Laboratory: Moderate alcohol consumption unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation (due to a deterioration in mood and an increase in physiologic stress)

Zak PJ, Hayes K, Paulson E, Stringham E (2021) Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0253296, Jun 22 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253296

Abstract: Human behavior lies somewhere between purely self-interested homo economicus and socially-motivated homo reciprocans. The factors that cause people to choose self-interest over costly cooperation can provide insights into human nature and are essential when designing institutions and policies that are meant to influence behavior. Alcohol consumption can shed light on the inflection point between selfish and selfless because it is commonly consumed and has global effects on the brain. The present study administered alcohol or placebo (N = 128), titrated to sex and weight, to examine its effect on cooperation in a standard task in experimental economics, the public goods game (PGG). Alcohol, compared to placebo, doubled the number of free-riders who contributed nothing to the public good and reduced average PGG contributions by 32% (p = .005). This generated 64% higher average profits in the PGG for those who consumed alcohol. The degree of intoxication, measured by blood alcohol concentration, linearly reduced PGG contributions (r = -0.18, p = .05). The reduction in cooperation was traced to a deterioration in mood and an increase in physiologic stress as measured by adrenocorticotropic hormone. Our findings indicate that moderate alcohol consumption inhibits the motivation to cooperate and that homo economicus is stressed and unhappy.

Discussion

We found that moderate alcohol consumption reduced contributions to a public good pool by 32%. Those who consumed alcohol earned 64% more money because they interacted with more cooperative placebo participants. Alcohol also doubled the number of participants who were complete free-riders, contributing nothing to the public good. BAC linearly reduced PGG contributions "unleashing" individuals to behave selfishly.

If money is the only value one receives from cooperation, at least as captured by the PGG, then the present study has shown that a moderate consumption of alcohol results in behavior closer to that predicted by traditional models in economics [2,18,72]. This may be due to alcohol’s stimulation of the neurotransmitter dopamine [38] that is strongly associated with reward-seeking behaviors [73]. Conversely, a rich literature has documented the humans are gregariously social and that most people in most circumstances are biased towards cooperation [74,75]. Our results are unlikely to be affected by the methodology we employed. Previous research has shown that monetary decisions that capture cooperative behaviors that include blood draws match those absent blood sampling [74]. Nevertheless, while we sought to capture typical social drinking, our results may not generalize to single-sex alcohol consumption or drinking by older cohorts.

Alcohol’s inhibition of appropriate social responses has been termed "alcohol myopia" [76] but is more typically seen in heavy drinkers and alcoholics that moderate imbibers [77]. The primary mechanism producing inhibition has been traced to an increase in the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA [37]. If the treatment reported here resulted in alcohol myopia, it appeared to decrease the value put on social benefits and increase the value of selfish benefits as has been shown with testosterone administration [78]. Indeed, pre-play communication has been consistently been shown to increase cooperation [79], yet alcohol was shown to blunt this effect.

Alcohol’s reduction of the perceived value of cooperation was manifested in the present study by an increase in negative affect. Alcohol accentuates emotional volatility [76,80], negative affect [81], and impulsivity [82]. The reduction in prefrontal activity that moderates social-emotional responses [83] reduced affective states in alcohol-consuming participants and may have focused them on immediate monetary rewards rather than the psychic reward of conforming to a social norm of cooperation [84]. Most economics studies have measured impulsivity by the choice of immediate versus delayed rewards. Individuals showing patience for temporal rewards are generally more cooperative [85] counter to the results found here. The role of stress has not been measured in the existing literature and may explain the difference in findings. At the same time, trait impulsivity can lead to alcohol use and abuse [86].

Social rejection and physical pain have been also shown to increase one’s desire for money [87] and our analysis suggests that an increase in negative affect of moderate alcohol consumption may mimic pain responses when it comes to money [88]. This finding is in contrast to much of the literature showing that negative affect increases monetary allocations to others in ultimatum and dictator games [89]. We did not find that isolation while drinking influenced negative affect compared to those drinking socially as others have reported [90].

Perhaps our most valuable finding is that alcohol increases physiologic stress and through this route reduces cooperation. This was captured by higher levels of the stress hormone ACTH for those who consumed alcohol. ACTH, rather than cortisol, was measured because the former responds more quickly than the latter in line with the time course of the experiment. Moderate stress tends to increase prosociality [91–93] while high and/or chronic stress inhibits prosocial behaviors [94,95]. Moderate alcohol consumption may be an effective way to induce physiologic stress, in particular, by having people drink alone. Our finding that physiologic stress was higher for those drinking alone seems to be new in the literature that has focused on drinking to reduce stress [96]. While drinking alone is a known risk factor for alcohol abuse [90], we have shown that drinking alone reduces subsequent prosocial behaviors. This may further isolate and stress solo drinkers, influencing them to continue to imbibe alcohol. The increase in stress was primarily driven by women and we believe this finding is worth additional research. A replication of study’s results is warranted because when segmented into subsamples, some of the analysis was relatively underpowered.

Our findings show that homo economicus is alive and well and that alcohol is enough to bring him out. A variety of factors besides alcohol reduce prosocial tendencies, including high levels of testosterone and serotonin depletion [97]. The present study was not designed to capture the contribution of changes in neurotransmitters on cooperation, but this is a rich area for future research.

Both Google Search and Google Scholar more often than not ranked a link to the original article higher than a link indicating that the article has been retracted

The Dissemination of Scientific Fake News: On the Ranking of Retracted Articles in Google. Emmanuel Genot, Erik J Olsson. Jun 2021. Chapter in The Epistemology of Fake News. Oxford University Press (forthcoming Aug 2021, https://www.amazon.com/Epistemology-Fake-News-Engaging-Philosophy/dp/0198863977). https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/lup/publication/c395d114-c3b2-486a-80a0-0c80c150adee

Summary: Fake news can originate from an ordinary person carelessly posting what turns out to be false information or from the intentional actions of fake news factory workers, but broadly speaking it can also originate from scientific fraud. In the latter case, the article can be retracted upon discovery of the fraud. A case study shows, however, that such fake science can be visible in Google even after the article was retracted, in fact more visible than the retraction notice. We hypothesize that the reason for this lies in the popularity-based logic governing Google, in particular its foundational PageRank algorithm, in conjunction with a psychological law which we refer to as the “law of retraction”: a retraction notice is typically taken to be less interesting and therefore less popular with internet users than the original content retracted. We conduct an empirical study drawing on records of articles retracted due to fraud (fabrication of data) in the Retraction Watch public database. The study tests the extent to which such retracted scientific articles are still highly ranked in Google –and more so than information about the retraction. We find, among other things, that both Google Search and Google Scholar more often than not ranked a link to the original article higher than a link indicating that the article has been retracted. Surprisingly, Google Scholar did not perform better in this regard than Google Search. We also found cases in which Google did not track the retraction of an article on the first result page at all. We conclude that both Google Search and Google Scholar runthe risk of disseminating fake science through their ranking algorithms.

“Ounce equivalents” of animal- and plant-based protein-rich foods may not be metabolically equivalent after all

Metabolic Evaluation of the Dietary Guidelines’ Ounce Equivalents of Protein Food Sources in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Sanghee Park, David D Church, Scott E Schutzler, Gohar Azhar, Il-Young Kim, Arny A Ferrando, Robert R Wolfe. The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 151, Issue 5, May 2021, Pages 1190–1196, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa401

Abstract

Background: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) published an “ounce equivalents” recommendation to help consumers meet protein requirements with a variety of protein food sources. However, the metabolic equivalency of these varied protein food sources has not been established.

Objective: We have investigated the hypothesis that the anabolic responses to consumption of ounce equivalents of protein food sources would be directly related to the essential amino acid (EAA) content of the protein food source.

Methods: Following 3 d of dietary control, a total of 56 healthy young adults underwent an 8.5-h metabolic study using stable isotope tracer methodology. The changes from baseline following consumption of 1 of 7 different protein food sources were compared with the baseline value for that individual (n = 8 per group).

Results: Consumption of ounce equivalents of animal-based protein food sources (beef sirloin, pork loin, eggs) resulted in a greater gain in whole-body net protein balance above baseline than the ounce equivalents of plant-based protein food sources (tofu, kidney beans, peanut butter, mixed nuts; P < 0.01). The improvement in whole-body net protein balance was due to an increase in protein synthesis (P < 0.05) with all the animal protein sources, whereas the egg and pork groups also suppressed protein breakdown compared with the plant protein sources (P < 0.01). The magnitude of the whole-body net balance (anabolic) response was correlated with the EAA content of the protein food source (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: The “ounce equivalents” of protein food sources as expressed in the DGAs are not metabolically equivalent in young healthy individuals. The magnitude of anabolic response to dietary proteins should be considered as the DGAs develop approaches to establish healthy eating patterns.

Keywords: ounce equivalent, anabolic response, essential amino acids, net protein balance, stable isotope tracers

Popular version Not all dietary proteins are created equal (nutrition.org)

Laughter in response to tickling might express gender stereotypes of socio-expressive behavior in playful social interaction; involuntary muscle contractions may reflect biological components of playfulness in opposite gender constellations

The importance of skin area and gender in ticklishness. Sven Svebak. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, June 21 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12756

Abstract: The importance of skin area and gender in ticklishness was explored in the present study. No previous report has been published on stimulation of the body surface exposed when dressed in a swimsuit (supine and prone positions), and the use of a feather has not been reported before. Fifty-seven university students volunteered (female N = 26, age range: 19–25, mean = 22.4; male N = 31, age range: 20–26, mean = 23.1). Sessions were videotaped for scoring of local involuntary muscle contractions (IMC) and laughter. Smiles were not scored because the face was not visible in the prone position. Subjective ticklishness was scored on a visual analogue scale. Areas that gave rise to ticklishness, were hatched onto a figure of the body. A two-factor design (gender of tickler by gender of ticklee) explored effects on dependent measures. Results showed that laughter was most frequent in female ticklees, disregarding the gender of the tickler. Subjective ticklishness and IMC scored high in opposite gender constellations. Ticklish areas included the ankles, knees, medial sides of the thighs and legs, lateral sides of the upper part of the body, elbows, the upper parts of arms, and the neck and shoulders. It was proposed that laughter in response to tickling stimulation might express gender stereotypes of socio-expressive behavior in playful social interaction, whereas IMC and subjective ticklishness may reflect biological components of playfulness in opposite gender constellations when tickled by a feather.

DISCUSSION

In general, the structure of the results supported the proposed distinction between the socio-expressive variable of laughter and the biological variables of IMC and subjective ticklishness. Laughter was more frequent in females than in males, whereas IMC scored high in opposite sex constellations, as did also the experience of the overall intensity of subjective ticklishness. It is stated in Table 2 that there was no relationship between the occurrence of IMC and laughter responses with the confounding variable of duration of the ticklish stimulation. The ANCOVAs for the IMC scores from the prone position also reflected a slightly less significant role for the gender of the tickler. It may be important to note that the significant ANCOVAs for the IMC occurred only for scores obtained in the prone (back) condition. It is possible that this type of skin stimulation relates somewhat to tickling in adult sex-related play behavior, as described in the book on erotic play by Moran (2003). However, this speculation should be left for empirical testing in the future. All subjects were within the same student population, and the laboratory may have facilitated the establishment of a protective mental frame (see Introduction) that has been proposed in reversal theory as important for the enjoyment of high arousal in the playful state and empirically supported later (see Svebak & Apter, 1987). The correlational analyses of the present findings support the validity of pleasure in the IMC where significant coefficients were calculated between laughter and IMC as well as between subjective ticklishness and IMC (Table 2). Moreover, the involuntary nature of the spontaneous IMC appeared to be similar to observations reported in previous electromyographic research that have supported a role for strong and phasic muscle responses (short-lasting, stimulus-elicited) during sensory-motor task performance in a playful mental state (Svebak, 1984).

The IMC response may be seen as a defensive evolutionary response where the aim is to rid the skin surface of an irritant by means of a local vibration. The IMC often triggers other defensive reactions as well, such as brushing and scratching of the stimulated area. Tickling most often is a pleasant sensory experience whereas itching may also involve pleasure when it is mild. However, both are mediated by the afferent pain system and, therefore, has been described as a pain-pleasure system (Mintz, 1967). In this way, laughter during ticklishness may be seen as a sociocultural signal of playfulness, whereas IMC as well as subjective ticklishness may be biological reflexes that express the paradox of mixed feelings in playfulness. Provine (2000, p. 120) discussed the social and biological complexity of the tickle stimulus and the related responses, and he pointed to the defensive movements often seen in the ticklee: “Ticklees may variously hit, kick, or wriggle to rid themselves of the stimulus.” All this may be accompanied by the contrasting behavior of hilarious laughter to encourage the tickler to continue. In this way, laughter seems to invite playful interaction whereas, at the same time, the IMC signals the opposite. The inherent paradox of ambiguity tends to increase felt arousal that is experienced as more and more pleasant with increasing arousal, provided the person is in a playful state. In contrast, it is felt as unpleasant worry or anxiety when in the serious state (Apter, 1992, 2007, 2018; Svebak & Apter, 1987).

The idea that tickle responses are signs of amusement has been discussed some years ago by Harris and Alvarado (2005), as based upon the association of smiling with humor. The relation with humor was not strongly supported in their study where smiling and laughing were also related to styles of coping with stimulation that may be experienced as slightly aversive. In general, humor, the sense of humor, laughter and smiling are all complex phenomena, and the sense of humor of an individual should not be confused with a biological trait of ticklishness. The present study did not investigate humor as a social phenomenon nor the sense of humor of the individual participant.

Recent techniques for the eliciting of ticklish responses, such as in the studies by Harris et al., appear to be more along with the gargalesis type when fingers are used, as opposed to the mild knismesis form which was used in the present study. Probably, the present study was open to playfulness because subjects were recruited on a voluntary basis, with no use of credit points that may facilitate a vicarious motive to participate, and with the use of a stimulation technique that is less invasive than is the use of fingers. In addition, the ticklers were introduced to the participants in a lecture beforehand. It is a fact that no subject asked to stop the stimulation despite the instruction to do so at any time if they felt for it.

It is often underlined that there are many different types of smiles as well as laughter. Smiles were not recorded in the present study, simply because the face was not visible in the prone position. Laughter was scored from video tapes by two independent judges who adopted a commonsense attitude toward scoring, with no further sophistication than to identify laughter as present or absent. The quality of the laughter was not scored. And a strong exhale would not be counted because it would not be accompanied by vocalization. This approach to scoring may have acted as a limitation and may explain why there were relatively few laughter reactions during the stimulation. The concordance between the two judges was almost perfect (see Method above). It is possible that important information about the distribution of responses may have been lost when facial expressiveness was not scored, and that an approach which made the face visible throughout the tickling procedure would have supported a different conclusion. However, the mapping of particularly ticklish areas all over the skin surface would not have been possible unless the subjects were stimulated also in the prone position where the face was invisible. This goal was seen as essential to the study.

The presence of a playful state during ticklishness could be validated by the use of a questionnaire at the end of the session. There are well established survey measures available to assess trait playfulness (Murgatroyd, Rushton, Apter & Ray, 1978; Svebak & Murgatroyd, 1985), but measures of state playfulness have proved to be much more difficult to validate and establish (Apter & Lewis, 2018; Desselles, Murphy & Theys, 2014). None were found to be useful in this experimental setting.

In the present study, mean scores on the subjective experience of ticklishness were slightly lover than those reported in an fMRI experiment by Carlsson, Petrovic, Skare, Petersson & Ingvar (2000) when using the same visual analog scale (66 as compared with 58 in the present experiment). This small difference may further validate the present method for eliciting ticklishness in the laboratory.

In conclusion, females appeared more often than males to respond overtly with laughter, disregarding the gender of the tickler, whereas IMC and subjective ticklishness appeared to be biological signals of play-related reflexive responses in opposite sex constellations. The precise subjective qualities of these responses should be further investigated in future research. The use of a feather for skin stimulation (knismesis: mild, soft) uncovered a complete list of locations that gave rise to the experience of ticklishness. The areas included the ankles, knees, medial sides of the thighs and legs, lateral sides of the upper part of the body, stomach, elbows, the upper part of arms, and the neck and shoulders. These areas may be different in gargalesis (vigorous, invasive) types of ticklish stimulation although they overlap well with the areas suggested by Hall and Allin (1897) based on a survey more than one hundred years ago.

Individuals Who Own Sex Dolls: Had more sexual fantasies related to coercion (biastophilia), but lower offense proclivity; were also more likely to see women as unknowable; have more stable negative mood

Harper, Craig A., Rebecca Lievesley, and Katie Wanless. 2021. “Exploring the Psychological Characteristics of Individuals Who Own Sex Dolls.” PsyArXiv. June 22. doi:10.31234/osf.io/fxznv

Abstract: The ownership of sex dolls has become an increasingly controversial social issue over the last five-to-ten years, with many in society (and academia) calling for the criminalization of such dolls. At the root of these calls is the implicit (and often explicit) assumption that sex doll ownership contributes to increases in social objectification of women, and sexual offense risk among doll owners. However, there are yet to be any empirical examinations of these claims. In this work we compare the psychological characteristics of sex doll owners (n = 158) and non-owner controls (n = 135). Contrary to widely held social attitudes, we found no substantive differences in sexual objectification between the two groups. Doll owners typically had more sexual fantasies related to coercion (biastophilia), but lower offense proclivity, than controls. Owners were also more likely to see women as unknowable, have less secure attachment styles, and more stable negative mood. We begin to build a psychological profile of sex doll ownership, before highlighting the need for more evidence-informed social debates about the use of sex dolls in modern society.

The extent to which the less powerful citizens within a country expect & accept that power is distributed unequally shows negative association with both Covid-19 morbidity & mortality, ensuring conformity to prescribed behaviors

Impact of Societal Culture on Covid-19 Morbidity and Mortality across Countries. Rajiv Kumar. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, June 15, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221211025100

Abstract: Researchers have begun exploring the impact of societal culture on Covid-19 outcomes (morbidity and mortality). However, emerging findings need integration with prior literature on societal culture and infectious diseases. Moreover, accumulation of knowledge warrants an update while overcoming certain limitations of samples as well as construct validity concerns. Accordingly, hypotheses are derived based on extant evidence proposing the impact of certain cultural practices on Covid-19 outcomes across countries. These hypotheses are tested using the cultural practice scores from GLOBE studies after controlling for certain covariates identified in literature. Multiple regression results reveal that societal culture significantly explains Covid-19 outcomes beyond the explanation due to control variables. Specifically, power distance and institutional collectivism show negative association with both Covid-19 morbidity and mortality. Additionally, performance orientation shows negative association with Covid-19 morbidity. It appears that power distance may ensure conformity to prescribed behaviors and features of performance orientation may facilitate swift and effective containment of Covid-19 cases. The significance of institutional collectivism—but not in-group collectivism—emerging as the form of collectivism showing negative association with Covid-19 outcomes is also discussed.

Keywords: Covid-19, culture, GLOBE, power distance, collectivism, institutional collectivism, performance orientation

Beards Increase the Speed, Accuracy, and Explicit Judgments of Facial Threat

Beards Increase the Speed, Accuracy, and Explicit Judgments of Facial Threat. Barnaby J. W. Dixson, Claire L. Barkhuizen & Belinda M. Craig. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, Jun 22 2021. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-021-00169-1

Abstract

Objectives: To test whether intra-sexual selection has influenced perceptions of male facial hair. We predicted that beards would increase the speed and accuracy of perceptions of angry but not happy facial expressions. We also predicted that bearded angry faces would receive the highest explicit ratings of masculinity and aggressiveness, whereas higher prosociality ratings would be ascribed to clean-shaven happy faces.

Methods: A total of 106 participants, ranging from 17 to 59 years of age (M = 27.27, SD = 10.03); 59 were female and 47 were male (44.3%) completed an emotion categorization tasks and an explicit ratings task. Participants viewed faces of the same men when bearded, clean-shaven, and 10 days of natural growth (i.e. stubble) when posing angry and happy facial expressions.

Results: Angry facial expressions were categorised most rapidly and with the greatest accuracy on bearded faces, followed by faces with stubble then clean-shaven faces. Conversely, happy facial expressions were categorised most rapidly and with the greatest accuracy on clean-shaven faces, followed by stubbled faces then bearded faces. Irrespective of facial expression, full bearded faces received the highest ratings of masculinity followed by faces with stubble then clean-shaven faces. Aggressiveness ratings were highest for angry faces with full beards, followed by angry faces with stubble, with clean-shaven angry faces receiving the lowest ratings. In contrast to our prediction, bearded smiling faces were rated as significantly more prosocial than stubbled and clean-shaven smiling faces.

Conclusions: These findings contribute further evidence that men’s beardedness represents an intra-sexually selected badge of status that enhances nonverbal threat potentially by augmenting underlying masculine facial structures.

Check also Cross-Cultural Variation in Men’s Beardedness. Barnaby J. W. Dixson & Anthony J. Lee. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology (2020). Sep 1 2020. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/09/mens-decision-to-augment-their.html

And: Mothers are sensitive to men's beards as a potential cue of paternal investment. Barnaby J. W. Dixson, Siobhan Kennedy-Costantini, Anthony J. Lee, Nicole L. Nelson. Hormones and Behavior, Volume 113, July 2019, Pages 55-66. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/05/preferences-for-beards-when-judging.html

Precision-grasping muscles & and power-grasping muscles... Reconstructing occupations thru muscles to allow us to look into our ancestral past

New horizons in reconstructing past human behavior: Introducing the “Tübingen University Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity” method. Fotios Alexandros Karakostis, Katerina Harvati. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, March 25 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21892

Abstract: An accurate reconstruction of habitual activities in past populations and extinct hominin species is a paramount goal of paleoanthropological research, as it can elucidate the evolution of human behavior and the relationship between culture and biology. Variation in muscle attachment (entheseal) morphology has been considered an indicator of habitual activity, and many attempts have been made to use it for this purpose. However, its interpretation remains equivocal due to methodological shortcomings and a paucity of supportive experimental data. Through a series of studies, we have introduced a novel and precise methodology that focuses on reconstructing muscle synergies based on three-dimensional and multivariate analyses among entheses. This approach was validated using uniquely documented anthropological samples, experimental animal studies, histological observations, and geometric morphometrics. Here, we detail, synthesize, and critically discuss the findings of these studies, which overall point to the great potential of entheses in elucidating aspects of past human behavior.

1 INTRODUCTION

Muscle attachment sites (i.e., “entheses”) are the areas of the bone where muscles, tendons, or ligaments attach.1 They represent the only direct evidence of the musculotendinous, soft tissue system on skeletal remains. As such, they are commonly thought to broadly reflect muscular activity and have been used for reconstructing habitual physical activity among past human populations and extinct hominin species.2-4 The methods of entheseal analysis can broadly be divided into those relying on observational scoring systems describing robusticity or potentially pathological entheseal changes (EC) of the surface on the one hand3-7; and those quantifying entire entheseal size or shape based on three-dimensional (3D) surface models on the other.8-12 The interpretations of the latter approaches typically rely on the assumption that entheseal morphology may vary with changes of biomechanical load.2, 13, 14 However, most visual scoring systems for analyzing these activity markers have often been criticized for a lack of precision and statistical rigor.15, 16 At the same time, several studies focusing on entheseal 3D morphology in laboratory animals and human cadavers have found no evidence to support the hypothesized functional character of entheses,12, 17-19 questioning their reliability in reconstructing past behavior.

In this framework, we recently put forth a new and repeatable methodology for analyzing entheses based on multivariate analyses targeting the reconstruction of muscle synergy groups.10 As our approach relies on 3D surface area measurements of entheses without potential pathological lesions (i.e., distinctive osteophytic or osteolytic lesions),10 it can be considered more comparable to visual scoring techniques focusing on entheseal robusticity, rather than those incorporating potentially pathological ECs.20, 21 Here, we conduct a critical review of the interdisciplinary body of literature that validated this 3D approach on the basis of anthropological samples with uniquely detailed occupational documentation22 as well as two blindly-conducted experimental studies on animals.23, 24 These results are discussed together with our relevant findings from histological research on human cadaveric material25 and 3D geometric morphometric applications for analyzing muscle attachment form.11 Taken together, our synthesis supports the new approach's efficiency as an important tool for reconstructing past human behavior,26 while also describing its limitations and potential pathways for improvement in the future. We term this new methodology the Tübingen University Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity (hereafter V.E.R.A.).

1.1 Types of entheses and biomechanical implications

Muscle attachment sites are broadly categorized as fibrous or fibrocartilaginous, depending on the nature of their insertion to the bone.1 In fibrous attachments, the muscle/tendon or ligament attaches directly onto the periosteum, which is itself attached to the bone via Sharpey fibers.27, 28 Fibrocartilaginous entheses, on the other hand, describe a gradient structure of attachment involving four transition zones: tendon, uncalcified fibrocartilage, calcified fibrocartilage, and bone.1, 27, 29, 30 Some studies of EC scores analyze fibrous and fibrocartilaginous entheses together.20 However, most researchers consider fibrous entheses less useful for reconstructing physical activity, mainly due to the poor understanding of their reaction to biomechanical stress, lower measurement repeatability, weak correlation with occupational types, lower level of bilateral asymmetry in the upper limbs, and higher correlation with body size proxies.5, 6, 31-34 This viewpoint is also supported by histological research suggesting that, in fibrous entheses (typically along the metaphysis or diaphysis of long bones), biomechanical forces seem to be dissipated over a wider area of attachment.17, 27 By contrast, in fibrocartilaginous entheses (typically at apophyses or epiphyses of long bones), all biomechanical stress is concentrated on to relatively smaller attachment surfaces, potentially leading to higher stress energy density and greater deformations of the comparatively thin cortical layer within these areas.1, 17, 29 Nonetheless, it should be emphasized that recent histological research showed that fibrous and fibrocartilaginous attachments may co-exist in the same enthesis,27, 35, 36 suggesting that the nature of muscle attachment to bone is much more complex than previously believed.

The anatomical area where an enthesis is located is also considered important, given that the nature and intensity of the biomechanical forces at play are bound to differ across the skeleton. As a result, there is substantial variation among entheses both in gross morphology and micro-architecture.5, 25, 30 From a biomechanical point of view, entheseal variability has been suggested to be broadly associated with an interaction between body weight (compressive) and muscle tendon (tensile) forces, which substantially vary across anatomical regions.25, 30, 37, 38 In this regard, the hand shares the smallest proportion of body weight in the human skeleton,39 suggesting that perhaps the effects of muscle recruitment on entheses may possibly be greater in hand bones compared to elements from high-weight-bearing anatomical areas.25 Based on this concept, as well as on the fundamental role of manual tasks in human daily activities and subsistence strategies,40 most of our research to date has focused on the entheses of the human hand. 

Hysterical reaction to "poorly understood" consequences? Fourth author thinks this "might be the most important paper of my career;" addresses "the harm wrought by dramatically restructuring human communication o[n] the span of a decade, with no aim other than selling ads"

Stewardship of global collective behavior. Joseph B. Bak-Coleman, M A, W B, Carl T. Bergstrom et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, July 6, 2021 118 (27) e2025764118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2025764118

His take... Carl T. Bergstrom on Twitter: We have a new paper out in PNAS today, in which we address the harm wrought by dramatically restructuring human communication of the span of a decade, with no aim other than selling ads. It might be the most important paper of my career

Abstract: Collective behavior provides a framework for understanding how the actions and properties of groups emerge from the way individuals generate and share information. In humans, information flows were initially shaped by natural selection yet are increasingly structured by emerging communication technologies. Our larger, more complex social networks now transfer high-fidelity information over vast distances at low cost. The digital age and the rise of social media have accelerated changes to our social systems, with poorly understood functional consequences. This gap in our knowledge represents a principal challenge to scientific progress, democracy, and actions to address global crises. We argue that the study of collective behavior must rise to a “crisis discipline” just as medicine, conservation, and climate science have, with a focus on providing actionable insight to policymakers and regulators for the stewardship of social systems.

Keywords: collective behaviorcomputational social sciencesocial mediacomplex systems

Collective behavior historically referred to instances in which groups of humans or animals exhibited coordinated action in the absence of an obvious leader (1⇓⇓–4): from billions of locusts, extending over hundreds of kilometers, devouring vegetation as they move onward; to schools of fish convulsing like some animate fluid while under attack from predators; to our own societies, characterized by cities, with buildings and streets full of color and sound, alive with activity. The characteristic feature of all of these systems is that social interactions among the individual organisms give rise to patterns and structure at higher levels of organization, from the formation of vast mobile groups to the emergence of societies with division of labor, social norms, opinions, and price dynamics.

Over the past few decades “collective behavior” has matured from a description of phenomena to a framework for understanding the mechanisms by which collective action emerges (3⇓⇓⇓–7). It reveals how large-scale “higher-order” properties of the collectives feed back to influence individual behavior, which in turn can influence the behavior of the collective, and so on. Collective behavior therefore focuses on the study of individuals in the context of how they influence and are influenced by others, taking into account the causes and consequences of interindividual differences in physiology, motivation, experience, goals, and other properties.

The multiscale interactions and feedback that underlie collective behavior are hallmarks of “complex systems”—which include our brains, power grids, financial markets, and the natural world (8, 9). When perturbed, complex systems tend to exhibit finite resilience followed by catastrophic, sudden, and often irreversible changes in functionality (9, 10). Across a wide range of complex systems, research has highlighted how anthropogenic disturbance—technology, resource extraction, and population growth—is an increasing, if not dominant, source of systemic risk. Yet, scientific research on how complex systems are impacted by human technology and population growth has largely focused on the threats that these pose to the natural world (11⇓–13). We have a far poorer understanding of the functional consequences of recent large-scale changes to human collective behavior and decision making. Our social adaptations evolved in the context of small hunter-gatherer groups solving local problems through vocalizations and gestures. Now we face complex global challenges from pandemics to climate change—and we communicate on dispersed networks connected by digital technologies such as smartphones and social media.

With increasingly strong links between ecological and sociological processes, averting catastrophe in the medium term (e.g., coronavirus) and the long term (e.g., climate change, food security) will require rapid and effective collective behavioral responses—yet it remains unknown whether human social dynamics will yield such responses (14⇓⇓–17). In addition to existential ecological and climatic threats, human social dynamics present other challenges to individual and collective wellbeing, such as vaccine refusal, election tampering, disease, violent extremism, famine, racism, and war.

Neither the evolutionary nor the technological changes to our social systems have come about with the express purpose of promoting global sustainability or quality of life. Recent and emerging technologies such as online social media are no exception—both the structure of our social networks and the patterns of information flow through them are directed by engineering decisions made to maximize profitability. These changes are drastic, opaque, effectively unregulated, and massive in scale.

The emergent functional consequences are unknown. We lack the scientific framework we would need to answer even the most basic questions that technology companies and their regulators face. For instance, will a given algorithm for recommending friends—or one for selecting news items to display—promote or hinder the spread of misinformation online? We do not have access to a theory-driven, empirically verified body of literature to inform a response to such a question. Lacking a developed framework, tech companies have fumbled their way through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unable to stem the “infodemic” of misinformation that impedes public acceptance of control measures such as masks and widespread testing (18).

In response, regulators and the public have doubled down on calls for reforming our social media ecosystem, with demands ranging from increased transparency and user controls to legal liability and public ownership. The basic debate is an ancient one: Are large-scale behavioral processes self-sustaining and self-correcting, or do they require active management and guidance to promote sustainable and equitable wellbeing (2, 19)? Historically, these questions have been addressed in philosophical or normative terms. Here, we build on our understanding of disturbed complex systems to argue that human social dynamics cannot be expected to yield solutions to global issues or to promote human wellbeing without evidence-based policy and ethical stewardship.

The situation parallels challenges faced in conservation biology and climate science, where insufficiently regulated industries optimize profits while undermining the stability of ecological and earth systems. Such behavior created a need for urgent evidence-based policy in the absence of a complete understanding of the systems’ underlying dynamics (e.g., ecology and geosciences). These features led Michael Soulé to describe conservation biology as the “crisis discipline” counterpoint to ecology—an analogy to the relationship between medicine and comparative physiology (20). Crisis disciplines are distinct from other areas of urgent, evidenced-based research in their need to consider the degradation of an entire complex system—without a complete description of the system’s dynamics. We feel that the study of human collective behavior must become the crisis discipline response to changes in our social dynamics.

Because human collective behavior is the result of processes that span temporal, geographical, and organizational scales, addressing the impact of emerging technology on global behavior will require a transdisciplinary approach and unprecedented collaboration between scientists across a wide range of academic disciplines. As our societies are increasingly instantiated in digital form, once-mathematical abstractions of social processes—networks are one prominent example—become very real parts of daily life (21⇓–23). These changes present new challenges, as well as opportunities for measurement and intervention. Disciplines within and beyond the social sciences have access to techniques and ways of thinking that expand our ability to understand and respond to the effects of communication technology. We believe such a collaboration is urgently needed.

In what follows, we begin by framing human collective behavior as a complex adaptive system shaped by evolution, a system that much like our natural world has entered a heavily altered and likely unsustainable state (14, 24, 25). We highlight how communication technology has restructured human social networks, expanding, reorganizing, and coupling them to technological systems. Drawing on insight from complexity science and related fields, we discuss observed and potential consequences. Next, we describe how a transdisciplinary approach is required for actionable insight into the stewardship of social systems. Finally, we discuss some of the key ethical, scientific, and political challenges.

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In lower-income countries, the economic contractions that accompany lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 can increase child mortality, counteracting the mortality reductions achieved by the lockdown

The Intergenerational Mortality Tradeoff of COVID-19 Lockdown Policies. Lin Ma, Gil Shapira, Damien de Walque, Quy-Toan Do, Jed Friedman & Andrei A. Levchenko. NBER Working Paper 28925. Jun 2021. DOI 10.3386/w28925

Abstract: In lower-income countries, the economic contractions that accompany lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 can increase child mortality, counteracting the mortality reductions achieved by the lockdown. To formalize and quantify this effect, we build a macro-susceptible-infected-recovered model that features heterogeneous agents and a country-group-specific relationship between economic downturns and child mortality, and calibrate it to data for 85 countries across all income levels. We find that in low-income countries, a lockdown can potentially lead to 1.76 children’s lives lost due to the economic contraction per COVID-19 fatality averted. The ratio stands at 0.59 and 0.06 in lower-middle and upper-middle income countries, respectively. As a result, in some countries lockdowns actually can produce net increases in mortality. The optimal lockdowns are shorter and milder in poorer countries than in rich ones, and never produce a net mortality increase.

From 2019... Clearing the path for an anti-imperialist feminist universalism by showing how feminist complicity in imperialism is not caused by the fact of having universalist normative commitments

From 2019... Is Universalism the Cause of Feminist Complicity in Imperialism? Serene Khader. Health, Well-being & Society, Volume 35, 2019, Pages 21-37. https://doi.org/10.5840/socphiltoday20193569

Abstract: Global and transnational feminist praxis has long faced a seemingly inexorable dilemma. Universalism is often charged with causing feminist complicity in imperialism. In spite of this, it seems clear that feminists should not embrace relativism; feminism is, after all, a view about how certain types of treatment based on gender are wrong. This article clears the path for an anti-imperialist feminist universalism by showing how feminist complicity in imperialism is not caused by the fact of having universalist normative commitments. What I call “missionary feminism” stems more from ethnocentrism, justice monism, and idealizing and moralizing ways of seeing that associate Western culture with morality (and thus prevent Western culture and Western intervention from becoming objects of normative scrutiny) than from universalism about the value of gender justice.