Group size is more frequently two; four mechanisms that may help explain this finding are reciprocity, coordination, social exclusion, and reproduction

Peperkoorn LS, Becker DV, Balliet D, Columbus S, Molho C, Van Lange PAM (2020) The prevalence of dyads in social life. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0244188. Dec 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244188

Abstract: A salient objective feature of the social environment in which people find themselves is group size. Knowledge of group size is highly relevant to behavioural scientists given that humans spend considerable time in social settings and the number of others influences much of human behaviour. What size of group do people actually look for and encounter in everyday life? Here we report four survey studies and one experience-sampling study (total N = 4,398) which provide evidence for the predominance of the dyad in daily life. Relative to larger group sizes, dyads are most common across a wide range of activities (e.g., conversations, projects, holidays, movies, sports, bars) obtained from three time moments (past activities, present, and future activities), sampling both mixed-sex and same-sex groups, with three different methodological approaches (retrospective reports, real-time data capture, and preference measures) in the United States and the Netherlands. We offer four mechanisms that may help explain this finding: reciprocity, coordination, social exclusion, and reproduction. The present findings advance our understanding of how individuals organize themselves in everyday life.

Discussion

The results of the present studies provide strong evidence for the prevalence of the dyad in daily life. Our data show that dyads are most common across a range of activities (e.g., conversations, projects, holidays, movies, sports, bars) obtained from three time moments (past activities, present, and future activities), sampling both mixed-sex and same-sex groups, with three different methodological approaches (retrospective reports, real-time data capture, and preference measures) in the United States and the Netherlands. With some exceptions, we also found similar patterns for men and women.

These results are in line with classic research conducted in the 1950s and 1970s [14–17] which also found dyads to be the most common group size at local sites with local participants (also see recent work by Dunbar and colleagues for conversation sizes specifically, [18–21]). Yet how do dyads relate to other, larger, group sizes? What theory can be used for understanding the prevalence of the dyad in daily life? To integrate the dyad with other group sizes, we briefly review Caporael’s Core Configuration Model [5,6] and although we did not test causal mechanisms in this study, we subsequently provide four possible reasons for the predominance of the dyad in everyday life.

The core configurations model

Caporael [5,6] proposes that face-to-face groups are hierarchically structured in four core configurations. These represent kinds of interdependent interactions between people. The interdependency is determined by the type of task to be performed, the situated environment, and the physical attributes of the participants (i.e., “body morphology”). Group size is an important feature of the model but the core configuration sizes have little meaning without invoking the associated activities to be performed. The notion of being “core” configurations reflects the idea that these group configurations can be repeatedly observed in hunter-gatherer groups (and hence presumably across human evolutionary history), across an individual’s lifespan, and in daily life. These configurations occur for a specific purpose and the successful accomplishment thereof accounts for their continued recurrence. Moreover, it is proposed that cognitive processes have evolved and developed in the context of the core configurations and thereby also cause their recurrence over time.

The first core configuration is the dyad, an interaction between two entities (e.g., two humans, one human and an animal, or human-AI interaction). Tasks addressed by the dyad are, for example, internal fertilization in the context of sex, providing infant nutrition while the mother is breastfeeding the infant, or a child’s interaction with a peer or adult. One proposed function of the dyad is microcoordination (e.g., during facial imitation, gait adjustment between two people, or interactional synchrony during courtship initiation).

Second, the work group, family group, or team has a modal group size of 5 individuals and a range of 3–7 people. It refers to interactions in small face-to-face groups that have a common task orientation. Examples of small group tasks are foraging, hunting, and gathering. A modern world example would be the completion of an assignment by ad-hoc groups of students working together for brief periods in class (e.g., devising and assembling a basic technological device). The workgroup affords the function of distributed cognition across group members. This refers both to the sharing of cognitive resources (e.g., perception, knowledge, cues, focus of attention, inference, classification) in the pursuit of a shared representation of the task or problem and to a division of cognitive effort where there are specialties in the group over time allowing role-based trust.

Third, the deme, band, microband, or conceptual deme has a mode of 30 individuals with a group size range of 25–50 people. Note that Marilynn Brewer (a close collaborator of Caporael) proposed a group size range of 50–200 people for the deme/community in her 2015 keynote at the ICSD conference in Hong Kong, China [24]. The deme is similar in size to the extended family and modern-day classrooms. Common tasks of the deme are the movement from one location to another in hunter-gatherers, providing college students skill-based education (physical or cognitive), and the integration and redistribution of resources retrieved from smaller workgroups (e.g., meat from the hunt or research results from the lab). This configuration has the function of constructing a shared reality or worldview, a common bond identity and common knowledge. It also allows cooperative alliances to emerge which may lead to the breakaway of group members to form their own group in case of conflict or when the environment’s carrying capacity is reached.

Finally, the macrodeme or (seasonal) macroband has a modal group size of 300 individuals with a range of 100–500 individuals. Brewer [24] has instead provided a range of “300–1000 and beyond” people. The task of the macrodeme is the (seasonal, annual) gathering of people (bands of hunter-gatherers, scientists, businessmen) in the pursuit of exchanging resources, people, or information about more distant places or groups. The between-group mobility of people may involve mates in the case of hunter-gatherers or staff in the case of business or science. The function of the macrodeme has been proposed to be the stabilization and standardization of language. Stabilization indicating words referring to the same thing and standardization indicating that the members often use and understand the same words.

Whereas the dyad can rely on synchronization and reciprocity to obtain goals [25,26] and whereas workgroups can rely on mutual performance monitoring [27] and self-regulation [28] to achieve their objectives, members of the deme have to resort to other mechanisms to sustain cooperation and coordination. Several mechanisms have been proposed in the literature. These include informal sanctions [29]; indirect reciprocity [30]; and descriptive norms [31]. However, whereas in demes people are all individually known, this is not the case in macrodemes. As such the likelihood of knowing someone’s reputation may be insufficiently high for indirect reciprocity to serve as an effective mechanism to foster and maintain cooperation and coordination in very large groups [32]. In addition, it has been argued that there are mental constraints preventing people to keep track of the reputation of a large number of people at the same time [13,33]. Hence, other mechanisms such as proscriptive norms, institutions, and formal sanctions [34,35] may be necessary for people to work effectively together toward the accomplishment of their goals in macrodeme configurations.

Four reasons for the prevalence of the dyad

More than larger sizes, dyadic interactions enable benefits from direct reciprocity [26]. In repeated dyadic interactions, the threat of non-reciprocation supports cooperative strategies such as tit-for-tat [26,36], but this mechanism breaks down in larger groups where freeriding is possible [37]. In a dyad, such strategies are efficient, as one’s choices are noticeably affecting one’s own and other’s outcomes. The partner may readily perceive that the other prefers stable cooperation over mutual selfishness, where exploitation would meet swift retaliation. However, even the small step from dyads to triads causes complexities in the workings (and effectiveness) of reciprocity, as one’s retaliatory action can no longer be delivered to the desired target only, the third person is equally affected [38]. When group size increases further, one is increasingly less able to induce cooperation in others through strategic signalling. One individual’s actions are both less likely to be perceived, and less likely to affect the others’ outcomes [37]. Thus, being part of a dyad (compared to larger sizes) allows for more control over the social situation toward the accomplishment of mutually beneficial outcomes.

Second, the detection of emotions and mental states via nonverbal cues is most likely to occur in dyads. Yet as group size increases, it becomes increasingly challenging to attend n-1 communication channels in a group comprising n members [39]. Moreover, as group size increases, the number of interpersonal linkages along which coordination may be required increases sharply [39]. Indeed, coordination with multiple individuals is computationally complex and therefore individuals should prefer interaction partners with whom coordination is easier [40]. Coordination is more efficient with familiar others as learning about others’ preferences, intentions, and traits allows for improved behavioural anticipation [41]. As mentioned above, dyads are expected to be in a better position to attribute mental states (e.g., intentions, emotions, beliefs, desires, knowledge), to be clearer communicators, and hence to be behaviourally more predictable than larger groups. Thus, if people prefer those with predictable behaviours as interaction partners, such as familiar others [41], people may also have a preference for dyadic activities given their relatively predictable form and hence lower cognitive effort, compared with larger group sizes.

Third, group living provides various benefits. These include cooperation in the pursuit of difficult tasks, protection against danger, directing and receiving altruistic acts toward and from kin, the availability of allies, and high concentrations of mates [42]. However, group life also comes with liabilities, mostly in the form of conflict and competition. Examples include competition over material resources, high-status positions, or romantic partners. As such, individual competitors may want to exclude others who pose a threat to their interests (e.g., through derogating one’s competence and appearance or through spurious accusations [42]). Being excluded in an ancestral environment yielded dire prospects for survival and reproduction. Therefore, it is not surprising that (the threat of) social exclusion gives rise to anxiety [43] and social pain [44] and that people may be afraid to deviate from the group. Moreover, it has been argued that humans are highly sensitive to actual and threatened rejection and may possess an ostracism-detection system biased toward overdetection [45,46]. Whereas in larger groups social exclusion is a possibility, sometimes a threat, in a dyad one cannot exclude the other person without bearing the cost of becoming alone oneself. Seeing others together when one is alone may trigger affective distress, being a reminder of (the threat of) social exclusion [43] and as such is uncomfortable. Thus, even if one is generally embedded in a larger group and as such reaping its benefits, the dyad specifically may provide a relatively comfortable unit for social interaction in which self-monitoring and self-censorship can be somewhat relaxed, allowing for more authentic behaviour (i.e., in line with one’s own preferences and idiosyncrasies).

The final argument that may help explain the prevalence of the dyad in daily life concerns reproduction and infant-rearing activities, which take place mostly in pairs [5,6]. As mentioned above, this includes interactional synchrony during the initiation of courtship, which is a process confined to the mating couple [47]. For instance, it is difficult to conceive how three people would be able to nearly continuously look into each other’s eyes. Moreover, most people choose to engage in sexual activity with one other person during a sexual encounter. Next, the provision of infant nutrition through breastfeeding typically involves the mother and the infant in a breastfeeding dyad. Finally, alloparents (e.g., the grandmother [48], great-aunt or an older sibling [49]) can assist the parents in infant-rearing by watching over or feeding the child, allowing the parents to allocate their time in the pursuit of other activities. We argue that even with extensive alloparenting, the dyad may still be the most functional unit for interaction between caregiver and young child (e.g., allowing for facial imitation [5,6] and more efficient feeding).

Yet how do these theoretical reasons connect to the activities that were probed in the present studies? Our activities may have had low risk of exploitation, low costs in terms of commitment, and involved the exchange of resources likely of little consequence. However, the four proposed mechanisms we suggest are all attuned to the two-person interaction in daily life. This applies to reciprocity where the interactants engage in exchange and turn-taking. For instance, paying for the drinks at the movies, one may expect the other to pay next time. Reciprocity can happen “on the spot” (e.g., mutual self-disclosure), but more frequently unfolds in a step-by-step manner. As social transactions recur and gradually expand in significance, reciprocity results in fortified interdependent social bonds [10] (in the words of Allen et al. [50]: strong pair-wise ties). Besides trust, these processes are often accompanied by a series of emotions that may serve as internal pressures to maintain interpersonal cooperation: feelings of indebtedness, personal obligation, appreciation, and gratitude after receiving a favour [51]; feelings of guilt when failing to reciprocate [52]; anger when receiving substandard exchange [53], and forgiveness to pardon having been short-changed [54]. If the above line of reason is correct, it suggests the interesting hypothesis that various feelings and emotions such as indebtedness and gratitude are experienced most commonly and most strongly toward one other person instead of toward groups.

Second, in terms of coordination, in a dyadic interaction one enjoys relatively noise-free information. Compared to larger group sizes, dyadic interactions offer less room for hiding (e.g., question evasion, self-concealment [55]) and ambiguity, and this facilitates coordination. For instance, when a group of friends are planning a holiday trip, it may require significantly more effort to agree on a departure date and destination, not to mention all the small decisions to be made once there, compared with a dyad planning a similar trip together. Third, in a range of situations (e.g., holidays, projects, bars), being in a dyad may also entail being tied to another person, incentivizing both persons to be accommodating and cooperative to prevent social exclusion and having to fend for oneself in a sometimes daunting world. In a bar or club, for instance, it may feel uncomfortable to have no one to fall back on if needed. Finally, dyadic interaction also allows for relatively unconstrained flirting behaviour compared to situations where third-parties are present [56], reflecting the role of reproduction in the prevalence of the dyad in daily life. During a dyadic conversation, for example, a subtle courtship attempt (e.g., a wink or prolonged eye contact) can more freely be sent without potential interception costs from third parties. These mechanisms help to explain the primacy of the dyad because each of them supports cooperation in smaller groups–by which all individuals involved benefit. This is not to imply that cooperation does not occur in larger groups. We suggest that it is more challenging, however, and it involves qualitatively different mechanisms, such as indirect reciprocity [30] or third-party punishment [57]. In this empirical paper we echo the importance and prevalence of the (cooperative) dyad in society that has recently been demonstrated in mathematical and simulation analyses by Allen et al. [50].

Sex differences

For our mixed-sex diary data (Study 5) we did not find significant sex differences. There were some significant differences for mixed-sex group activities sampled in Studies 1–3, but these were generally small. However, for same-sex groups in Study 4, the sex differences were somewhat more pronounced, where women are more dyadic than men. This applies for instance to sports (36.6% vs. 21.1%) or going to the movies (55.7% vs. 42.2%) and to a lesser extent going on holiday (49.9% vs. 43.1%) or out for dinner (37.8% vs. 32%). This latter finding is consistent with research on same sex friendship [58]. Using a sample of 112,000 Facebook profile pictures the authors found women to favour dyadic relationships, while men preferred larger male groups. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that men and women process social information differently in line with these differences in social structures, where women focus more on individuals while men focus more on groups [59,60]. Although the exact mechanism is unknown, various complementary explanations have been put forward to account for these sex differences (e.g., patrilocality [61]; by-product of pair-bonding [62]; maternal caregiving and empathic potential [63,64]).

Limitations

Studies 1–4 have three limitations in common that should be taken into account. The situations that were sampled may not have been exhaustive or fully representative of daily life. Although we asked for the last time someone engaged in the activity, for some people it may have been weeks ago. Participants may also selectively remember an instance they particularly enjoyed. These concerns were addressed by Study 5, which used a real time approach in which the reference period is the present, or the last hours, and in which situations are sampled randomly. A limitation of Study 5, however, is that we did not code the situations that people reported. This is a fruitful avenue for future research given that situation taxonomies are currently lacking consensus and may be advanced by diary studies.

The current research focused on social activities and hence we have not probed individuals conducting activities alone [14,15]. Therefore, we do not know whether dyads would also be most frequent compared to individuals for various different tasks. In our studies, most participants engaged in activities with a few other people. However, there are certainly activities that require larger groups (e.g., barn-raisings). Future research could investigate whether even there, dyads may form the most effective subcomponents (“you hold the spike while I swing the hammer”). Indeed, given the aforementioned arguments (reciprocity, coordination, social exclusion, reproduction), these activities may also predominantly yield the dyad as the most common subunit in a larger collective. Related to this, because we focused on direct interaction, and used a definition of a group as “two or more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person” [23], our results do not address the fact that groups can have psychological significance beyond direct interaction [65] and measuring groups differently may yield different results.

Future research

One issue remaining for future research is to provide empirical evidence that the dyads that are so prevalent in various domains are also stable over time. Moreover, future research would do well to investigate the prevalence of the dyad in collectivistic daily life, to determine whether dyad inflation is generated by cultural factors as a necessary requirement for the effect to occur or whether an evolutionarily ingrained predisposition is sufficient in and of itself. If the former holds, then the effects should be observed only in individualistic countries, whereas if the latter holds, as argued by Caporael’s core configuration model [5,6], then the effects should be observable across individualistic and collectivistic cultures, and more generally, around the world.

Contemporary depictions of mothers as a distinctively pro-gun control constituency are largely inaccurate: The very real gender gap in gun policy attitudes appears to be falsely attributed to motherhood, rather than gender

Do moms demand action on guns? Parenthood and gun policy attitudes. Steven Greene,Melissa Deckman, Laurel Elder & Mary-Kate Lizotte. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Dec 28 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2020.1862130

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1343527638476976128

Abstract: The idea that motherhood primes women to support stronger gun control policy permeates our contemporary politics. Motherhood shapes views on a variety of issues, but the question remains whether mothers hold distinctive views on gun control policies relative to their non-parent peers. We draw on 2017 Pew Research Center data to explore the ways gender, parenthood, and race intersect to shape attitudes on gun policy in the post-Sandy Hook era when gun violence has become prominently linked with schools and children, and during a time when the Black Lives Matter movement has drawn national attention to the relationship of gun violence and racial inequality. Most notably, we find that contemporary depictions of mothers as a distinctively pro-gun control constituency are largely inaccurate. The very real gender gap in gun policy attitudes appears to be falsely attributed to motherhood, rather than gender. We also find very little impact of parenthood for men. Finally, we generally fail to see much relationship between race, parenthood, and gun attitudes. Overall, despite common belief and media reporting to the contrary, the story is very much one where parenthood seems to play little role in gun policy attitudes.

KEYWORDS: Gun control attitudesgender gapparenthood

A Close and Supportive Interparental Bond During Pregnancy Predicts Greater Decline in Sexual Activity From Pregnancy to Postpartum: Applying an Evolutionary Perspective

A Close and Supportive Interparental Bond During Pregnancy Predicts Greater Decline in Sexual Activity From Pregnancy to Postpartum: Applying an Evolutionary Perspective. Tierney K. Lorenz, Erin L. Ramsdell and Rebecca L. Brock. Front. Psychol., January 10 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02974

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1343508745897259009

Abstract: A common topic for advice given to parents after childbirth – both from relationship experts and popular media – is how to “bounce back” to one’s pre-pregnancy sexuality, with warnings that postpartum declines in sexual frequency will take a serious toll on one’s relationship. However, these admonishments may not accurately reflect the ways in which the unique reproductive context of pregnancy and the postpartum transition alter associations between sexual frequency and relationship quality. Evolutionary perspectives on reproductive strategies would suggest that in the postpartum context, decreased sexual activity would help target parental investment in the current offspring (rather than creating new offspring); however, if the parental relationship is lacking in intimacy and support, continued sexual activity may help seal the cracks in the bond. We tested this theory in a longitudinal dyadic study of changes in relationship quality and sexual frequency from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum among 159 heterosexual couples. We found that across three different measures of relationship quality taken from interviews and behavioral observation of couple interactions, higher relationship quality (i.e., greater support, intimacy, and responsiveness) predicted greater decline in sexual frequency whereas sexual frequency remained relatively stable in lower quality relationships. These findings suggest that, during the postpartum transition, decreased sexual frequency may not be a reliable signal of poor relationship quality.

Discssion

Discussion of Main Findings

The transition to parenthood can be both exciting and confusing, presenting both parents with the challenges of adopting new roles and new ways of relating to each other while supporting their child. Sexuality and intimacy can take on new meaning during this transition, leaving many parents wondering what is normal and what might signal problems ahead. We followed couples during pregnancy and 6 months postpartum, measuring changes in their frequency of sexual activity and relationship quality using multimodal measures. Those couples who reported greater emotional closeness and responsiveness in their relationship during pregnancy had a greater decline in sexual frequency than those who reported less intimate and synchronous relationships. Notably, when considering the impact of partner support on changes in sexual frequency, there were gender differences. Specifically, there were greater declines in sexual frequency when mothers received higher quality support from their partners whereas decline in sexual frequency was predicted by fathers receiving poorer quality support. Interestingly, the aforementioned patterns remained significant even when considering the impact of sexual problems on sexual frequency.

While at first glance it may seem surprising that higher interparental relationship quality is associated with greater decline in sexual activity, this finding fits predictions from evolutionary models of close relationships during an important reproductive transition. The decline in sexual frequency observed in couples who had closer bonds may reflect a positive adaptation, delaying further investment in new offspring (Gray, 2013; Rupp et al., 2013), and reducing potential costs of postpartum sex such as infection or pain (Lehtonen et al., 2012). When the couple has a strong and trusting bond, their energy can be directed at navigating the challenges of parenthood: sex can take a back seat for a little while. But when new parents perceive a lack of intimacy and responsiveness, then they may turn to sex as a means of shoring up their troubled bond (Magginetti and Pillsworth, 2019). This is reflected in the relatively higher number of pregnant and postpartum women who report engaging in sex for relationship maintenance reasons than for sexual desire or pleasure reasons (Gerda et al., 2006; Bello et al., 2011; Hipp et al., 2012; Sagiv-Reiss et al., 2012).

In particular, when new mothers perceive a lack of support from their male partners, they may engage in sex more frequently to renew paternal investment in both the relationship and the offspring. Indeed, other studies have suggested that when there are threats to the relationship (such as perceptions of other women flirting with their husband), pregnant women’s sexual desire for their partner paradoxically increases (Magginetti and Pillsworth, 2019). Insofar as sexual activity represents a possible investment in a new child, while decline in sexual frequency signals the need to consolidate resources in the current offspring, we would expect different patterns in mothers versus fathers based on their relative investment in reproduction more generally. Indeed, we saw some evidence of gender differences in the association between perceived support and decline in sexual activity. Simply put, fathers have (relatively) more leeway in the degree of support they provide, and the investment they make during the postpartum period (Gray, 2013). Accordingly, when support received by mothers is of poor quality, mothers may have to negotiate greater support by engaging in more sexual activity; when support received by mothers is of high quality, she can afford to redirect her energies to her offspring. On the other hand, when mother’s support of the father is of low quality, he will likely not improve her support by seeking more sex: if anything, this would further tax the mother’s resources and make her less inclined to provide him support.

Most previous research on intimate relationships has taken the perspective that decline in sexual frequency is a negative outcome, and would be expected in relationships that are less intimate, supportive, and mutually responsive. However, our findings suggest quite the opposite when a couple is caring for a newborn. At a proximal level of analysis, this contrast is likely tied to the different factors that lead to lower sexual frequency in parents and non-parents: whereas non-parents are mostly likely to report declining sexual frequency stemming from relationship conflict and sexual dysfunction (Laumann et al., 1999; Sprecher et al., 2004), parents navigating the postpartum period are more likely to cite fatigue (Ahlborg et al., 2005; Hipp et al., 2012), lack of time, and concerns about causing harm to the mother’s body after childbirth (Schlagintweit et al., 2016; Beveridge et al., 2018). In other words, the negative effects of decline in sexual frequency may be buffered by perceptions that the decline is situational and temporary (Vannier et al., 2018), and feeling that avoiding sex is an expression of care and commitment to one’s partner. For example, in one study, mothers who reported their partner was understanding of their need to avoid or delay sex had significantly higher relationship and sexual satisfaction (Muise et al., 2017). Another proximate mechanism may be cognitive dissonance. That is, it is possible that couples with lower relationship quality may engage in more frequent sex even after the postpartum transition, in order to resolve the psychological stress of being committed to a less intimate and supportive relationship, when they are forced into this commitment by virtue of having to rely on each other to care for the newborn.

Discussion of Secondary Analyses

We also examined how relationship quality predicted change in sexual frequency in women with and without sexual problems, and found no significant difference between these groups. In non-parenting contexts, relationship quality and sexual dysfunction often interact to predict declines in sexual frequency: when relationship quality is good, sexual dysfunction may or may not result in lower rates of sexual activity (Schoenfeld et al., 2017) but when relationship quality is poor, sexual function is strongly associated with sexual frequency (Litzinger and Gordon, 2005; Hayes et al., 2008). However, in the present study, including mother’s sexual problems in the model did not alter the associations between relationship quality and changes in sexual frequency during the postpartum transition. As with all null effects, it is important not to over-interpret the lack of an observed significant effect; it is possible that this analysis was underpowered to detect small, but potentially meaningful, effects. However, it is also possible that in the postpartum context, changes in sexual function may be more independent of relationship factors (Hansson and Ahlborg, 2012). Although a large number of studies have shown declines in sexual function in pregnant and postpartum mothers (see Jawed-Wessel and Sevick, 2017; McBride and Kwee, 2017 for reviews), these declines may be less related to relationship conflict and more closely aligned with other factors such as changes in the mother’s body [e.g., vascular changes in the vagina and clitoris following pregnancy (Battaglia et al., 2018) or perineal injury (Signorello et al., 2001)], hormonal factors [e.g., increased prolactin during breastfeeding (LaMarre et al., 2003)], fatigue (Schlagintweit et al., 2016), and pre-pregnancy sexual dysfunction (Yıldız, 2015). Taken together, these findings suggest that lower sexual functioning among parents of newborns may be less diagnostic of relationship problems than a consequence of the physical and lifestyle changes associated with parenthood.

Clinical and Theoretic Implications

Our findings have several important clinical and theoretic implications. Firstly, when counseling parents on the resumption of sexual activity following childbirth, providers should consider setting expectations that a decline in sexual frequency is common, even more so among healthy couples. This is not to say that couples should be counseled to avoid sexual activity per se, but rather not to interpret decline in sexual frequency as a harbinger of larger relationship difficulties. New mothers in particular appear to be concerned about how changes in the sexual relationship will impact their partners (Schlagintweit et al., 2016), and may benefit from her partner’s encouragement to communicate when she needs to take a break from sex (Muise et al., 2017).

More broadly, these findings suggest that the reproductive context may change the nature of the association between interparental relationship dynamics and sexual activity. An important follow-up to the present study will be to investigate the tipping point at which the effect reverts, and low sexual frequency again signals relationship problems. If our hypothesis is correct, and the decline in sexual frequency follows the need to reallocate resources to a vulnerable offspring, we should expect sexual frequency to rise as the child grows and requires less direct parental support. If sexual activity does not resume even after the reproductive context shifts back to fertility, it may at that time indicate relationship strain. Additionally, as lactation is one of the strongest signals to the mother of the infants continued need for support (Vitzthum, 1994), we may expect that the tipping point will occur later for breastfeeding vs. bottle-feeding mothers.

Moreover, if the postpartum decline in sexual frequency reflects an adaptive response, temporarily shifting reproductive investment to the current offspring, we must question how we consider sexual desire within the construct of postpartum depression. Specifically, our findings call for the need to consider the reproductive context in which low desire occurs in order to determine if it contributes to evidence of psychopathology. Certainly, low sexual desire is common among postpartum depressed mothers (Khajehei et al., 2015) – but as it is common among healthy postpartum women as well (Chivers et al., 2011), the symptom may lack discriminant validity in this context.

Limitations

While this study had significant strengths, including a longitudinal design and multimodal, dyadic measurement of both relationship quality and sexual frequency, there are some limitations worth noting. Participation in this study was limited to mixed-sex (heterosexual) couples, and thus the effects in same-sex couples, or non-dyadic parental structures (e.g., poly families) remain unclear. Future study of sexuality within non-traditional family structures will improve generalizability as well as contribute to the understanding of the evolution of alloparenting (Bogin et al., 2014). The present study sample was mostly White and middle class. Both minority stress and socioeconomic status are likely to increase the strength of the effects we observed: insofar as the postpartum decline in sexual frequency represents a rebalancing of resources from potential future offspring to the current offspring, we should expect stronger effects as couples are put under greater stress or financial hardship.

Our measure of sexual frequency was limited to partnered sexual activity; while this does not change our ability to test our main hypotheses, future studies may benefit from teasing apart changes in sexual activity (including solitary sexual activity) from changes specific to the sexual relationship. Similarly, we focused on mother’s sexual problems, as there was greater prior research on changes in women’s sexual function during pregnancy and postpartum; however, future work may benefit from consideration of changes in paternal sexual function as well. Also, our measure of sexual problems came from holistic participant self-report, which may or may not have included explicit discussion of sexual satisfaction or distress regarding their sexual problems. As noted above, this means that we cannot conclude these sexual problems would meet clinical criteria for a sexual dysfunction, as distress is a crucial element of the diagnosis. More precise measurement of sexual functioning and relationship satisfaction, which prompts participants to consider their distress, may reveal subgroups for whom sexual problems are a more significant moderator.

Finally, in interpreting these findings, it must be noted that we were primarily interested in the constructs most closely related to how the interparental relationship contributes to potential offspring survival, and as such we focused on indices of support, responsiveness, and intimacy rather than relationship satisfaction or happiness. There is a broad literature documenting declines in sexual and relationship satisfaction during the postpartum transition (see Mitnick et al., 2009 for review and meta-analysis), and their association with decline in sexual frequency (Schlagintweit et al., 2016; Rosen et al., 2018). While the link between relationship satisfaction and offspring survival is more indirect, it is certainly worth investigating if and how the present evolutionary framework may explain how longitudinal changes in parental attitudes toward the relationship map onto changes in sexual frequency.

Appreciation of achievement and a behavioural preference to view failure (Schadenfreude online): Poorer decision makers prefer that high achievers fail

Appreciation of achievement and a behavioural preference to view failure: Schadenfreude online. James G.Phillips, C. Erik Landhuis, Jay Wood. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 172, April 2021, 110597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110597

Highlights

• Tall Poppy Scale used to assessed appreciation of high achievers.

• Poorer decision makers prefer that high achievers fail.

• Interest/pleasure in others' failures (Schadenfreude) shown behaviorally online.

• Group membership predicts Reality TV voting preferences.

Abstract: The Tall Poppy Scale was used to examine individual differences in: 1) the appreciation of high achievers; 2) associated online behaviours. A sample of 165 New Zealand Europeans completed a decisional self-esteem scale and the Favour Reward and Favour Fall scales. Participants were then offered a debrief screen providing information about achievements or failures, and their interactions with the debrief screen were tracked. Participants with lower decisional self-esteem preferred that high achievers failed. Those expressing an interest in the failure of high achievers spent more time and clicked more on the debrief screen. Schadenfreude – interest (or pleasure) in the misfortune of others - was demonstrated behaviourally online.

11 children (6-13 years old) diagnosed with disorders known to be receptive to placebos and suggestion entered an inactive MRI scanner which they were told could help their brain heal itself through the power of suggestion

Olson, Jay A., Michael Lifshitz, Amir Raz, and Samuel P. L. Veissière. 2020. “Super Placebos: A Feasibility Study Combining Contextual Factors to Promote Placebo Effects.” PsyArXiv. December 26. doi:10.31234/osf.io/sh4f6

Abstract: Ample evidence demonstrates that placebo effects are modulated by contextual factors. Few interventions, however, attempt to combine a broad range of these factors. Here, we explore the therapeutic power of placebos by leveraging factors including social proof, positive suggestion, and social learning. This study aimed to test the feasibility of an elaborate "super placebo" intervention to reduce symptoms of various disorders in a pediatric population. In a single-arm qualitative study, participants entered an inactive MRI scanner which they were told could help their brain heal itself through the power of suggestion. The sample included 11 children (6-13 years old) diagnosed with disorders known to be receptive to placebos and suggestion (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Tourette Syndrome, chronic skin picking, and migraines). The children were given positive suggestions before entering the scanner for 2 to 4 sessions over the span of approximately one month. We assessed open-ended treatment outcomes via recorded interviews and home visits. The procedure was feasible and no adverse events occurred. Ten of the eleven parents reported improvements in their children after the intervention, ranging from minor transient changes to long-term reductions in subjective and objective symptoms (e.g., migraines and skin lesions). These preliminary findings demonstrate the feasibility and promise of combining a broad range of contextual factors in placebo studies. Future research is needed to assess the causal effects of such interventions.

Political humor increases the likelihood to share political information with others & enhances people’s memory for information; also increases brain response in regions associated with understanding other people’s mental states

Political Humor, Sharing, and Remembering: Insights from Neuroimaging. Jason C Coronel, Matthew B O’Donnell, Prateekshit Pandey, Michael X Delli Carpini, Emily B Falk. Journal of Communication, jqaa041, December 22 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaa041

Abstract: Over the last two decades, news-oriented comedy programs have risen to compete with traditional hard news media as sources of information about politics. To the extent that a politically knowledgeable electorate is necessary for a thriving democracy, understanding the mechanisms underlying the extent to which political comedy facilitates or inhibits a well-informed citizenry is critical. Across two studies, we use behavioral experiments and neuroimaging to examine the causal effects of humor on the desire to share and the capacity to remember political information. We find that humor increases the likelihood to share political information with others and enhances people’s memory for information. Humor also increases brain response in regions associated with understanding other people’s mental states (i.e., mentalizing), which advances a theoretical framework that humor may facilitate considerations of others’ views (e.g., how other people will respond to shared political information).

Economic development may not reduce women’s murders by itself, but it can mitigate the effects of male backlash against women who challenge the status quo

Women’s Murders and the Interaction Between Gender (In)equality and Economic Development: A Subnational Analysis in Turkey. Kerim Can Kavakli. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, October 21, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520967164

Abstract: Why are women’s murders (femicide) more common in some localities than in others? This paper addresses this question in the context of Turkey, a country with a high and rising number of women’s murders. It uses province-level data between 2010-2017 and the Negative-Binomial estimator to explore the importance of several socio-economic, cultural, and political factors. It finds that a province’s ethnic composition, divorce rate, gender equality in education, and level of economic development are significant predictors of women’s murders. The main result is that whether economic development reduces femicide depends on other factors: in poorer provinces, there is a strong positive correlation between women’s murders and equality in education and divorce rates, but in richer provinces, these associations are significantly weaker. These results are consistent with the idea that economic development may not reduce women’s murders by itself, but it can mitigate the effects of male backlash against women who challenge the status quo. The main policy implication of this study is that pro-development policies may save more lives if they target those poorer provinces that also carry these additional risk factors.

Keywords domestic violence, assessment, predicting domestic violence, homicide, femicide, economic development

People are even more outraged by a self-driving car that deliberately kills a less preferred group (e.g., an elderly person over a child) than by one that indiscriminately kills a more preferred group (e.g., a child)

Deliberately prejudiced self-driving vehicles elicit the most outrage. Julian De Freitas, Mina Cikara. Cognition, Volume 208, March 2021, 104555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104555

Abstract: Should self-driving vehicles be prejudiced, e.g., deliberately harm the elderly over young children? When people make such forced-choices on the vehicle's behalf, they exhibit systematic preferences (e.g., favor young children), yet when their options are unconstrained they favor egalitarianism. So, which of these response patterns should guide AV programming and policy? We argue that this debate is missing the public reaction most likely to threaten the industry's life-saving potential: moral outrage. We find that people are more outraged by AVs that kill discriminately than indiscriminately. Crucially, they are even more outraged by an AV that deliberately kills a less preferred group (e.g., an elderly person over a child) than by one that indiscriminately kills a more preferred group (e.g., a child). Thus, at least insofar as the public is concerned, there may be more reason to depict and program AVs as egalitarian.

Keywords: Moral judgmentAutonomous vehiclesDriverless policyMoral outrage

No strong evidence for any steroid hormonal effects on mate atraction; further, found no compelling robust evidence for mate preference shifts across the ovulatory cycle

A longitudinal evaluation of ovulatory cycle shifts in women’s mate attraction and preferences. Julia Stern, Tobias L. Kordsmeyer, & Lars Penke. Univ. Goettingen, Dec 2020, accepted for publication at Hormones and Behavior. https://www.psych.uni-goettingen.de/de/biopers/publications_department/pdfs/manuscript_Cycle2_mate_preferences_bodies.docx.pdf

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1342731513717260288

Abstract: Are ovulatory cycle shifts in women’s mate attraction and preferences robust? What are underlying mechanisms of potential cycle shifts? These questions are the subject of a current scientific debate surrounding the good genes ovulatory shift hypothesis. Here, we report a large, preregistered, within-subjects study, including salivary hormone measures and conception risk estimates based on luteinizing hormone tests. In four sessions across one ovulatory cycle, N = 257 women (= 1028 sessions) rated the attractiveness of 40 natural male bodies, 40 natural female bodies and 40 objects. Multilevel analyses yielded weak evidence for ovulatory increases in women’s general attraction, specifically to male bodies, though they are not systematically related to changes in steroid hormone levels. Further, we found no compelling robust evidence for mate preference shifts across the cycle, as only one out of many different tests showed some weak evidence for such effects. Mechanisms regulating cycle shifts, the impact of our results on developing and revising cycle shift theories, and influences of different methodologies on results are discussed.

Keywords: ovulatory cycle, mate preferences, mate attraction, steroid hormones, fertility

The volume of traffic contracted sharply after COVID-19 lockdowns, but motor vehicle fatality rates, injury accidents, & speeding violations went up, and remained elevated even as traffic began returning toward normal

COVID Lockdowns, Social Distancing, and Fatal Car Crashes: More Deaths on Hobbesian Highways? Marshall W. Meyer . Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing volume 4, pages238–259, Dec 21 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41887-020-00059-8

Abstract

Research Question: What happened to US traffic safety during the first US COVID-19 lockdown, and why was the pattern the opposite of that observed in previous sudden declines of traffic volume?

Data: National and local statistics on US traffic volume, traffic fatalities, injury accidents, speeding violations, running of stop signs, and other indicators of vehicular driving behavior, both in 2020 and in previous US economic recessions affecting the volume of road traffic.

Methods: Comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the data for the COVID-19 lockdown in parts of the USA in March 2020 and similar data for the 2008–2009 global economic crisis, as well as other US cases of major reductions in traffic volume.

Findings: The volume of traffic contracted sharply once a COVID-19 national emergency was declared and most states issued stay-at-home orders, but motor vehicle fatality rates, injury accidents, and speeding violations went up, and remained elevated even as traffic began returning toward normal. This pattern does not fit post-World War II recessions where fatality rates declined with the volume of traffic nor does the 2020 pattern match the pattern during World War II when traffic dropped substantially with little change in motor vehicle fatality rates.

Conclusions: The findings are consistent with a theory of social distancing on highways undermining compliance with social norms, a social cost of COVID which, if not corrected, poses potential long-term increases in non-compliance and dangerous driving.

There are substantial sex differences in brain activity during long-term memory retrieval: There are sex differences (male > female) in the lateral prefrontal cortex, visual processing regions, parahippocampal cortex, & the cerebellum

Are there sex differences in brain activity during long-term memory? A systematic review and fMRI activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Dylan S. Spets  &Scott D. Slotnick. Cognitive Neuroscience - Current Debates, Research & Reports, Aug 19 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/17588928.2020.1806810

Abstract: The degree to which sex differences exist in the brain is a current topic of debate. In the present discussion paper, we reviewed eight functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) papers to determine whether there are sex differences in brain activity during long-term memory retrieval. The objectives were: 1) to compare the experimental parameters in studies reporting significant versus null long-term memory sex differences, and 2) to identify whether specific brain regions were associated with sex differences during long-term memory. The following experimental parameters were extracted from each paper: the number of participants, the average age of participants, stimulus type(s), whether or not performance was matched, whether or not sex differences were reported, the type of between-subject statistical test used, and the contrast(s) employed. The particular experimental parameters employed in each study did not appear to determine whether sex differences were observed, as there were sex differences in all eight studies. An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was conducted to identify brain regions activated to a greater degree by females than males or males than females. This ALE meta-analysis revealed sex differences (male > female) in the lateral prefrontal cortex, visual processing regions, parahippocampal cortex, and the cerebellum. This constitutes compelling evidence that there are substantial sex differences in brain activity during long-term memory retrieval. More broadly, the present findings question the widespread practice of collapsing across sex in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

KEYWORDS: DebatefMRIgenderrecognitionrecallreviewsexmeta-analysis

Check also It’s time for sex in cognitive neuroscience, Sep 2021. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17588928.2021.1996343

Striving to systematize the conditions under which a generalized coalitional psychology gets activated—the recognition of another’s capacity for and likelihood of coordination not only with oneself but with others

Cikara, Mina. 2020. “Causes and Consequences of Coalitional Cognition.” OSF Preprints. December 17. doi:10.31219/osf.io/ktpf7

Abstract: What is a group? How do we know to which groups we belong? How do we assign others to groups? A great deal of theorizing across the social sciences has conceptualized ‘groups’ as synonymous with ‘categories,’ however there are a number of limitations to this approach: particularly for making predictions about novel intergroup contexts or about how intergroup dynamics will change over time. Here I join a growing chorus of researchers striving to systematize the conditions under which a generalized coalitional psychology gets activated—the recognition of another’s capacity for and likelihood of coordination not only with oneself but with others. First I review some recent developments in the cognitive processes that give rise to the inference of coalitions and group-biased preferences (even in the absence of category labels). Then I review downstream consequences of inferences about capacity and likelihood of coordination for valuation, emotions, attribution, and inter-coalitional harm. Finally I review examples of how we can use these psychological levers to attenuate intergroup hostility.

Evolutionary advantage view of symmetry preference: Symmetry is expected be higher for potential partners (here human faces) and higher post-puberty when partner choice becomes more relevant

Preferring and Detecting Face Symmetry: Comparing Children and Adults Judging Human and Monkey Faces. Anthony C. Little and Jack A. F. Griffey. Symmetry 2020, 12(12), 2112; December 19 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12122112

Abstract

Background: Visual symmetry is often found attractive. Symmetry may be preferred either due to a bias in the visual system or due to evolutionary selection pressures related to partner preference. Simple perceptual bias views predict that symmetry preferences should be similar across types of stimuli and unlikely to be related to factors such as age.

Methods: The current study examined preferences for symmetry across age groups (pre-puberty vs post-puberty) and stimuli type (human face vs monkey face). Pairs of images manipulated for symmetry were presented and participants asked to choose the image they preferred. Participants repeated the task and were asked to detect symmetry.

Results: Both age of observer and stimuli type were associated with symmetry preferences. Older observers had higher preferences for symmetry but preferred it most in human vs monkey stimuli. Across both age groups, symmetry preferences and detection abilities were weakly related. 

Conclusions: The study supports some ideas from an evolutionary advantage view of symmetry preference, whereby symmetry is expected be higher for potential partners (here human faces) and higher post-puberty when partner choice becomes more relevant. Such potentially motivational based preferences challenge perceptual bias explanations as a sole explanation for symmetry preferences but may occur alongside them.

Keywords: symmetry; asymmetry; face preference; detection; development

4. Discussion

This study demonstrated that symmetry preference and detection varied according to the type of stimuli being judged and between the children and adult age groups. Preference and detection of symmetry was highest for the adult group, with preference for symmetry higher for human than monkey faces in adults. In the adult group, detection was higher for female faces of both species than male faces, while the pattern was mixed for children. The correlations between preferences for symmetry and its detection were generally positive but low (highest r = 0.25). The dissociation between preference and detection can be seen in adults judging female monkey faces, for which detection of symmetry was highest of all stimuli but preference for symmetry was lowest. The dissociation can also be seen in the children group where detection of symmetry was highest for monkey male faces, but preference was lowest.

Significant preferences for symmetry in human face stimuli for adult observers is consistent with previous work using manipulated stimuli [8,9,21,49]. The finding that symmetry preferences in adults were stronger for human than for monkey faces is also consistent with a previous study showing that symmetry was preferred more in human faces than in monkey faces and abstract art images [39]. Other studies have shown that symmetry is preferred more in salient biological images than in more abstract visual stimuli [36,50], and the results here suggest species can impact preference within the broad category of biological stimuli. Preferences across stimuli were intercorrelated for adults, but the correlations were generally low (the highest for human male and female faces was r = 0.35). This is consistent with previous work showing limited correlations between symmetry preferences for human faces and more abstract stimuli [36]. Taken together, the results here do not generally a support a simple perceptual bias view of symmetry preference that posits preference is a basic process of the perceptual system [22,23,24]. Such a view would predict that symmetry preferences would be similar across stimuli types that vary in symmetry in the same way and that preferences for symmetry across stimuli would be similar within each observer (i.e., if each observers’ preference for symmetry was generated via a basic process, we would expect that process to apply in a similar way across stimuli).

Children did not show significant preferences for symmetry in this study. From a simple perceptual bias view this is surprising as the basic processes of perception should be the same between children and adults. Experience could play a role in the difference as adults have been exposed to more faces than children; however, it seems likely that they will have been exposed to very large number faces by age 8 and this would be likely enough to generate a symmetric internal prototype if that explained preferences for symmetry [21,27,28,29,30]. Preferences for face symmetry is seen when controlling for rated distinctiveness [8], again suggesting that attraction to symmetry is at least partially independent of an individual’s representation of the prototypical face. Given there were also no linear effect between detection and age within the adult sample, greater experience appears an unlikely reason for the difference. Motivation is an alternative explanation, with adult men being more interested in symmetry associated with some aspect of mate quality than male children. While this would be consistent with an evolutionary advantage view for human female faces, it is difficult to apply to preferences for male and monkey faces, which are not relevant for heterosexual male mate preferences. Neither experience or mating motivation appear to explain the pattern of difference between preferences for symmetry in adults and children. Future work can usefully test changes across puberty or across time in younger children to examine mating motivation and experience effects on symmetry preferences.

There was significant detection of symmetry across stimuli for both adults and children, with higher accuracy in the adults. The pattern of detection did not follow the pattern for preference for either adults or children. In adults, preferences were highest for human faces but for detection preferences were highest for female faces, irrespective of species. In children, detection was highest for monkey male faces while preference was lowest for this stimulus type. It is unclear why detection ability varied across both species and sex in both adults and children. That children were better at detecting symmetry in monkey male than human male faces is surprising and suggestive that experience with a stimuli type does not underpin symmetry detection as, if experience were important, we would expect detection to be higher for stimuli with which observers have more experience. The same transforms were applied to human and monkey faces, keeping variation in asymmetry similar. Differences in judging these stimuli are then not dependent on asymmetry present and reflect some other aspect of processing by the observer. Future work can further examine how detection ability varies both with age and different types of stimuli.

Children had lower preferences and lower accuracy in detection of symmetry than adults, and it is possible poor detection explains the lack of preference in children. Controlling for detection, however, a significant difference in preference between adults and children was still seen. This indicates that differences in preference between children and adults is not completely dependent on detection ability. Further, weak correlations between preference and detection also support the idea that this ability does not underpin symmetry preferences. Similarly, the pattern of means for detection and preference noted above suggest the two measures can be decoupled. Overall, results here support previous findings [49] suggesting a dissociation between symmetry preference and detection, but contrast with other studies suggesting preferences can be explained by detection ability [10]. More research is needed to examine the circumstances under which detection and preference are more or less related. For example, it is possible greater deviations in symmetry may lead to a stronger relationship between preference and detection and that, with small deviations, different processes for the two judgments lead to different generated responses.

Overall, the results of this study reveal a complex pattern of preferences across type of stimuli and age group. These preferences appear decoupled from detection ability. The results from adults partially support predictions of an evolutionary advantage view because preferences were higher for human faces than monkey, and marginally higher for human female faces than male faces. This is consistent with ideas that symmetry may be used as a guide to mate quality, e.g., [21,31,32] or general partnerships (including male–male friendship). Higher preferences for symmetry in adults, for who these partnerships are more relevant, than for children is also consistent with the evolutionary view. Indeed, perceptions of health appear to be important in attraction to symmetric human faces [7,51]. The evolutionary view, however, does not explain why symmetry preferences are also higher in adults for monkey faces than in children. The results do not support the idea that simple perceptual bias views explain all of symmetry preference. Previous studies present findings that are difficult to account for, such as symmetry preferences being higher for opposite-sex compared to same-sex faces [33,34,35], also seen in the adult sample here. These results only suggest that the perceptual bias view may not fully account for symmetry preferences and some of symmetry preference could be due to perceptual bias. Indeed, multiple mechanisms may determine symmetry preference that include basic visual system processes and higher order motivational processes acting together. The motivational processes may drive differences in preferences between stimuli types [21,49].

Of the distinct pathways to hypocrisy, violating a moral value that you have signaled to others that you adhere to, & violating a moral value that you genuinely hold, the first is evaluated more negatively

Jordan, Jillian, and Roseanna Sommers. 2020. “False Signaling and Personal Moral Failings: Two Distinct Pathways to Hypocrisy with Unequal Moral Weight.” PsyArXiv. December 25. doi:10.31234/osf.io/87txd

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1342345195933880320

Abstract: Moral engagement is a key feature of human nature: we hold moral values, condemn those who violate those values, and attempt to adhere to them ourselves. Yet moral engagement can make us appear hypocritical if we fail to behave morally. When does moral engagement risk triggering ascriptions of hypocrisy? And when do hypocrites—more so than ordinary wrongdoers—earn particular moral outrage? Across four studies (total n = 1,787), we provide evidence of two distinct pathways to hypocrisy: (1) violating a moral value that you have signaled to others that you adhere to (i.e., engaging in false signaling) and (2) violating a moral value that you genuinely hold (i.e., committing a personal moral failing). Furthermore, we show that these pathways have unequal moral weight, such that false signaling is evaluated more negatively. In Study 1, we confirm that paradigmatic hypocrites activate judgments associated with both pathways. In Studies 2-3, we investigate case studies designed to activate one pathway but not the other. We find evidence that both pathways are sufficient to trigger ascriptions of hypocrisy, but false signalers are more likely to be penalized for their hypocrisy (and thus deemed less moral than non-hypocritical transgressors). Finally, Study 4 demonstrates that a target who violates a stated value, but avoids activating either pathway, is judged as neither hypocritical nor immoral—confirming that at least one pathway is necessary for hypocrisy. Together, these findings suggest that false signaling and personal moral failings constitute two distinct pathways to hypocrisy with unequal moral weight.

Dreams reflect nocturnal cognitive processes: Early-night dreams are more continuous with waking life, and late-night dreams are more emotional and hyperassociative

Dreams reflect nocturnal cognitive processes: Early-night dreams are more continuous with waking life, and late-night dreams are more emotional and hyperassociative. J. E. Malinowski, C. L. Horton. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 88, February 2021, 103071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.103071

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1342363251238195201

Highlights

• Across-the-night dream content differences were investigated.

• Overt continuity with waking life was greater in the early night.

• Hyperassociativity, metaphoricity, and emotionality were greater in the late night.

• Dream content differences map onto alternating across-the-night cognitive functions of sleep.

Abstract: Contributions of specific sleep stages to cognitive processes are increasingly understood. Non-REM sleep is particularly implicated in episodic memory consolidation, whilst REM sleep preferentially consolidates and regulates emotional information, and gives rise to creativity and insight. Dream content reflects these processes: non-REM dreams are more likely to picture episodic memories, whereas REM dreams are more emotional and bizarre. However, across-the-night differences in the memory sources of dream content, as opposed to sleep stage differences, are less well understood. In the present study, 68 participants were awoken from sleep in the early and late night and recorded their dreams and waking-life activities. Early-night dreams were more clearly relatable to (or continuous with) waking life than late-night dreams. Late-night dreams were more emotional-important, more time orientation varied, and more hyperassociative, than early-night dreams. These dream content differences may underlie the mental content that accompanies sleep processes like memory consolidation, emotion-processing, and creativity.

Keywords: DreamingREM and non-REM sleepThe Continuity HypothesisMetaphorHyperassociativity

Sexual murderers who dismembered their victims: Criminal dismemberment occurred more often as part of a sexual deviance, not as a rational behavior aimed at avoiding detection

Body dismemberment in sexual homicide cases: lust murder or rational decision? Julien Chopin & Eric Beauregard. Psychology, Crime & Law, Dec 21 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2020.1863403

Abstract: This study investigates the role of criminal dismemberment in sexual homicide crime-commission process. Specifically, this research aims to empirically determine whether criminal dismemberment is a rational behavior aimed at avoiding detection or an expression of sexual deviance. The sample used in this study comes from the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD). Bivariate and multivariate analyses are performed to examine the differences between the crime commission process of sexual murderers who dismembered their victims (n = 77) and those who did not (n = 585). Findings indicate that criminal dismemberment occurred more often as part of a sexual deviance. Specifically, this behavior is strongly associated with the intention to kill the victim, necrophilia, mutilation of genitals, and commission of extreme acts committed on/with victims’ bodies. Moreover, findings showed that these offenders are more likely to follow an organized modus operandi. Theoretical and practical implications in terms of criminal investigations are discussed.

KEYWORDS: Sexual homicidecriminal dismembermentrational choicelust murdercrime-commission process

Financial constraints decrease the happiness consumers derive from their purchases; this, in turn, leads to a consequential outcome: less favorable consumer reviews

Dias, Rodrigo S., Eesha Sharma, and Gavan Fitzsimons. 2020. “Financial Constraints and Purchase Happiness.” PsyArXiv. December 22. doi:10.31234/osf.io/92zhy

Abstract: Financial constraints change attention, choice, and consumption in important ways. This work examines how financial constraints affect one important outcome at a later stage of the consumer decision-making process: purchase happiness. Eight high-powered studies (N = 7,481) demonstrate that financial constraints decrease the happiness consumers derive from their purchases. This, in turn, leads to a consequential outcome: less favorable consumer reviews. This effect occurs because consumers who feel more (vs. less) financially constrained are more likely to consider opportunity costs when evaluating their purchases. Furthermore, this effect is independent of consumers’ objective constraints (e.g. income) and social class, is not due to a general decrease in life satisfaction or mood, and is robust across several purchase types. Consistent with our proposed mechanism, the effect attenuates when opportunity costs are made salient and when consumers consider purchases for which opportunity costs are naturally less salient (i.e., planned purchases). Moreover, although financial constraints decrease actual purchase happiness, they increase expected purchase happiness, suggesting that financial constraints can have differential effects across decision-making stages. Finally, we meta-analyze our file drawer (17,750 participants; 33 studies) to examine how the effect differs across purchase types and discuss theoretical and practical contributions for consumers and marketers.

Younger adults saw themselves as being as “energetic” but “wiser” than their age peers, while older adults saw themselves as being more “energetic” but less “wise” than their age peers

Young people feel wise and older people feel energetic: comparing age stereotypes and self-evaluations across adulthood. Catherine E. Bowen, Svenja M. Spuling, Anna E. Kornadt & Maja Wiest. European Journal of Ageing volume 17, pages435–444(2020). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10433-019-00548-4

Abstract: We use questionnaire data from the MIDUS study (N = 6325 and a subsample n = 2120) to examine the extent to which people in their late 20s, late 40s and late 60s think that positive characteristics apply to themselves, their age peers and other age groups. Results based on factor analysis confirmed the existence of age stereotypes, such that one constellation of characteristics (wise, caring, calm, knowledgeable, generative; “wise”) was seen as more descriptive of older adults, while another constellation of characteristics (energetic, healthy, willing to learn; “energetic”) was seen as more descriptive of younger adults. Self-evaluations were, however, highly positive and largely independent of age. As a group, younger adults saw themselves as being as “energetic” but “wiser” than their age peers, while older adults saw themselves as being more “energetic” but less “wise” than their age peers. In sum, the results suggest that self-views are relatively independent of existing age stereotypes but also indicate that the “better-than-average effect” depends on age and whether the considered characteristics represent a relative strength or weakness of one’s own age group. The results also indicate that, at the aggregate level, older adults’ tendency to use stereotypes about their age group’s weaknesses as a frame of reference for making flattering self-evaluations seems to outweigh the effects of stereotype internalization.

Brain structure and clinical profile point to neurodevelopmental factors involved in pedophilic disorder

Brain structure and clinical profile point to neurodevelopmental factors involved in pedophilic disorder. Christoph Abé  Roberth Adebahr  Benny Liberg  Christian Mannfolk  Alexander Lebedev  Jonna Eriksson  Niklas Långström  Christoffer Rahm. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, December 23 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13273

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1342043484623138816

Abstract

Objective: Pedophilic disorder (PD) is characterized by persistent sexual interest in prepubertal children causing distress and increasing the risk for child sexual abuse. Although prior research suggests that PD has neurodevelopmental underpinnings, the evidence remains sparse. To aid the understanding of etiology and treatment development, we quantified neurobiological and clinical correlates of PD.

Method: We compared 55 self‐referred, help‐seeking, non‐forensic male patients with DSM‐5 PD with 57 age‐matched, healthy male controls (HC) on clinical, neuropsychological, and structural brain imaging measures (cortical thickness and surface area, subcortical and white matter volumes). Structural brain measures were related to markers for aberrant neurodevelopment including IQ, and the 2nd to 4th digit ratio (2D:4D).

Results: PD was associated with psychiatric disorder comorbidity and ADHD and autism spectrum disorder symptoms. PD patients had lower total IQ than HC. PD individuals exhibited cortical surface area abnormalities in regions belonging to the brain’s default mode network and showed abnormal volume of white matter underlying those regions. PD subjects had smaller hippocampi and nuclei accumbens than HC. Findings were not related to history of child‐related sexual offending. IQ correlated negatively with global expression of PD‐related brain features and 2D:4D correlated with surface area in PD.

Conclusions: In the largest single‐center study to date, we delineate psychiatric comorbidity, neurobiological and cognitive correlates of PD. Our morphometric findings, their associations with markers of aberrant neurodevelopment, and psychiatric comorbidities suggest that neurodevelopmental mechanisms are involved in PD. The findings may need consideration in future development of clinical management of PD patients.

Not only Trolls are Trolling the Internet: A study on dark personality traits, online environment, and commentary styles

Not only Trolls are Trolling the Internet: A study on dark personality traits, online environment, and commentary styles. Anna M. Connysdotter Karlsson, Petri J. Kajonius. International Journal of Personality Psychology, Vol 6 (2020), Dec 23 2020. https://doi.org/10.21827/ijpp.6.37214

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1341989172018601985

Abstract: On the Internet, many commentary styles take place on various forums, and abuse is not uncommon. We investigated the personality traits related to individuals’ behaviors on Internet forum posting. The Dark Short Tetrad (SD4) were used to predict (N = 212) three types of commentary styles: Trolling (malicious posting), Lurking (reading/not posting) and Posting (reading/posting). The results showed that Trolling co-varied with Sadism (r = .38) and Machiavellianism (r = .28). The results also showed that people high on dark traits are Trolling the Internet. Exploratory mediator analyses further revealed that various aspects of anonymity trivially moderate personality traits and behavior (indirect effects β ≈ .10). The overall take-home message is that personality traits, especially dark traits, play a role in how individuals express themselves online. This provides well-needed insight in abusive behaviors in forums on the internet.

Keywords: personality, Dark Tetrad, Internet behavior, online environment