to political bias. Omer Yair, Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan. PLOS, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/05/when-do-we-care-about-political.html

Democrats & Republicans were both more likely to believe news about the value-upholding behavior of their in-group or the value-undermining behavior of their out-group; Republicans were more likely to believe & want to share apolitical fake news:

Pereira, Andrea, and Jay Van Bavel. 2018. “Identity Concerns Drive Belief in Fake News.” PsyArXiv. September 11. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/09/democrats-republicans-were-both-more.html

In self-judgment, the "best option illusion" leads to Dunning-Kruger (failure to recognize our own incompetence). In social judgment, it leads to the Cassandra quandary (failure to identify when another person’s competence exceeds our own): The best option illusion in self and social assessment. David Dunning. Self and Identity, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/04/in-self-judgment-best-option-illusion.html

People are more inaccurate when forecasting their own future prospects than when forecasting others, in part the result of biased visual experience. People orient visual attention and resolve visual ambiguity in ways that support self-interests: "Visual experience in self and social judgment: How a biased majority claim a superior minority." Emily Balcetis & Stephanie A. Cardenas. Self and Identity, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/04/people-are-more-inaccurate-when.html

Can we change our biased minds? Michael Gross. Current Biology, Volume 27, Issue 20, 23 October 2017, Pages R1089–R1091. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/can-we-change-our-biased-minds.html

Summary: A simple test taken by millions of people reveals that virtually everybody has implicit biases that they are unaware of and that may clash with their explicit beliefs. From policing to scientific publishing, all activities that deal with people are at risk of making wrong decisions due to bias. Raising awareness is the first step towards improving the outcomes.

People believe that future others' preferences and beliefs will change to align with their own:

The Belief in a Favorable Future. Todd Rogers, Don Moore and Michael Norton. Psychological Science, Volume 28, issue 9, page(s): 1290-1301, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/people-believe-that-future-others.html

Kahan, Dan M. and Landrum, Asheley and Carpenter, Katie and Helft, Laura and Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, Science Curiosity and Political Information Processing (August 1, 2016). Advances in Political Psychology, Forthcoming; Yale Law & Economics Research Paper No. 561. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2816803

Abstract: This paper describes evidence suggesting that science curiosity counteracts politically biased information processing. This finding is in tension with two bodies of research. The first casts doubt on the existence of “curiosity” as a measurable disposition. The other suggests that individual differences in cognition related to science comprehension - of which science curiosity, if it exists, would presumably be one - do not mitigate politically biased information processing but instead aggravate it. The paper describes the scale-development strategy employed to overcome the problems associated with measuring science curiosity. It also reports data, observational and experimental, showing that science curiosity promotes open-minded engagement with information that is contrary to individuals’ political predispositions. We conclude by identifying a series of concrete research questions posed by these results.

Facebook news and (de)polarization: reinforcing spirals in the 2016 US election. Michael A. Beam, Myiah J. Hutchens & Jay D. Hmielowski. Information, Communication & Society, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/03/our-results-also-showed-that-facebook.html

The Partisan Brain: An Identity-Based Model of Political Belief. Jay J. Van Bavel, Andrea Pereira. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/02/the-tribal-nature-of-human-mind-leads.html

The Parties in our Heads: Misperceptions About Party Composition and Their Consequences. Douglas J. Ahler, Gaurav Sood. Aug 2017, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/01/we-tend-to-considerably-overestimate.html

The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media. Elizabeth Dubois & Grant Blank. Information, Communication & Society, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/01/the-echo-chamber-is-overstated.html

Processing political misinformation: comprehending the Trump phenomenon. Briony Swire, Adam J. Berinsky, Stephan Lewandowsky, Ullrich K. H. Ecker. Royal Society Open Science, published on-line March 01 2017. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160802, http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/3/160802

Competing cues: Older adults rely on knowledge in the face of fluency. By Brashier, Nadia M.; Umanath, Sharda; Cabeza, Roberto; Marsh, Elizabeth J. Psychology and Aging, Vol 32(4), Jun 2017, 331-337. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/07/competing-cues-older-adults-rely-on.html

Stanley, M. L., Dougherty, A. M., Yang, B. W., Henne, P., & De Brigard, F. (2017). Reasons Probably Won’t Change Your Mind: The Role of Reasons in Revising Moral Decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/reasons-probably-wont-change-your-mind.html

Science Denial Across the Political Divide — Liberals and Conservatives Are Similarly Motivated to Deny Attitude-Inconsistent Science. Anthony N. Washburn, Linda J. Skitka. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10.1177/1948550617731500. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/liberals-and-conservatives-are.html

Biased Policy Professionals. Sheheryar Banuri, Stefan Dercon, and Varun Gauri. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8113. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/biased-policy-professionals-world-bank.html

Dispelling the Myth: Training in Education or Neuroscience Decreases but Does Not Eliminate Beliefs in Neuromyths. Kelly Macdonald et al. Frontiers in Psychology, Aug 10 2017. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/training-in-education-or-neuroscience.html

Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics. Caitlin Drummond and Baruch Fischhoff. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114 no. 36, pp 9587–9592, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1704882114, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/individuals-with-greater-science.html

Expert ability can actually impair the accuracy of expert perception when judging others' performance: Adaptation and fallibility in experts' judgments of novice performers. By Larson, J. S., & Billeter, D. M. (2017). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(2), 271–288. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/06/expert-ability-can-actually-impair.html

Public Perceptions of Partisan Selective Exposure. Perryman, Mallory R. The University of Wisconsin - Madison, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2017. 10607943. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/citizens-believe-others-especially.html

The Myth of Partisan Selective Exposure: A Portrait of the Online Political News Audience. Jacob L. Nelson, and James G. Webster. Social Media + Society, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/the-myth-of-partisan-selective-exposure.html

Echo Chamber? What Echo Chamber? Reviewing the Evidence. Axel Bruns. Future of Journalism 2017 Conference. http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/echo-chamber-what-echo-chamber.html

Fake news and post-truth pronouncements in general and in early human development. Victor Grech. Early Human Development, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/09/fake-news-and-post-truth-pronouncements.html

Consumption of fake news is a consequence, not a cause of their readers’ voting preferences. Kahan, Dan M., Misinformation and Identity-Protective Cognition (October 2, 2017). Social Science Research Network, http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/10/consumption-of-fake-news-is-consequence.html

Twitter: While partisan opinion leaders are certainly polarized, centrist/non-political voices are much more likely to produce the most visible information; & there is little evidence of echo-chambers in consumption

Mukerjee, Subhayan, Kokil Jaidka, and Yphtach Lelkes. 2020. “The Ideological Landscape of Twitter: Comparing the Production Versus Consumption of Information on the Platform.” OSF Preprints. June 23. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/06/twitter-while-partisan-opinion-leaders.html

Contrary to this prediction, we found that moderate and uncertain participants showed a nonreciprocal attraction towards extreme and confident individuals:

Zimmerman, Federico, Gerry Garbulsky, Dan Ariely, Mariano Sigman, and Joaquin Navajas. 2020. “The Nonreciprocal and Polarizing Nature of Interpersonal Attraction in Political Discussions.” PsyArXiv. August 21. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/08/contrary-to-this-prediction-we-found.html

The likelihood of having had first sex with an older partner is also higher (25% higher) for females with at least one older brother if compared to females without older brothers

The “dating game”: age differences at first sex of college students in Italy. Maria Carella, Thaís García-Pereiro, Roberta Pace and Anna Paterno. Genus Genus (2020) 76:23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-020-00087-2

Abstract: Researchers have devoted much attention both to the analysis of the first sexual experience and to how the couple was established, but little is still known about age differences of partners at their first sexual relationship. The availability of two highly comparable waves of a survey on the sexual behavior of college students in Italy (SELFY—Sexual and Emotional LiFe of Youth) carried out in 2000 and 2017 allowed us to study the predictors of age differences between partners at first sex, filling the existing gap on recent research. Results of multivariate analyses show important gender differences on mate selection: women tend to choose an older partner for having their first sexual experience and are less likely as men to be involved in age discordant first sex relationships with a younger partner. Age gaps between partners also influence age at sexual debut, which tends to occur earlier in a relationship with an older partner and later if having first sex with a younger partner. Another important predictor of the age gap is the type of relationship that linked the respondent to its partner at first sex. Our estimations indicate a lower likelihood of having had an older first sex partner for students who had their first sexual experience with the own boy/girl-friend or with a friend compared to those who  have had it with a stranger. Finally, we have found a higher likelihood of first sex relationships among same-age partners relative to older partners through SELFY waves and small changes on variables influencing such relationships.

Keywords: Age differences, Mate matching, First sexual intercourse, College students, Italy

A Mental Winner Effect? Competitive Mental Imagery Impacts Self-Assurance but not Testosterone in Women

A Mental Winner Effect? Competitive Mental Imagery Impacts Self-Assurance but not Testosterone in Women. Jennifer M. Gray, Emilie Montemayor, Meggan Drennan, Marlaina Widmann & Katherine L. Goldey. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology (2020). August 24 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-020-00149-x

Abstract
Objective: In humans and other species, winning or losing a competition elicits changes in testosterone that may influence engagement or performance in subsequent competitive events. Furthermore, anticipating or observing competition can change mood and testosterone, suggesting that cognitions surrounding competitive events may at least partially drive specific physiological and emotional responses. In the present study, we investigated the effect of imagined competition on mood and testosterone in women.

Methods: Participants (62 women) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (high-investment win, high-investment loss, low-investment win, low-investment loss) and were asked to imagine and write about experiencing both the competition and its outcome. Salivary testosterone levels and self-reported mood were assessed before and after the competitive cognition task.

Results: Although imagining a competitive scenario was not salient enough to elicit significant changes in testosterone, imagining a high-investment competition and imagining a win each significantly increased feelings of self-assurance. Participants were more likely to write about their motivation to compete again when imagining a loss than when imagining a win, but testosterone did not predict including content about competing again.

Conclusions: Visualizing oneself winning a contest of personal importance increased feelings of self-assurance in the absence of a testosterone response in women. Future research is needed to determine how the combination of positive mental imagery and physical competition could influence mood and testosterone, and whether self-assurance induced by mental imagery can increase the chance of future victories.

Predictive processing in sensory hierarchies may be well-modeled as (folded, sparse, partially disentangled) variational autoencoders, with beliefs discretely-updated via the formation of synchronous complexes

Safron, Adam. 2020. “Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) Implemented: Towards Reverse Engineering Consciousness with the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference.” August 28. doi:10.31234/osf.io/paz5j. Accepted for presentation at the 1st International Workshop on Active Inference (IWAI 2020)

Abstract: Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) is a synthetic model that attempts to unify theories of consciousness within the Free Energy Principle and Active Inference framework, with particular emphasis on Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT). IWMT further suggests predictive processing in sensory hierarchies may be well-modeled as (folded, sparse, partially disentangled) variational autoencoders, with beliefs discretely-updated via the formation of synchronous complexes—as self-organizing harmonic modes (SOHMs)—potentially entailing maximal a posteriori (MAP) estimation via turbo coding. In this account, alpha-synchronized SOHMs across posterior cortices may constitute the kinds of maximal complexes described by IIT, as well as samples (or MAP estimates) from multimodal shared latent space, organized according to egocentric reference frames, entailing phenomenal consciousness as mid-level perceptual inference. When these posterior SOHMs couple with frontal complexes, this may enable various forms of conscious access as a kind of mental act(ive inference), affording higher order cognition/control, including the kinds of attentional/intentional processing and reportability described by GNWT. Across this autoencoding heterarchy, intermediate-level beliefs may be organized into spatiotemporal trajectories by the entorhinal/hippocampal system, so affording episodic memory, counterfactual imaginings, and planning.

Public understanding & perception of sensory experience & scientific understanding: Even in a sample with fairly high educational attainment, many respondents were unaware of fairly common forms of sensory variation

Cuskley, Christine, and Charalampos Saitis. 2020. “What Do People Know About the Senses? Understanding Perceptions of Variation in Sensory Experience.” PsyArXiv. August 28. doi:10.31234/osf.io/ghcxv

Abstract: Academic disciplines spanning cognitive science, art, and music have made strides in understanding how humans sense and experience the world. We now have a better scientific understanding of how human sensation and perception function both in the brain and in interaction than ever before. However, there is little research on how this high level scientific understanding is translated into knowledge for the public more widely. We present descriptive results from a simple survey and compare how public understanding and perception of sensory experience lines up with scientific understanding. Results show that even in a sample with fairly high educational attainment, many respondents were unaware of fairly common forms of sensory variation. In line with the well-documented under representation of sign languages within linguistics, respondents tended to under-estimate the number of sign languages in the world. We outline how our results represent gaps in public understanding of sensory variation, and argue that filling these gaps can form an important early intervention, acting as a basic foundation for improving acceptance, inclusivity, and accessibility for cognitively diverse populations.

How People Know Their Risk Preference: We recount diagnostic behaviours & experiences, focusing on voluntary, consequential acts & experiences from which we seem to infer our risk preference

Arslan, Ruben C., Martin Brümmer, Thomas Dohmen, Johanna Drewelies, Ralph Hertwig, and Gert Wagner. 2019. “How People Know Their Risk Preference.” PsyArXiv. December 12. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72077-5

Abstract: People differ in their willingness to take risks. Recent work found that revealed preference tasks (e.g., laboratory lotteries)—a dominant class of measures—are outperformed by survey-based stated preferences, which are more stable and predict real-world risk taking across different domains. How can stated preferences, often criticised as inconsequential “cheap talk,” be more valid and predictive than controlled, incentivized lotteries? In our multimethod study, over 3,000 respondents from population samples answered a single widely used and predictive risk-preference question. Respondents then explained the reasoning behind their answer. They tended to recount diagnostic behaviours and experiences, focusing on voluntary, consequential acts and experiences from which they seemed to infer their risk preference. We found that third-party readers of respondents’ brief memories and explanations reached similar inferences about respondents’ preferences, indicating the intersubjective validity of this information. Our results help unpack the self perception behind stated risk preferences that permits people to draw upon their own understanding of what constitutes diagnostic behaviours and experiences, as revealed in high-stakes situations in the real world.

Fluctuations in Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissistic States: A Momentary Perspective

Edershile, Elizabeth A., and Aidan G. Wright. 2019. “Fluctuations in Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissistic States: A Momentary Perspective.” PsyArXiv. April 10. doi:10.31234/osf.io/8gkpm

Abstract: Theories of narcissism emphasize the dynamic processes within and between grandiosity and vulnerability. Research seeking to address this has either not studied grandiosity and vulnerability together or has used dispositional measures to assess what are considered to be momentary states. Emerging models of narcissism suggest grandiosity and vulnerability can further be differentiated into a three-factor structure – Exhibitionistic Grandiosity, Entitlement, and Vulnerability. Research in other areas of maladaptive personality (e.g., borderline personality disorder) has made headway in engaging data collection and analytic methods that are specifically meant to examine such questions. The present study took an exploratory approach to studying fluctuations within and between grandiose and vulnerable states. Fluctuations – operationalized as gross variability, instability, and lagged effects – were examined across three samples (two undergraduate and a community sample oversampled for narcissistic features; Total person N = 862; Total observation N = 36,631). Results suggest variability in narcissistic states from moment to moment is moderately associated with dispositional assessments of narcissism. Specifically, individuals who are dispositionally grandiose express both grandiosity and vulnerability, and vary in their overall levels of grandiosity and vulnerability over time. On the other hand, dispositionally vulnerable individuals tend to have high levels of vulnerability and low levels of grandiosity. Entitlement plays a key role in the processes that underlie narcissism and narcissistic processes appear unique to the construct and not reflective of broader psychological processes (e.g., self-esteem). Future research should consider using similar methods and statistical techniques on different timescales to study dynamics within narcissism.

Language Is Less Arbitrary Than One Thinks: Iconicity and Indexicality in Real-world Language Learning and Processing

Murgiano, Margherita, Yasamin Motamedi, and Gabriella Vigliocco. 2020. “Language Is Less Arbitrary Than One Thinks: Iconicity and Indexicality in Real-world Language Learning and Processing.” PsyArXiv. August 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/qzvxu

Abstract: In the last decade, a growing body of work has convincingly demonstrated that languages embed a certain degree of non-arbitrariness (mostly in the form of iconicity, namely the presence of imagistic links between linguistic form and meaning). Most of this previous work has been limited to assessing the degree (and role) of non-arbitrariness in the speech (for spoken languages) or manual components of signs (for sign languages). When approached in this way, non-arbitrariness is acknowledged but still considered to have little presence and
purpose, showing a diachronic movement towards more arbitrary forms. However, this perspective is limited as it does not take into account the situated nature of language use in face-to-face interactions, where language comprises categorical components of speech and signs, but also multimodal cues such as prosody, gestures, eye gaze etc. We review work concerning the role of context-dependent iconic and indexical cues in language acquisition and processing to demonstrate the pervasiveness of non-arbitrary multimodal cues in language use and we discuss their function. We then move to argue that the online omnipresence of multimodal non-arbitrary cues supports children and adults in dynamically developing situational models.

Despite compliment givers’ anxiety at the prospect of giving compliments, they felt better after having done so; we misestimate our compliments’ value to others, & so we refrain from engaging in this prosocial behavior

Why a Simple Act of Kindness Is Not as Simple as It Seems: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Our Compliments on Others. Erica J. Boothby, Vanessa K. Bohns. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, August 28, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220949003

Abstract: A simple compliment can make someone’s day, start a new friendship, or just make the world a better, kinder place. So, why don’t people give more compliments? Perhaps people misforecast the effect their compliment will have. Five studies explored this possibility. In Studies 1a and 1b, compliment givers underestimated how positively the person receiving their compliment would feel, with consequences for their likelihood of giving a compliment. Compliment givers also overestimated how bothered and uncomfortable the recipient would feel (Study 2)—and did so even in hindsight (Study 3). Compliment givers’ own anxiety and concern about their competence led to their misprediction, whereas third-party forecasters were accurate (Study 4). Finally, despite compliment givers’ anxiety at the prospect of giving compliments across our studies, they felt better after having done so (Study 4). Our studies suggest that people misestimate their compliments’ value to others, and so they refrain from engaging in this prosocial behavior.

Keywords: compliment, social influence, prosocial behavior, well-being, conversation

Spontaneous remission of dementia before death: Results from a study on paradoxical lucidity

Batthyány, A., & Greyson, B. (2020). Spontaneous remission of dementia before death: Results from a study on paradoxical lucidity. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, Aug 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000259

Abstract: The aim of this research was to study paradoxical lucidity—the unexpected return of cognition and communication in patients with diagnosed dementia—systematically in a contemporary sample. We conducted a survey of caregivers who had witnessed at least one case of paradoxical lucidity in the year prior to survey completion. We assessed diagnosis and degree of preexisting cognitive impairment, cognitive state during the lucid episode, and temporal proximity of the lucid episode to death. Detailed case reports of 124 dementia patients who experienced an episode of paradoxical lucidity were received. In more than 80% of these cases, complete remission with return of memory, orientation, and responsive verbal ability was reported by observers of the lucid episode. The majority of patients died within hours to days after the episode. Further prospective study is warranted, as paradoxical lucidity suggests that there may exist a reversible and functional aspect of pathophysiology in severe dementia.


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Check also Check also Paradoxical lucidity: A potential paradigm shift for the neurobiology and treatment of severe dementias. George A. Mashoura et al. Check also Alzheimer's & Dementia, Volume 15, Issue 8, August 2019, Pages 1107-1114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2019.04.002

Abstract: Unexpected cognitive lucidity and communication in patients with severe dementias, especially around the time of death, have been observed and reported anecdotally. Here, we review what is known about this phenomenon, related phenomena that provide insight into potential mechanisms, ethical implications, and methodologic considerations for systematic investigation. We conclude that paradoxical lucidity, if systematically confirmed, challenges current assumptions and highlights the possibility of network-level return of cognitive function in cases of severe dementias, which can provide insight into both underlying neurobiology and future therapeutic possibilities.
4. Possible mechanisms of PL

Several forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's dementia, are largely associated with irreversible degeneration of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, resulting in confusion, disorientation, and memory loss, among other symptoms [35], [36]. Because the episodes of PL occur rather suddenly, it is unlikely that regeneration of neurons can account for them. Such fluctuations may reflect complex adjustments in signaling cascades, synaptic modifications, neuronal network interactions, and, perhaps, temporary reversal of, or compensation for, chronic functional inhibition due to neurotoxic proteins [37]. We acknowledge that there are different modes of cognitive fluctuation in varying types of dementia [38], [39], such as dementia with Lewy bodies. As noted in the Introduction, our focus is on the dramatic behavioral recovery at the time when the functional consequences of the neurodegeneration are thought to be irreversible, although a more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of cognitive fluctuation across the full disease course for a range of dementias is lacking.

There have been no neuroscientific studies of PL, and thus, any mechanistic framework must be considered speculative. However, the related phenomena described previously speak to the biological possibility of PL and provide some insight into a potential mechanism. Because episodes of PL often occur just before death, the emerging neurobiological data related to NDEs are of relevance. As noted, surges of neurophysiological activity have been observed in humans just before death in the critical or operative care setting [21], [22], [23] and in experimental rodent models after cardiac or respiratory arrest [24]. It is thus conceivable that some patients with severe dementia might also experience a surge of neurophysiological activity before death, which is manifested as a lucid episode. Furthermore, extrapolating from studies of rats assessing neurochemistry after two minutes of asphyxia [25], it is possible that as oxygen and glucose levels fall or fluctuate, there is a surge of neurotransmitter levels that results in transient or metastable activation of the brain. However, such surges of electrical activity or neurotransmitter release do not explain how there can be enhanced synchronization or communication across the brain, which has been observed in dying rats and which could possibly account for a spontaneous recovery of cogent behavior in a patient with severe dementia. A network-level explanation is likely required.

The dynamics of complex networks are of relevance to neural function and have long been studied in the field of physics. There are precedents for the spontaneous recovery of nonbiological networks after periods of inactivity or damage [40]. In fact, network concepts related to “amplitude death” and “oscillation death” might be applicable to the observed surge in neurophysiological coherence just before functional network breakdown in the brain around the time of death. Using a Stuart-Landau model, one investigation described the dynamics of how such oscillations can spontaneously “revive,” [41] while another study described how the revival of such oscillations can be accompanied by rhythmicity and dynamic activity across the network [42]. These concepts have also been instantiated in neuronal models, with the conclusion that at a certain point of neuronal inhibition in a sparsely connected network, there is a counterintuitive “rebirth” of neuronal activity [43] that is manifested across the network. Furthermore, conditions for rapid and nonlinear synchronization (sometimes referred to as “explosive synchronization”) occur in association with arousal when brain network hubs are suppressed [44], as in dementia [45].

Thus, although the mechanism of PL is unknown, there is evidence that the dying or hypoxic brain can generate neurochemical and neuroelectrical surges that might be associated with the network dynamics of complex systems and that might generate spontaneous network integration manifesting as lucid behavior. We emphasize that this is speculative, but computational modeling studies of large-scale brain networks, which have been applied to Alzheimer's disease, could be investigated to establish foundational credibility for such network phenomena in those with severe dementia. It must also be noted that there may not be a unique mechanism for PL that is restricted to the days before death but rather a mechanism that is common to cognitive fluctuations in less severe stages of the disease [12], [13]. Furthermore, changes in systemic factors, rather than intrinsic neural dynamics, might drive the causal mechanisms responsible for lucid episodes. For example, one case report of a patient with Parkinson's disease dementia was able to correlate cognitive fluctuations with paroxysmal episodes of hypotension [46]. Thus, systemic physiologic factors must also be considered in the mechanism of PL.

We find considerable warming biases in the CMIP6 modeled trends, & we show that these biases are linked to biases in surface temperature (these models simulate an unrealistically large global warming)

The vertical profile of recent tropical temperature trends: Persistent model biases in the context of internal variability. Dann M. Mitchell et al. Environmental Research Letters, June 2020. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9af7

Abstract: Tropospheric and stratospheric tropical temperature trends in recent decades have been notoriously hard to simulate using climate models, notably in the upper troposphere. Aside from the warming trend itself, this has broader implications, e.g. atmospheric circulation trends depend on latitudinal temperature gradients. In this study, tropical temperature trends in the CMIP6 models are examined, from 1979 to 2014, and contrasted with trends from the RICH/RAOBCORE radiosondes, and the ERA5/5.1 reanalysis. As in earlier studies, we find considerable warming biases in the CMIP6 modeled trends, and we show that these biases are linked to biases in surface temperature (these models simulate an unrealistically large global warming). We also uncover previously undocumented biases in the lower-middle stratosphere: the CMIP6 models appear unable to capture the time evolution of stratospheric cooling, which is non-monotonic owing to the Montreal Protocol. Finally, using models with large ensembles, we show that their standard deviation in tropospheric temperature trends, which is due to internal variability alone, explains ∼50% (±20%) of that from the CMIP6 models.