Dark triad personality traits of Machiavellianism & psychopathy are strongly associated with anti-natalist views; depression is found to be standing independently in a relationship with anti-natalist views

Philipp Schönegger (2021): What’s up with anti-natalists? An observational study on the relationship between dark triad personality traits and anti-natalist views, Philosophical Psychology, Jul 1 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2021.1946026

Abstract: In the past decade, research on the dark triad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) has demonstrated a strong relationship to a number of socially aversive moral judgments such as sacrificial utilitarian decisions in moral dilemmas. This study widens the scope of this research program and investigates the association between dark triad personality traits and anti-natalist views, i.e., views holding that procreation is morally wrong. The results of this study indicate that the dark triad personality traits of Machiavellianism and psychopathy are strongly associated with anti-natalist views. Further, depression is found to be both standing independently in a relationship with anti-natalist views as well as functioning as a mediator in the relationships between Machiavellianism/psychopathy and anti-natalist views. This pattern was replicated in a follow-up study. These findings add to the literature on dark triad personality traits and their relationship to moral judgments, suggesting that personality and mood play a substantive part in variation in anti-natalist  views in a lay population.

4. Discussion

This study aimed at empirically investigating a potential relationship of dark triad personality traits and views concerning the ethics of procreation, specifically anti-natalism. The data allow for the broad conclusion that there exists a strong relationship between endorsement of anti-natalist views and dark triad personality traits, especially for Machiavellianism (r = .490) and psychopathy (r = .621), less so for narcissism. Moreover, the follow-up study allowed for a replication of this general result, further strengthening the evidentiary basis for these findings. Further, the presence of a mediating role of depression in the relationships between Machiavellianism/psychopathy and anti-natalist views sheds further light on the findings while also making further plausible the claim that narcissism does not play a substantive role in this association. We take these findings to suggest a picture in which lay anti-natalist views stand in a significant relationship to dark triad personality traits and depressive mood.

Concerning the null hypotheses outlined earlier, for the main study, Null Hypothesis 1 and 2 could be rejected soundly (cf. Table 2; Table 3), as dark triad personality traits and depression were found to be standing in a remarkably strong positive relationship with agreement with anti-natalism while playing a mediating role in the main relationships. Null Hypothesis 3 could not be rejected (cf. Table 3), as both self-regarding and other-regarding risk-aversion did not stand in a relationship to either the anti-natalist aggregate measure or any individual items and also played no mediating role.

Overall, these findings present evidence that variation in lay agreement with anti-natalist views that procreation is morally wrong is, at least in part, explained by individual differences in personality and depressive mood. One main finding is that Machiavellianism and psychopathy stand in a strong relationship that is robust even in the follow-up, further strengthening the evidentiary basis for this claim. Narcissism’s relationship, however, both does not replicate in the follow-up and is not mediated by depressive scores, further indicating that narcissism falls outside the realm of explanatory capabilities of the picture proposed here and may be best explained by a different set of hypotheses and factors. This suggests that the picture is one of a ‘dark dyad’, i.e., of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, that explains a good deal of variation in anti-natalist views in a lay population respectively. This is consistent with a set of recent findings that suggest more generally that narcissism and the ‘dark dyad’ (i.e. Machiavellianism and psychopathy) are indeed two distinct constructs (Rogoza & Cieciuch, 2020).

The fact that narcissism only shows a weak or non-existent relationship suggests that the relevant personality features of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, for example, their tendency to low empathy and cynicism toward common-sense morality as well as reduced ability to feel pleasure (Treadway & Zald, 2011), are most closely associated with anti-natalist views and must thus play a part in the explanation as opposed to any factettes of narcissism. On this line of thinking, depression fits into this picture by drawing on depressive individuals’ devaluation of life and bleak outlook on the future. In other words, the results here suggest that those scoring high on Machiavellianism and psychopathy as well as depression (which mediates the main relationship), are more likely to feel negatively about life, common moral standards, and others more generally. That is, one is more likely to agree with the anti-natalist arguments that procreation is a moral wrong because of one’s own propensity to disvalue life, be it present or future.,24,25

As such, the role of depression is also crucial to understanding the present data. This is because the higher one scores on the depression scale, the more likely one might be to regard one’s own life as not worth living, possibly extending this sentiment and overgeneralizing to the claim that lives generally are not worth living and that bringing new lives into existence is a moral wrong because of this. Generally, however, there are two types of explanations about how the impact of depression might intersect with views about anti-natalism. First, one may refer to depressive realism, i.e., the claim that depressed individuals better perceive reality (Moore & Fresco, 2012) and are thus better equipped to judge the anti-natalist arguments. Conversely, one might also think that depressed individuals’ thinking inhabits certain flaws, making them liable to underestimate the goodness and value of life. This would be consistent with a rationalization explanation: One’s affect directly influences what one believes about the world, e.g., about the value of a life. The present data do not allow for a disambiguation between the depressive realist interpretation from the rationalization claim and further research is needed to shed light on this specific question.

The follow-up replication study aimed at testing whether the same pattern of results could be replicated and whether the pandemic overall influenced views on anti-natalism. Null Hypothesis 4 could not be rejected, as the follow-up found that there was no significantly higher or lower aggregate agreement with anti-natalist arguments and statements. Both on aggregate measures and on the majority of individual measures, participants reported insignificantly different agreement. Only on the topic of Misanthropic Anti-Natalism did participants show a change, however their agreement with this formulation of anti-natalism was reduced (contra the expected directionality of an increase). Specifically, they reported lower agreement with the claim that because humans cause such a substantial amount of harm to other humans, animals, and the environment, that it is wrong to procreate.

The data from the follow-up study also showed that the relationship between narcissism and anti-natalism weakened significantly, from a small to moderate effect in the main study, r = .293, p < .001, to virtually no relationship at all, r = −.001, p = .994. The relationships for Machiavellianism and psychopathy remained at moderate to strong levels. As such, this follow-up study shows that the results that Machiavellianism and psychopathy stand in a strong relationship to anti-natalism are robust. It also ought to diminish our certainty in the claim that narcissism is part of the picture in such a way that, given these data, one ought to be highly skeptical as to whether narcissism plays any role in any relationship to anti-natalism at all, which is in line with those arguing for the dark dyad and narcissism being distinct constructs (Rogoza & Cieciuch, 2020).

Overall, these findings strengthen the claim that at least some dark triad personality traits stand in remarkably strong relationships to anti-natalist views. Some potential reasons for this change in results from the main sstudy to the follow-up is non-random attrition, in that the follow-up sample was not a random draw from the initial sample. Irrespective of the actual reason, we take this follow-up to increase the evidentiary status of the findings that Machiavellianism and psychopathy strand in a strong relationship to anti-natalist views. Recall also that narcissism already showed the weakest association, and taken together with the follow-up, one might want to explicitly exclude it from any full picture going forward. Further, given that depression played an important mediating the main relationships, the fact that the follow-up did not find an effect for narcissism is further compatible with previous research that found that comorbidities of depression and dark triad traits are typically only found with regard to Machiavellianism and psychopathy, not narcissism (Gómez-Leal et al., 2019) and again suggests that the picture is one of the dark dyad being associated with anti-natalist views. As such, the data gathered in the follow-up make the overall picture more consistent with previous findings and may thus increase the plausibility of the findings.

The main interpretative challenge of the data gathered in this paper relevant to philosophical theorizing and broad understanding of the public discourse on the topic is this: Does the observed relationship between dark triad personality traits/depression and anti-natalism give us reason to reduce or increase our credence in anti-natalism? For one, one might think that higher psychopathy scores and the presence of (mild) depression might give one reason to doubt the judgments about anti-natalism made by the lay population. After all, is it rational to rely on the judgments of individuals whose personality profile differs substantially from the norm and who are more depressed than the mean person? Specifically, the Machiavellian (but also the psychopathic) personality trait is often associated with emotional detachment in those who also suffer from depression (Demenescu et al., 2010) as well as an inability to feel pleasure in some contexts (Gómez-Leal et al., 2019, p. 10; Cairncross et al., 2013). This would give one reason to believe that the lay evaluation of the quality-of-life argument central to Benatar’s formulation of anti-natalism (2006) might be subject to individual variation if these come with emotional detachment and the inability to feel pleasure. After all, emotional attachment and the ability to feel pleasure are central to our evaluation of life as good and as such tie directly into Benatar’s quality of life argument.26

Conversely, one might also think that depression and its hypothesized more realistic outlook on life and the disregard for common-sense morality present in dark triad personality traits might lead to the reverse conclusion, i.e., that because of the presence of this relationship, one ought to have higher credence in the truth of anti-natalism.27 However, the evidence that depression does indeed lead to a more realistic outlook on life is relatively restricted in methodological scope28 and generally shows relatively small effect sizes (Moore & Fresco, 2012, p. 505).29 Moreover, there is the additional challenge of evaluating a realist effect on purely evaluative topics such as anti-natalism. Given that no objective baseline can be established here (under plausible assumptions), we claim that one ought not be overly confident in the line of depressive realist argumentation with regard to anti-natalism and depressive mood.

For the purposes of this paper, we will not decisively argue one way or another. This is because the data presented here are the first in this line of research and can only explain a part of the picture. Further, arguing either way presupposes assuming a number of propositions that we are not prepared or able to make in a paper with this scope, eg., whether anti-natalist views are the type of views that depressed individuals or those high on dark triad personality traits are especially well or especially poorly equipped to judge. However, given the data obtained and the background literature referred to above, one might be more inclined to favor the former interpretative claim, i.e., that those high on dark triad personality traits and depression are less well-equipped to judge the truth of arguments about anti-natalism. In order to confidently answer those questions as well as further interpretative challenges, e.g., concerning the role of empathy in this relationship, however, more research has to be conducted. Specifically, further research should include a general expansion of the present data base on the psychosocial correlates of anti-natalist views, as well as a scientific analysis of expert populations such as professional philosophers. However, the data present here may be taken as indicative of moral reasoning in public discourse on anti-natalism as it does explain variations in lay views on anti-natalism.

Overall, we take the main philosophical value of these studies to be that they add to the literature on the relationship between personality traits and moral judgments as well as philosophical intuitions more broadly. It has been a goal of experimental philosophy generally to establish an empirically informed picture of folk morality, and the present data directly add to this project. In the same way that, for example, research on the role of culture, demographics, and reflection on lay philosophical judgments generally has contributed to the philosophical enterprise of identifying some of the sources and mechanisms which may drive certain judgments, this may also hold for questions relating to anti-natalism. We draw the tentative conclusions that the data present here, coupled with additional novel studies on additional populations, might go some way to provide a philosophically interesting picture of anti-natalist views that can then lead to an increase or reduction of our credence in anti-natalism. As outlined before, we believe that due to the high importance of figuring out whether anti-natalism is true or not, continuing this research (either by conducting further studies or by expanding the arguments relating to what we ought to draw from the data collected) is incredibly important under the possibility of humanity’s long potential future and the resultant significant moral risk.

4.1 Limitations

This study relied exclusively on an online sample of US residents drawn from MTurk. As such, cross-cultural conclusions should not be drawn lightly and any associations found here may be the artifact of cultural-linguistic circumstances. Moreover, the consistently strong intercorrelations between anti-natalism and dark dyad personality traits might also point toward the fact that both scales measure a similar underlying factor, such as a disaffirmation of life. However, this is both a potential problem and a possible upside. On the one hand, this might mean that the finding does not properly represent the relationship between two independent concepts, but rather measures closeness of related concepts. On the other hand, though, because anti-natalist views have not yet been associated with dark triad traits, even if this was true, the findings presented here would still represent novel empirical insight into the study of personality and folk moral judgment and may directly lead to further research projects.

The main limitation of the follow-up is nonrandom attrition. As this follow-up study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems plausible that the follow-up sample was not a sample randomly drawn from the previous population, but rather that the attrition rate might be connected to the experiences during the pandemic. For example, those hardest hit by the pandemic might not have had the time and energy to participate in an online study. As such, the results of the follow-up concerning the impact of the pandemic ought to be taken into account with a certain level of caution, though the purely replicatory function of the follow-up may be immune from this limitation to a certain degree. Further, because the follow-up was not planned at the time of the first study, no individual identifiers were collected that would have enabled proper within-subject analyses between the main study and the follow-up, further weakening the evidentiary status of the follow-up.

Results revealed an age-related difference in altruism, with older adults showing greater altruism than younger adults; demographic moderators (income, education, sex distribution) did not significantly moderate this effect

Sparrow, E. P., Swirsky, L. T., Kudus, F., & Spaniol, J. (2021). Aging and altruism: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 36(1), 49–56. Jun 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000447

Abstract: Life span theories postulate that altruistic tendencies increase in adult development, but the mechanisms and moderators of age-related differences in altruism are poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear to what extent age differences in altruism reflect age differences in altruistic motivation, in resources such as education and income, or in socially desirable responding. This meta-analysis combined 16 studies assessing altruism in younger and older adults (N = 1,581). As expected, results revealed an age-related difference in altruism (Mg = 0.61, p < .001), with older adults showing greater altruism than younger adults. Demographic moderators (income, education, sex distribution) did not significantly moderate this effect, nor did aspects of the study methodology that may drive socially desirable responding. However, the age effect was moderated by the average age of the older sample, such that studies with young-old samples showed a larger age effect than studies with old-old samples. These findings are consistent with the theoretical prediction of age-related increases in altruistic motivation, but they also suggest a role for resources (e.g., physical, cognitive, social) that may decline in advanced old age.

There is a significant positive association between religiosity & disgust sensitivity, which suggests that sensitivity to disgust could have distinct spiritual purity & moral self-regulatory response value for religious individuals

‘Look not at what is contrary to propriety’: A meta-analytic exploration of the association between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust. Zhaoliang Yu, Persefoni Bali, Myron Tsikandilakis, Eddie M. W. Tong. British Journal of Social Psychology, July 1 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12479

Abstract: Previous research has suggested that disgust sensitivity contributes to moral self-regulation. The relationship between religiosity and disgust sensitivity is frequently explored as a moderator of moral-regulating ideologies, such as conservative and traditional ideologies. However, religiosity is suggested to differ from these in moral attitudes against social dominance and racial prejudice. Psychological theories, such as the societal moral intuition and the evolved hazard-perception models, have proposed that there could be reasons to support a distinct relationship between religiosity and disgust sensitivity. These reasons relate to the intuitive pursuit of spiritual purity and the non-secular transcendental emotional-reward value of moral behaviour for religious individuals. In the present manuscript, we conducted the first dedicated meta-analytic review between religiosity and disgust sensitivity. We analysed a summary of forty-seven experimental outcomes, including 48,971 participants. Our analysis revealed a significant positive association (r = .25) between religiosity and disgust sensitivity. This outcome suggests that sensitivity to disgust could have distinct spiritual purity and moral self-regulatory response value for religious individuals.

Discussion

Summary of findings

The present study aimed to provide an evaluation of the relationship between religiosity and disgust sensitivity. The current meta-analytic summary showed that there is a positive correlation between religiosity and disgust sensitivity. The overall association between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust was positive (r = .253) and significant (p < .001) after controlling for heterogeneity, publication bias, parametricity, and adjusting for the effect of moderators, such as gender, sample type (student vs. general), and age (Borenstein et al., 2017; see Figure 2). The present analytic summary also revealed that gender strongly moderated positive associations between religiosity and trait-level sensitivity to disgust subtypes, including pathogen disgust (r = .127; p < .001) and sexual disgust (r = .262; p < .001; see, Schumm et al., 2013).

General discussion

Religiosity has been defined as an affiliation with a system of morals and often ritualistic practices that include the belief in the existence and a moral code associated with a transcendental entity, or entities (Fincher & Thornhill, 2012). Sensitivity to disgust has been approached as the belief or self-report that an event, cue, or elicitor will be experienced as aversive to a subject using questionnaire and self-report measures (Rozin & Haidt, 2013; Tybur et al., 2013). As mentioned in the introduction, theoretical models, such as the societal moral intuition and the EH-PS models, suggest that disgust sensitivity could relate to religiosity as part of a system of beliefs that contribute to moral cognition, emotions, and behaviours. This relationship is suggested to be distinct from the association of secular forms of morality and sensitivity to disgust in the sense that religiosity involves key conceptual differences to secular morality, such as the notions of supernatural invigilation and proportionality (Shariff, 2015).

In the current study, we showed that religiosity positively correlates with sensitivity to disgust. This finding cannot be interpreted to imply causality, such as whether sensitivity to disgust is a predictive marker for religious belief, or vice versa (Beit-Hallahmi, 2014). Instead, it offers the first meta-analytic dedicated findings that religiosity and sensitivity to disgust are, indeed, correlated (Terrizzi et al., 2013). As regards the proposed differences in the evolutionary trajectories between religious and secular factors, that could underlie the reported association, it is worth inquiring whether the relationship between sensitivity to disgust and religiosity can translate to high, or higher, compared to non-religious individuals, physiological reactions in response to disgust-related elicitors (Kapogiannis et al., 2009). The major consideration in this instance is that the result of such an empirical exploration will help to clarify whether the association between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust reflects a theoretical belief framework dissociated from behavioural (see, for example, Argyle, 2006; Beit-Hallahmi & Argyle, 1997; Nelkin, 2000) and physiological responsivity to stimulus exposure, or an actual physiological module for the avoidance of inferred/indirect threat (Henry, 2016).

This is a very critical distinction. The psychological models that have been associated with religiosity and sensitivity to disgust can be interpreted to suggest that physiological responses will occur when religious individuals are presented with emotional elicitors. The EH-PS model places sensitivity to disgust in relation to religiosity in continuity to an avoidance system related to indirect threat to fitness. Therefore, both disgust-related emotional elicitors and immoral emotional elicitors should stimulate physiological responses for religious individuals that reflect these avoidance mechanisms (Baumard & Boyer, 2013). Conversely, the societal intuitional model has been used to suggest that physiological responses to elicitors related to disgust sensitivity in religious individuals will not only be automatic and involuntary (Boyer & Liénard, 2006) but additionally possibly subject to pre-conscious or subliminal processing, given that their evolutionary origins are linked with intuitional processes (Shariff, 2015).

If these conditions are not met, and if, indeed, sensitivity to disgust does not translate to distinct physiological reactions in religious individuals, the arguments that have been proposed to address this association could be reduced to reflect belief systems without palpable physiological correlates (see Shariff, 2015). Along the same lines, the concepts of supernatural invigilation and proportionality suggest that to some extend religious individuals could be subject to deontic, prescriptive, and inviolate moral laws (Shariff, 2015). The expected outcome of this experiential belief to the morality of a transcendental entity – or entities – should be a sense of reduced moral self-authorship (see Dijksterhuis, Preston, Wegner, & Aarts, 2008) as well as a reduced sense of moral self-righteousness and authoritarianism (Haidt, 2012). If subsequent experimental efforts to provide evidence for these effects are not successful, the sceptical scholar could readily attribute the currently reported significant association to the strict and prescriptive laws that are often part of the participation in religious-related ritualistic practices (Barrett, 2000). The association could also be attributed to other moderating factors, such as secular sociosexual attitudes and beliefs (Weeden, Cohen, & Kenrick, 2008) and addressed as a means for ingroup socialization among morally compatible individuals (Shariff, Willard, Andersen, & Norenzayan, 2016).

As regards our additional findings, we showed that age was not a significant moderator for the association between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust (but see also Dienes, 2014). Several studies have proposed that sensitivity to disgust is higher in younger religious and non-religious adults due to inexperience and inhibitory mechanisms related to experiencing unwanted loss of control and uncertainty (Quigley, Sherman, & Sherman, 1997). Several studies have also suggested that disgust sensitivity can be higher in older/senior religious and non-religious adults possibly due to increased concerns for one’s physical and emotional well-being (Oaten, Stevenson, & Case, 2009). Our findings suggest instead that the association of religiosity and sensitivity to disgust is an enduring and not a transient or age-specific effect and that it can manifest throughout an individual’s lifespan (Zelenski & Larsen, 2000).

In the most surprising and possibly one of the most important additional findings of our analyses, we showed that gender and sample type had a weak effect-size significance trend influence on the correlation between religiosity and overall sensitivity to disgust. Gender was a significant moderator for the association between religiosity and subtypes of sensitivity to disgust. This finding suggests that gender plays an important role in the association between sensitivity to disgust and religiosity, particularly for sexual and pathogen/contamination-related cues. This could mean that, although religious individuals, independently of gender, have beliefs related to disgust sensitivity, sexual and pathogen/contamination sensitivity to disgust and religiosity are not reliably associated when we remove the effect of the responses of female participants. The meta-analysis matrix adds to this a novel finding. Gender moderated these associations as an interactive function of the effect of female participation in religiosity, although intriguingly female participation did not impact sensitivity to disgust subtypes (see Figure 4). Being female did not directly influence sensitivity to sexual and pathogen/contamination cues as previous studies proposed (Tybur et al., 2013), it increased the level of religiosity of an individual and moderated by association responses to disgust sensitivity subtypes and the interaction between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust. This is a most unexpected, promising, and novel finding that should be further explored by subsequent research.

Looking at the greater picture, in the present manuscript we explored one possible emotional and response attitude, and/or correlate – namely, sensitivity to disgust – that could influence religiosity. This can be the first step for further exploring whether shame, guilt, regret, self-reproach, and – most understatedly in previous psychological research (see, Fatima, Sharif, & Khalid, 2018) – positive-valence emotional states, such as awe, kindness, generosity, and calmness, could underlie and contribute to religious emotional experience and beliefs (Sharma & Singh, 2019). An important contribution of the current outcomes is that we provided evidence that this line of research can offer insightful results, theoretical advances, and further directions for experimental research. These can include the exploration of belief-system response attitudes and emotional correlates of religiosity and their possible distinctive functions within religiosity as possibly non-secular moral and experiential phenomena. The current manuscript could and should (Shariff, 2015) set an experimental and meta-analytic precedence towards the exploration of religiosity and belief-system response attitudes and emotional sensitivity as pathways to understanding religiosity further and in relation to human attitudes and experiences.

Limitations

In the current meta-analyses, the included studies employed questionnaire assessments for assessing the relationship between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust. Future experimental research could benefit from using psychophysiological assessments for exploring this relationship. This implementation will enable us to explore whether the current significant results reflect belief-system values, such as self-report responses, and/or psychophysiological emotional experiences for sensitivity to disgust (see, Tsikandilakis et al., 2021). The current meta-analyses included several different religiosity and disgust sensitivity questionnaire assessments. We must note that an important issue in meta-analytic research is whether the achieved meta-analytic power originates from sufficiently statistically powered studies (see, Amrhein, Trafimow, & Greenland, 2019). This is an important component of meta-analytic research that has, nevertheless, decreased impact in the current meta-analytic research due to the corrected-weighted statistical analyses (see Hedges & Schauer, 2019) of forty-seven experimental outcomes, including 48,971 participants (see also, Borenstein et al., 2017). It is very critical to mention as conclusive remarks that the vast majority of the included outcomes used samples, for which participants’ socioeconomic status and political beliefs were not measured. These variables could not be, therefore, included as moderators in the analyses. Exploring their influence should be a priority for experimental replications of the current findings. In addition, the pool of existing empirical studies did not also provide sufficient data to enable the examination across specific religious backgrounds or countries of origin. Further correspondence with the authors of the included studies did not result in sufficient information to perform a per religion analysis or the inclusion of religious affiliation as a categorical moderator in the meta-analysis. Further experimental research could benefit from exploring the effect that different religious affiliations confer on the association between religiosity and sensitivity to disgust. 

"This is quite a blow to the idea that elites or a central authority" were running the weights & measures used in ancient markets. Why is this "fascinating"? Expected, better said.

These ancient weights helped create Europe’s first free market more than 3000 years ago. Andrew Curry. Science Magazine, Jun 28 2021. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/06/these-ancient-weights-helped-create-europe-s-first-free-market-more-3000-years-ago

Merchants of the Bronze Age faced the same problem as merchants from London to Lisbon today: how to know you’re getting what you pay for in a transaction. It usually takes a ruling authority, like a king, pharaoh, or perhaps the European Union, to establish standard weights, which amount to a unit of value in the age before coins and bills.

A new study suggests merchants in Bronze Age Europe were an exception: Through informal networks, Mesopotamian merchants established a standardized system of weights that later spread across Europe, enabling trade across the continent. The advance effectively formed the first known common Eurasian market more than 3000 years ago.

“This is quite a blow to the idea that elites or a central authority is running the show,” says Leiden University archaeologist Maikel Kuijpers, who was not involved with the work. “The [researchers] make a really good case.”

Standard weights—used by merchants to trade goods of equivalent value—were invented in Egypt or Mesopotamia 5000 years ago. By 3000 years ago, they had spread across Europe, where some graves included pouches or boxes containing bone balance beams, tweezers for picking up scraps of gold or silver, and stone weights.

For more than 100 years, historians have assumed that weight standards were handed down from on high, first created by a king or religious authority to collect taxes or tribute, then later adopted by merchants. The first artifacts to clearly be weights, for example, were found in the highly stratified civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. But Bronze Age Europe boasted few such states when weights proliferated.

To find out whether standardization without centralization was possible, Georg August University of Göttingen archaeologists Lorenz Rahmstorf and Nicola Ialongo spent nearly 10 years visiting museum collections and weighing stones and other objects they thought might have been used for commerce. They analyzed weights from previously excavated sites spanning nearly 3000 years in Europe, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.

To their surprise, more than 2000 such objects crafted over the course of 2000 years and an area spanning nearly 5000 kilometers weighed nearly the same amount—between 8 and 10.5 grams from Great Britain to Mesopotamia. Over the time spans involved, the consistency was remarkable, they report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “It is like we were still using the Roman systems of measurement [today], with just some minor variations,” Ialongo says.

In Mesopotamia, that unit was referred to as a shekel. “Weight systems in Europe were only slightly different from weight systems in Anatolia, which were only slightly different than in Mesopotamia,” Ialongo says.

The researchers suggest that in all these areas it was merchants who kept the weights standard, because it was in their interest to do so. Each time traders met, the archaeologists write, they would bring out their own scales and weights and compare them—or introduce them to new traders. With enough time and contacts, a standard system emerged—laying the groundwork for the equivalent of an integrated market from Great Britain to Babylon. “The weight units were regulated by the market,” Ialongo says.

To test its model, the team came up with a unique experiment. Using replica Bronze Age bone balance scales, co-author and Göttingen archaeologist Raphael Hermann carved 100 weights out of stone. Each new weight was modeled randomly from the weights already produced: Weight two was based on weight one, but weight three could be modeled on either weight one or weight two, weight 10 could be modeled from any of the previous nine, and so on.

Human error, combined with the slight imprecision of the ancient balance, led to deviations up to 25 grams from the original 153-gram weight. But the drift tended to stay within 5%, still within a range that would have been acceptable in an ancient marketplace, Rahmstorf says. In a system where all the weights were copied from a central standard under palace supervision, the deviations would have been much smaller. [ARE YOU SURE?!?!?!?!?!?!?! There are well-known modern failures to have high-quality, small-error monetary & weight standards.]

When the researchers plotted their own weights on a graph, the pattern matched the distribution of the ancient samples they had found.

The research helps explain how far-flung Bronze Age societies traded across long distances, says Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz archaeologist Christopher Pare, who was not involved in the research. “Complex systems are perpetuated by convention and exchange, rather than a central authority. … It’s fascinating.”

[...]

Philosophers and scientists disagree profoundly about whether determinism (all events in the universe are completely caused by prior events) is true and whether it applies to human behavior

Forthcoming. Baumeister, R. F., Clark, C. J., & Lau, S. (2022). Determinism. In V. Glavineau (Ed.), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Possibility. London, UK: Palgrave. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352661459_Determinism (Jun 2021)

Abstract: Determinism is the theory that all events in the universe are completely caused by prior events, such that every occurrence was inevitable from the start of the universe, ranging from the intricate blast of every supernova, to the precise path each leaf travels as it flutters to the ground, to the very words we are writing in this encyclopedia entry. It is a brilliant, elegant, controversial, and challenging theory. Philosophers and scientists disagree profoundly about whether determinism is true and whether it applies to human behavior.

The impact of cannabis use on male sexual function: A 10-year, single-center experience shows no reduction

The impact of cannabis use on male sexual function: A 10-year, single-center experience. Benjamin Shiff et al. Canadian Urological Association Journal, vol 15, no 12, Dec 2021. https://doi.org/10.5489/cuaj.7185

Abstract

Introduction: Despite increasing consumption rates in much of the world, the impact of cannabis use on various components of male sexual function remain poorly established. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the relationship between cannabis use and reproductive and sexual function using a large patient cohort from a single academic andrology clinic.

Methods: This is a historical cohort study from a single academic center andrology clinic. Patients from 2008–2017 were included. Intake questionnaires provided baseline demographic information, as well as data regarding substance use and various sexual function parameters. Subjects were categorized as cannabis users or non-users. Cannabis users and non-users were compared using descriptive statistics and Chi-squared tests, and regression analyses were performed to test for association.

Results: A total of 7809 males were included in the study; 993 (12.7%) were cannabis users and 6816 (87.3%) were non-users. Cannabis users had a higher mean Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) score (21.94.4 vs. 21.24.8, p<0.001) and mean serum total testosterone (13.412.0 nmol/L vs. 12.611.8 nmol/L, p=0.04) than non-users, although they also had a higher rate of positive Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male (ADAM) scores (52% vs. 46%, p<0.001). Cannabis users also reported higher sexual frequency compared to non-users (8.8 events/month vs. 7.8 events/month, p<0.05). On multivariate analysis, cannabis use was not associated with SHIM score or serum testosterone concentration. Cannabis use was associated with positive ADAM scores.

Conclusions: Cannabis use was not associated with clinically significant deleterious effects on male sexual parameters in this cohort.

Keywords: Sexual behaviour, Cannabis, Testosterone, Erectile dysfunction

We find a significant, sharp, & timely decline of insurgent violence in the initial phase, when the enemy reduces violence strategically to facilitate the foreign military withdrawal to capitalize on the reduced foreign presence afterward

Security Transitions. Thiemo Fetzer, Pedro C. L. Souza, Oliver Vanden Eynde, and Austin L. Wright. American Economic Review. Jul 2021, Vol. 111, No. 7: Pages 2275-2308. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.20200412

Abstract: How do foreign powers disengage from a conflict? We study this issue by examining the recent, large-scale security transition from international troops to local forces in the ongoing civil conflict in Afghanistan. We construct a new dataset that combines information on this transition process with declassified conflict outcomes and previously unreleased quarterly survey data of residents’ perceptions of local security. Our empirical design leverages the staggered roll-out of the transition, and employs a novel instrumental variables approach to estimate the impact. We find a significant, sharp, and timely decline of insurgent violence in the initial phase: the security transfer to Afghan forces. We find that this is followed by a significant surge in violence in the second phase: the actual physical withdrawal of foreign troops. We argue that this pattern is consistent with a signaling model, in which the insurgents reduce violence strategically to facilitate the foreign military withdrawal to capitalize on the reduced foreign military presence afterward. Our findings clarify the destabilizing consequences of withdrawal in one of the costliest conflicts in modern history, and yield potentially actionable insights for designing future security transitions. 

JEL D74, F51, F52, O17

Changes in marital satisfaction: Both spouses’ self-reports of neuroticism, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance are predictors of change

How both partners’ individual differences, stress, and behavior predict change in relationship satisfaction: Extending the VSA model. James K. McNulty, Andrea L. Meltzer,  Lisa A. Neff, and  Benjamin R. Karney.  July 6, 2021 118 (27) e2101402118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101402118

Significance: Understanding the factors that explain declines in marital satisfaction is one of the most pressing challenges for relationship science. Yet, several lines of recent research relying on singular theoretical models have questioned our ability to do so. The current research pooled data from 10 independent longitudinal studies of married couples to test a theoretical model that integrates multiple perspectives spanning numerous disciplines. Findings support and extend this model to indicate that both partners’ interpersonal behaviors interact with both partners’ experiences with stress over time to mediate the implications of both partners’ enduring qualities for changes in marital satisfaction. Accordingly, understanding one source of influence on relationships requires acknowledging the independent and interactive effects of the other sources of influence.

Abstract: We pooled data from 10 longitudinal studies of 1,104 married couples to test the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation (VSA) model of change in relationship satisfaction. Studies contained both spouses’ self-reports of neuroticism, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance; observational measures of engagement and opposition during problem-solving discussions at baseline; and repeated reports of both spouses’ stress and marital satisfaction over several years. Consistent with the VSA model, all three individual and partner qualities predicted changes in marital satisfaction that were mediated by observations of behavior and moderated by both partners’ experiences with stress. In contrast to the VSA model, however, rather than accentuating the association between individual differences and behavior, both partners’ stress moderated the strength, and even direction, of the association between behavior and changes in marital satisfaction over time. Taken together, these findings indicate that 1) qualities of both couple members shape their behavioral exchanges, 2) these behaviors explain how individuals and their partners’ enduring qualities predict relationship satisfaction, and 3) stress experienced by both couple members strongly determines how enduring qualities and behavior predict changes in relationship satisfaction over time. The complex interplay among both partners’ enduring qualities, stress, and behavior helps explain why studies may fail to document direct main effects of own and partner enduring qualities and behavior on changes in relationship satisfaction over time.

Keywords: marriagestressinterpersonal communicationpersonalityattachment security

Check also People can know how their relationship partners make them feel, but, because they often desire to see their relationship partners in a positive light, they may avoid accessing these feelings

Hicks, L. L., McNulty, J. K., Faure, R., Meltzer, A. L., Righetti, F., & Hofmann, W. (2021). Do people realize how their partners make them feel? Relationship enhancement motives and stress determine the link between implicitly assessed partner attitudes and relationship satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(2), 335–369.  https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2021/02/people-can-know-how-their-relationship.html

While many behaviors emerge at similar ages in chimpanzees, human infants develop behavioral traits underpinning our prosocial and ultra-cooperative nature at a much accelerated rate

Becoming uniquely human? Comparing chimpanzee to human infancy. Tobias Grossmann. Developmental Science, June 28 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13142

Abstract: Does comparing behavioral development between chimpanzees and humans during infancy hold the key to understanding what is uniquely human? Recent work shows that while many behaviors emerge at similar ages in chimpanzees, human infants develop behavioral traits underpinning our prosocial and ultra-cooperative nature at a much accelerated rate.

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laughing and comforting behaviors

Those of a left-wing orientation are more likely to use affiliative & aggressive humor styles; a general interest in politics is associated with the use of affiliative & self-enhancing styles of humor & a rejection of aggressive styles

The politics of being funny: Humor styles, trait humorousness, and political orientations. Marisa L. Kfrerer, Edward Bell, Julie Aitken Schermer. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 182, November 2021, 111073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111073

Abstract: Previous research has shown that the use and appreciation of humor are related to various political phenomena. However, to date very little has been done to examine the association between specific styles of humor and left-right political orientations, the relationship between humor styles and political engagement, or the issue of whether political orientations predict the degree to which one has the ability to appreciate and create humor in everyday life. Data on humor styles, personality, and political attitudes gathered from an adult, community sample (N = 452; 70 men and 382 women) were analyzed to address this gap in the literature. The results indicate that people with a left-wing orientation are more likely to use affiliative and aggressive humor styles, that a general interest in politics is associated with the use of affiliative and self-enhancing styles of humor and a rejection of an aggressive humor style, and that those on the political left are not inherently more humorous than those on the right. These findings suggest that disparagement theories of humor may be more applicable to liberals and those less likely to take an interest in politics, and that an examination of how humor is used and perceived can broaden our understanding of left-right political differences and political participation.

Keywords: Humor stylesHumorPoliticsLeft-wingRight-wingLiberalConservativePolitical engagementPolitical participation

When a sexist statement is followed by a brief silence that disrupts the flow of the conversation, observers think that it is contentious and that sexism is neither shared nor normative

Koudenburg, N., Kannegieter, A. Postmes, T., Kashima, Y. (2020). The subtle spreading of sexist norms. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Oct 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220961838

Abstract: Even when overt sexism and prejudice become rarer, social norms that perpetuate inequality are remarkably persistent. The present research lays out one of the subtle ways in which sexist norms may spread through society, by pointing to the role of responses to sexism. We investigate how third parties infer social norms about sexism when observing social interactions. In three studies among male students (Studies 1 and 2) and male and female students (Study 3), we demonstrate that subtle variations in how people respond to a sexist statement can have a substantial influence on inferences third parties make about sexist norms. Specifically, when a sexist statement is made and the conversation continues in a smoothly flowing fashion, third parties infer that this opinion is shared among interaction partners, perceived as appropriate, and that sexism is normative among them. However, when a sexist statement is followed by a brief silence that disrupts the flow of the conversation, observers think that it is contentious and that sexism is neither shared nor normative. Importantly, the effects of the manipulation generalized to the perception of sexist descriptive norms among male students in general. We conclude that social and cultural norms are not just inferred from conversation content, but also from conversational flow.

General Discussion

Many concerns have been raised about the perpetuation of social and cultural norms that promote inequality between social groups. The present research lays out one of the subtle ways in which sexist norms may spread through society, by pointing to the role of responses to sexism. Findings suggest that humans are very adept at interpreting social interactions, attending not just to what is said, but also to the subtle ways in which others respond. Even in the absence of explicit responses, sexist expressions are being evaluated by reference to the consensus that is inferred from the microdynamics of the conversational flow.

Across three studies, we demonstrated that subtle variations in conversational responses to a sexist statement influence the inference of sexist norms among passive observers. Specifically, when a sexist statement in a conversation (“Most women don’t have those natural leadership capacities”) was followed by the smooth continuation of the conversation, without objection to the statement, passive observers inferred that this opinion was socially accepted among interaction partners, and thus considered normative. Not only did observers feel this opinion was more shared among interaction partners (reflecting a descriptive norm shift, moderate to large effect), a meta-analysis across the three studies also suggests that participants feel the sexist statement is more appropriate to express in the conversation (reflecting an injunctive norm shift, moderate to large effect). Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that the sexist norms inferred from a single conversation between male students were generalized to perceptions of increased endorsement of sexist ideas in the general population of male students.

The three studies further provide converging evidence on what could nullify the effect of a sexist statement on norm perception. In line with Hypothesis 2, when a sexist statement was followed by a brief silence that disrupted the flow of the conversation, observers were likely to take this as a sign that the statement was contentious and perceived the descriptive norm to be less sexist than in a conversation that continued as if nothing unusual had been said. Indeed, in the disrupted flow condition, the norm was seen to be no more sexist than in a control condition where no sexist statement was made. This demonstrates that brief disruptions of the flow of a conversation send a subtle but very powerful signal. Extending previous research that showed that speakers and observers experienced a relational threat after being exposed to a pause of less than 4 seconds in a 4-minute conversation (Koudenburg et al., 2011, 2013b, 2014), the present research suggests that these relational inferences are intimately tied to the content of what is being discussed. As a result, conversational flow (or its disruption) can be a highly influential gauge of the degree of consensus within a group.

Study 3 further demonstrates that these inferences are not specific to male observers; female observers are just as likely to pay attention to conversational microdynamics when inferring sexist norms among male students. These findings point to the importance of subtle conversational cues in shaping social norms within specific groups and society in general.

Exploration of the effects on participants’ personal attitudes regarding sexism (Study 1) and their support for gender equality policies (Studies 2 and 3) revealed a somewhat different pattern. Here, we did not find a systematic effect of the responses to the sexist statement. The meta-analysis across studies, moreover, showed that observing a sexist statement, in itself, had only a small and marginally significant effect on sexist attitudes among participants. Thus, overall, there were medium to large effects on norms, and zero to small effects on attitudes. Similar effects have previously been found in within-group discussions about immigration, where strong normative shifts can occur without any corresponding attitude change (Smith & Postmes, 2011). This experimental evidence aligns with opinion polls, which show that despite substantial normative changes in the debate about, for instance, immigration in the US, attitudes on this topic have remained rather stable (e.g., Fussell, 2014). Norm perceptions, as our research confirms, are more subject to change, and important to study considering their influence on, for instance, people’s behaviour and voting (Ahler, 2014; Miller et al., 2000).

The meta-analysis across studies suggests that a single instance of sexism that does not disrupt conversational flow can induce in observers the perception of sexism among the male student population in general. Apparently, inferences about perceived sexism from a small group discussion generalize to inferences about sexism in the wider population (although not to inferences about the appropriateness of such views among the population as a whole). Although we can only speculate about why descriptive population norms might be more affected than injunctive population norms, it could be that the current climate following the #metoo discussions provides many examples for people to imagine situations in which sexism may be inappropriate. The presence of an effect on the generalized descriptive norm, however, suggests that despite the obvious inappropriateness of these sexist views, observers still infer that male students may personally share them.

Whereas our previous research has focused on how flow disruptions signal disagreements, the present research reveals a potentially negative consequence of people’s natural tendency to preserve good and uninterrupted conversational flow. Oftentimes, people are motivated to maintain good relations even when they disagree with their conversation partner. When faced with a sexist expression, receivers may smoothly change topic to avoid further discussion of the sensitive issue, all the while preserving conversational flow. Interestingly, the present findings suggest that such behaviour may encourage the formation and maintenance of sexist norms. Indeed, in the absence of explicit information on receivers’ opinions on the issue, observers may infer that, in fact, the information is consensual and therefore grounded among conversation partners.

Social interactions that are observed by many people, such as those displayed on television, may be particularly influential in transmitting gender norms (Bandura, 2001; Cialdini & Trost, 1998; Signorielli, 1989) simply because they are observed by a large audience (Bandura, 2001; Bryant & Zillmann, 1991). A substantial number of studies has documented the disproportionately high prevalence of gender stereotypic role models and sexist expressions on television (see Furnham & Paltzer, 2010, for a review). Although not much research has focused on the responses to such instances of sexism, the one study that did, documented very clear results: in many cases on prime-time television, bystanders did not respond (39% of the cases) or even responded positively to sexism (27% of the cases; Grauerholz & King, 1997). Without engaging with the consequences of the positive responses, the present research suggests that even the absence of responses could communicate social acceptance of sexist statements on prime-time television.

These findings are particularly interesting when considering that both victims and bystanders are often reluctant to confront sexism (for reviews, see Becker et al., 2014; Drury & Kaiser, 2014). This reluctance is understandable given the consequences that such confrontation (vs. ignoring) may have for female victims, for instance in terms of liking (Dodd et al., 2001) or being viewed as oversensitive, interpersonally cold, or troublemakers (Czopp & Monteith, 2003; Kutlaca et al., 2019). Although research suggests that confronting sexism may be less consequential for male bystanders (Gulker et al., 2013), their fear and stress of negative consequences—such as being disliked—often also lead them to refrain from confrontation (Kawakami et al., 2009). Whereas more research is needed before drawing conclusions about the role of microdynamics within all female, or mixed-gender conversations about sexism, our research is specifically engaged with the consequences of a lack of confrontation among these advantaged, male bystanders (see also Cihangir et al., 2014). In this group, the present study extends the insights into confronting discrimination in two ways: (a) it shows that a failure to confront may not just maintain the status quo, it may shift norms to become even more sexist, (b) but it also provides a relatively noncostly “tool” to prevent such change by communicating one’s disagreement with a brief conversational pause. Disrupting the flow can be a subtle, but quite effective way to signal that a sexist comment may threaten the relationship between speaker and listener, without having to engage in explicit confrontation (Koudenburg, 2018).

Variability in Infants' Functional Brain Network Connectivity Is Associated With Differences in Affect and Behavior

Variability in Infants' Functional Brain Network Connectivity Is Associated With Differences in Affect and Behavior. Caroline M. Kelsey, Katrina Farris and Tobias Grossmann. Front. Psychiatry, June 9 2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.685754

Abstract: Variability in functional brain network connectivity has been linked to individual differences in cognitive, affective, and behavioral traits in adults. However, little is known about the developmental origins of such brain-behavior correlations. The current study examined functional brain network connectivity and its link to behavioral temperament in typically developing newborn and 1-month-old infants (M [age] = 25 days; N = 75) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Specifically, we measured long-range connectivity between cortical regions approximating fronto-parietal, default mode, and homologous-interhemispheric networks. Our results show that connectivity in these functional brain networks varies across infants and maps onto individual differences in behavioral temperament. Specifically, connectivity in the fronto-parietal network was positively associated with regulation and orienting behaviors, whereas connectivity in the default mode network showed the opposite effect on these behaviors. Our analysis also revealed a significant positive association between the homologous-interhemispheric network and infants' negative affect. The current results suggest that variability in long-range intra-hemispheric and cross-hemispheric functional connectivity between frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex is associated with individual differences in affect and behavior. These findings shed new light on the brain origins of individual differences in early-emerging behavioral traits and thus represent a viable novel approach for investigating developmental trajectories in typical and atypical neurodevelopment.

Discussion

The current study examined functional connectivity in brain networks using fNIRS and behavioral temperament using parental report in young infants. Our results show that functional connectivity in long-range cortical brain networks (FPN, DMN, and HIN) can be identified in very young infants and that functional connectivity in these networks varied considerably among infants. This supports the suitability of fNIRS in assessing functional connectivity and its variability in newborn infants. Importantly, our results also show that such variability in functional brain network connectivity systematically maps onto individual differences in infant behavioral temperament. Overall, the current findings provide novel insights into the brain origins of individual differences in affect and behavior, pointing to the early perinatal foundation of human temperament.

In line with our hypothesis, functional connectivity within the three brain networks (FPN, DMN, and HIN) was significantly greater than in the control network and significantly greater than a zero-value, indicating the existence of these long-range cortical brain networks in young infants. This provides further evidence that functional brain networks exist from early in ontogeny and are detectable in young infants (12, 17, 71). To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate long-range functional connectivity in FPN and DMN in young infants, suggesting a remarkably early emergence of long-range connectivity in higher-order brain networks linked to cognitive control and self-referential processes, respectively. The current findings are noteworthy also in regard to the fact that both networks involve regions in prefrontal cortex, providing new evidence from newborns and 1-month-old infants supporting the view that prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in human brain function from very early in development (14, 72–75).

In addition to the general difference in connectivity between the functional and the (non-functional) control network, we also found that activity in the FPN was significantly greater than in the DMN and HIN (whereas there was no difference in connectivity levels found between the DMN and HIN). One possible interpretation of this finding is that functional connectivity in the FPN might have been enhanced when compared to the other functional networks because, like other resting-state studies with infants, the participants were presented with a video accompanied by music during the fNIRS measurement (37). In other words, the FPN might have been more engaged because infants were attending to external audio-visual stimuli [note that all infants were exposed to the same video (audio-visual) stimulus]. Here, it is important to mention that prior work with adults using fMRI shows that functional connectivity in higher-order cortical resting-state networks can be reliably acquired during the presentation of videos and corresponds to functional connectivity acquired in the absence of any stimulus (4, 76). Nonetheless, based on recent work showing that preterm infants display enhanced functional connectivity in higher-order cognitive networks in response to music (55), we speculate that enhanced functional connectivity in FPN might at least be partly explained by having newborn infants listen to music in the current study. Clearly, future research with infants which systematically compares stimulation protocols is needed to examine whether and how functional connectivity is influenced by the measurement context and the stimulation protocol used. Overall, our functional connectivity analysis supports the notion that intrinsic functional connectivity in cortical brain networks and its variability can be effectively mapped in newborn infants using fNIRS.

Having established functional connectivity in these brain networks as variable and distinct from a (non-functional) control network then allowed for the examination of specific associations between brain network connectivity and infant behavioral temperament. Our results confirmed our hypothesis and showed that infants' regulation/orienting behaviors were associated with functional connectivity in the FPN with greater connectivity in this network being associated with enhanced regulation and orienting. This result is in line with prior work linking functional connectivity in FPN to cognitive control of attention and behavior in adults (2, 48) and more recent work with infants (43). The current results further showed the opposite pattern of association for functional connectivity in DMN, with greater connectivity associated with reduced regulation and orienting, which is in agreement with our hypothesis based on the DMN previously being linked to self-referential, stimulus-independent thought and mind-wandering in adults (2, 48) and infants (43). To obtain such opposing effects of functional connectivity in FPN and DMN is reminiscent of seminal findings supporting the existence of anti-correlated brain networks in adults (77) and may suggest that similar organizational principles are at play in newborn infants. However, it should be emphasized that functional connectivity in the FPN and DMN in the current study was not anticorrelated as such, but rather had opposing effects on infants' behavioral and attentional regulation.

Our results concerning behavioral and attentional regulation and their functional connectivity correlates in infants are principally in line with prior research showing hyperconnectivity in the DMN and hypoconnectivity in the FPN in adults with negative emotionality and related mental health outcomes (33, 34, 48). Moreover, our data show that infants' functional connectivity in the HIN was associated with negative emotionality. Contrary to prior work with adults indicating that hypoconnectivity is associated with negative emotionality and depression (33, 35, 36) and work with infants indicating that corpus callosum length (thought to underly the HIN) is negatively associated with later emotion regulation abilities (45), the current infant data show that greater connectivity between homologous brain regions in both hemispheres was associated with greater negative affect. It is unclear why the direction of the association (positive vs. negative) would differ as a function of age (newborn infants in the current study and preschool aged and adults in previous work), but it is worth noting that the experience and display of negative affect only gradually emerges during infancy and may thus not be fully present in newborn infants (53).

Taken together, the current findings demonstrate specific associations between functional brain network connectivity and behavioral temperament in newborn infants. This suggests a remarkably early emergence of functional networks with behavioral relevance and highlights the importance of evaluating individual differences reflected in intrinsic brain connectivity. Although there are many advantages in the current approach of using fNIRS to examine functional brain connectivity, including its cost-effective and non-confining application, there are some limitations that need to be mentioned. First, because fNIRS is limited in monitoring activity from (superficial) cortical structures (78), our approach did not allow us to measure activity from deeper cortical and subcortical regions and include those in our network analyses. Second, from a developmental perspective, it should be noted that our analysis is limited to only one age group and comprised of very young infants. It is thus critically important to further assess the development of variability in these brain networks and their associations with behavioral temperament over developmental time to determine its long-term effects and the robustness of these associations (69). Third, it is important to note that these associations were assessed in a population of healthy infants, meaning there were no known birth or health complications at the time of the visit. Therefore, given the breadth of work examining how preterm birth and other medical complications (e.g., hypoxia) impact brain development, it will be important to test whether or not these associations generalize to other populations (16, 79, 80).

In conclusion, the current study provides novel insights into the use of fNIRS in identifying neural endophenotypes—variability in functional brain network connectivity—linked to behavioral temperament traits in early human development. The present findings support the notion that functionally distinct neural networks are implicated in regulatory and emotional behaviors already in newborn infants, adding a critical developmental component to efforts directed at mapping how the individual functional connectome links to affective, cognitive, and behavioral traits. The current findings shed light on the brain origins of individual differences in early-emerging behavioral traits and provide the basis for future research examining the genetic and environmental factors contributing to and the long-term developmental consequences of this brain-behavior correlation. More generally, the current study provides early ontogenetic evidence for the idea that studying functional brain network connectivity is an effective way in helping bridge the gap between brain and behavior.

Less attractive & less intelligent-looking individuals seemed less human; attractiveness better predicted humanness attributions to women, perceived intelligence better predicted humanness attributions to men

Alaei, R., Deska, J. C., Hugenberg, K., & Rule, N. O. (2021). People attribute humanness to men and women differently based on their facial appearance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Jun 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000364

Abstract: Recognizing others’ humanity is fundamental to how people think about and treat each other. People often ascribe greater humanness to groups that they socially value, but do they also systematically ascribe social value to different individuals? Here, we tested whether people (de)humanize individuals based on social traits inferred from their facial appearance, focusing on attractiveness and intelligence. Across five studies, less attractive and less intelligent-looking individuals seemed less human, but this varied by target gender: Attractiveness better predicted humanness attributions to women whereas perceived intelligence better predicted humanness attributions to men (Study 1). This difference seems to stem from gender stereotypes (preregistered Studies 2 and 3) and even extends to attributions of children’s humanness (preregistered Study 4). Moreover, this gender difference leads to biases in moral treatment that confer more value to the lives of attractive women and intelligent-looking men (preregistered Study 5). These data help to explain how interpersonal judgments of individuals interact with intergroup biases to promote gender-based discrimination, providing greater nuance to the mechanisms and outcomes of dehumanization. 

Gay men earned less than heterosexual men; gay women earned more than heterosexual women, while bisexual men earned less than heterosexual men; bisex women earned less than heterosexual women

Sexual Orientation and Earnings. A Meta-Analysis 2012-2020. Nick Drydakis. Global Labor Organization Discussion Paper No. 862. Jun 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/235027

Abstract: This meta-analysis utilizes 24 papers published between 2012-2020 that focus on earnings differences by sexual orientation. The papers cover the period between 1991 and 2018, and countries in Europe, North America and Australia. The meta-analysis indicates that gay men earned less than heterosexual men. Lesbian women earned more than heterosexual women, while bisexual men earned less than heterosexual men. Bisexual women earned less than heterosexual women. According to the meta-analysis, in data sets after 2010, gay men and bisexual men and women continue to experience earnings penalties, while lesbian women continue to experience earnings premiums. Τhe meta-regression estimates indicate relationships between study characteristics and the estimated earnings effects for sexual minorities. For instance, regions, sexual minority data set sizes, and earnings classifications influence the outcomes. The persistence of earnings penalties for gay men and bisexual men and women in the face of anti-discrimination policies represents a cause for concern and indicates the need for comprehensive legislation and workplace guidelines to guarantee that people receive fair pay and not experience any form of workplace inequality simply because of their sexual orientation.