Beliefs about one’s desirability as a short-term mating partner positively predicted life satisfaction for uncommitted men but not for uncommitted women

Functionally Calibrating Life Satisfaction: The Case of Mating Motives and Self-Perceived Mate Value. Ahra Ko et al. October 8th, 2021. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-947875/v1

Abstract: If life satisfaction has functional significance for goal achievement, it should be calibrated to cues of potential success on active and fundamentally important goals. Within the context of mating motivation, we tested this hypothesis with self-perceived mate value—an assessment of one’s potential mating success. As hypothesized, because most individuals (eventually) seek long-term relationships, self-perceived long-term mate value predicted life satisfaction for men and women regardless of relationship status. In contrast, and also as hypothesized, self-perceived short-term mate value predicted life satisfaction only for individuals with short-term mating goals—single uncommitted men (Studies 1, 2A, and 2B), individuals dispositionally motivated toward short-term relationships (Studies 2A and 2B), and single uncommitted women for whom short-term mating motivation was experimentally engaged, enabling causal inference (Study 3). Results support a functional conceptualization of life satisfaction, showing that currently active mating goals can shape the extent to which goal-specific self-perceived mate value predicts life satisfaction.

Keywords: life satisfaction, mate value, mating motivation, functional approach

General Discussion

If life satisfaction is a subjective indicator of potential goal achievement, active and fundamentally important goals should shape the extent to which life satisfaction is calibrated to cues linked to likely success on these goals. We focused on mating goals because they are of fundamental concern to nearly all people at some point in their lives and because differences in motivation for different mating strategies enable nuanced hypotheses not readily derived by other conceptual approaches. Because mate value takes different forms depending on whether one is adopting long-term versus short-term strategies, and because these different strategies tend to be differentially relevant to men and women and to people in uncommitted versus committed relationships, the implications of mate value for life satisfaction are likely to be nuanced in sex- and relationship-specific functional ways. Across four studies, we found consistent, theoretically coherent patterns of results revealing that both chronically active and experimentally activated mating goals predict the association between selfperceived mate value and life satisfaction. Whereas higher self-perceived long-term mate value predicted greater life satisfaction for both men and women regardless of current relationship status (Studies 1, 2A, and 2B), higher self-perceived short-term mate value predicted greater life satisfaction only for those motivated towards short-term relationships—single uncommitted men (Studies 1, 2A, and 2B), individuals dispositionally motivated towards short-term mating relationships (Studies 2A and 2B), and single uncommitted women whose short-term mating motivation was experimentally heightened (Study 3). Internal meta-analyses across the four studies revealed the above findings to be reliable and robust. Alternative Explanations Study 3’s experimental manipulation of women’s short-term mating motivation directly demonstrated that engagement of short-term mating motivation causes a significantly stronger association between selfperceived short-term mate value and life satisfaction for the uncommitted women. Given the experimental failures of Studies 2, however, we were not able to assess the causal relationship between self-perceived mate value and life satisfaction. Although we believe the functional logic articulated makes it likely that self-perceived mate value causes life satisfaction, one could hypothesize a reverse causal pathway, such that greater life satisfaction enhances self-views of mate value because such satisfied individuals are also more optimistic about their potential success on mating (Lucas et al., 1996; Schimmack et al., 2004). Alternatively, one might hypothesize that people with a general inclination to view themselves favorably may possess both an enhanced self-view of mate value and a belief that one’s life is generally of high quality—thereby generating a positive correlation between self-perceived mate value and life satisfaction. Although apparently reasonable on their faces, such alternatives cannot logically account for the pattern of findings presented—(1) for the relatively low correlations between long- and short-term mate value, (2) for differences in how long- and short-term mate value predicted life satisfaction, (3) for the lack of positive association between short-term mate value and life satisfaction for men in committed relationships, (4) for the lack of positive association between short-term mate value and life satisfaction for women (except for uncommitted women exposed to our manipulation of shortterm mating motivation in Study 3), or (5) for the robustness of the link between mate value and life satisfaction against other self-evaluations. The specificity of the observed effects cannot be readily derived from conceptualizations focused on positive illusion biases caused by life satisfaction or from general self-enhancement. One might argue that the weak association between women’s short-term mate value and life satisfaction results from women’s generally negative responses to sexual valuation (Calogero, 2004; Fairchild & Rudman, 2008). However, women’s own beliefs about their short-term mate value were not negatively associated with their life satisfaction. Moreover, for uncommitted women exposed to our manipulation of short-term mating motivation, short-term mate value positively predicted life satisfaction. Such results are in line with findings that being sexually valued by a committed mating partner is positively linked to women’s relationship satisfaction (Meltzer, 2020; Meltzer et al., 2017).

Implications and Future Directions Function of Life Satisfaction.

Extending the growing literature on the adaptive functionality of inner experiential states, the current research offers a useful framework for reconceptualizing life satisfaction. Our findings support a novel hypothesis that life satisfaction serves as part of an internal psychological system that monitors individuals’ success or failure in managing important social challenges. Consistent with this, life satisfaction was predicted by cues implying success or failure toward the relevant goals (e.g., short-term mate value) only to the extent those goals were dispositionally important and/or acutely engaged (e.g., for those interested in short-term relationships). Longitudinal studies suggest that life satisfaction is prospectively associated with and precedes desirable characteristics, resources, and adaptive behaviors (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). Consistent with these findings, we found that feelings of life satisfaction may direct behavioral resources toward facilitating success of relevant goals. Life satisfaction of uncommitted men statistically mediated the association between their self-perceived short-term mate value and short-term mating behavior. Our finding is in line with longitudinal studies that suggest life satisfaction is associated with and directly precedes various beneficial downstream consequences, as well as behaviors paralleling success (Luhmann et al., 2013; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005), although our research design does not allow for dispositive conclusions ruling out alternative mechanisms (e.g., see Supplement). Future research might profitably explore the full functional process by investigating how life satisfaction, calibrated to cues related to potential success in desired goal pursuit, causes downstream goal-enhancing behaviors.

Individual Differences in Determinants of Life Satisfaction.

People vary greatly in their life satisfaction. The specificity of our findings suggests that a range of individual differences contribute importantly to differences in life satisfaction. First, differences in goal priorities are likely to contribute to differences in life satisfaction. Because different cues are useful for assessing likely success for different goals, and because people differ in which goals they prioritize, one would expect life satisfaction to be selectively calibrated to different goalspecific cues for different people. To better predict life satisfaction, one should consider individual differences in goal priority and likely success in those prioritized goals. Second, individuals might differ in life satisfaction because, even when life satisfaction is shaped by a similar goal pursuit, there may be substantial differences in how life satisfaction is calibrated, given the relevance of different features as cues to goal success for different individuals. For example, because different features shape mate value for men and women (Li et al., 2002), life satisfaction of men and women may track different features (Ko & Suh, 2019). Last, one’s ecology and culture might influence which fundamental goals are chronically active and which indicators represent goal achievement, thereby influencing life satisfaction. For instance, given that women in areas of high income inequality (where female mating competition is enhanced) more frequently post sexualized photographs of themselves on social media (Blake et al., 2018), self-perceived short-term mate value might contribute more to the life satisfaction of women who live in environments where the incentive for sexualization is high. Because mate qualities and mating strategies are shaped differently by ecology and culture (Marlowe, 2004; Pillsworth, 2008), future research might profitably investigate how life satisfaction is calibrated by different valuations and criteria for mating partners across different ecologies and cultures. 

Nuanced Conceptions of Self-perceived Mate Value

The current study highlights the usefulness of differentiating between long-term and short-term mate value. Not only were self-perceived long-and short-term mate value only modestly correlated, but they differentially predicted life satisfaction for different individuals, and when different mating goals were engaged. Future work may benefit from examining how people assess their long- vs. short-term mate value given that different factors are desired for long- vs. short-term mating relationships (Li & Kenrick, 2006), and whether distinctive forms of self-perceived mate value have unique implications for other important psychological variables. Our findings further suggest that people may have relatively reliable beliefs about their mate value. Although we attempted to shift personal beliefs about short-term mating desirability via implicit social comparison and direct feedback, we were unsuccessful; for adults who have been mating-motivated for some time, self-perceived mate value may be stable in the short-term (Edlund & Sagarin, 2014). Specifically, because both men and women highly prioritize physical attractiveness for short-term mating relationships while also believing it difficult to intentionally control or alter physical attractiveness in the absence of great effort (Ben Hamida et al., 1998), experimentally manipulating self-perceived short-term mate value may be quite difficult. Future research may profitably investigate factors that shape mate value stability and change.

Telling people they are intelligent correlates with the feeling of narcissistic uniqueness (the feeling of being special, bragging about one's abilities and enjoyment of one's successes)

Telling people they are intelligent correlates with the feeling of narcissistic uniqueness: The influence of IQ feedback on temporary state narcissism. Marcin Zajenkowski, Gilles E. Gignac. Intelligence, Volume 89, November–December 2021, 101595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2021.101595

Highlights

• We examined whether positive IQ feedback facilitates the expression of narcissism.

• Positive IQ feedback correlated with increased striving for uniqueness.

• IQ feedback influenced self-assessed intelligence.

Abstract: Research indicates that grandiose narcissism is associated positively with self-assessed intelligence (SAI). Furthermore, the direction of possible causation is considered to flow from narcissism to SAI. However, an intriguing question is whether the effect might be reciprocal, that is, whether the belief that one is intelligent facilitates the expression of narcissism. In the current study (N = 364), we investigated this issue by examining how two types of IQ feedback, (1) positive feedback (IQ is above average) and (2) negative feedback (IQ is below average), influenced SAI and a temporary state of narcissistic admiration. Our study revealed that positive IQ feedback correlated with increased people's SAI and one subscale of state narcissistic admiration: striving for uniqueness (i.e., the feeling of being special, bragging about one's abilities and enjoyment of one's successes). By contrast, negative IQ feedback was associated with decreased people's SAI and lower level of state narcissism. We conclude that IQ feedback may shape people's beliefs about their intelligence, and that lay concepts of intelligence might incorporate some narcissistic elements, such as the feeling of being uniquely special.

Keywords: AdmirationIntelligenceIQ feedbackNarcissismState narcissism

6. Discussion

We investigated how the IQ feedback influences the temporary state narcissism. The information that one's intelligence is below average or above average had impact on some aspects of narcissism as well as people's estimation of their cognitive ability. Below we discuss the obtained findings.

Our main hypothesis stated that the level of state narcissism will be larger in the positive IQ feedback group than in the negative IQ feedback group: the hypothesis was only partially supported. The concept of narcissistic admiration that we used in the current research contains three subdimensions: grandiose fantasies, striving for uniqueness and charmingness. Our study revealed that IQ feedback had statistically significant impact only on one of them: striving for uniqueness. Thus, telling people that their IQ is below/above average appears to influence more substantially the affective-motivational aspect of narcissism, rather than the cognitive or behavioural aspects (we can only state that the results for the other two dimensions were non-significant). An important element of narcissistic uniqueness is the feeling of being special, bragging about one's abilities and enjoyment of one's successes (Back et al., 2013). Additionally, the belief that one is extraordinary intelligent might result in perceiving oneself as distinct from others. The need for distinctiveness is regarded as an important motive in narcissism (Freis, 2018). Our finding suggests that the lay concept of (high) intelligence is associated with pleasant feelings that motivate people to action, give them strength and help them to distinguish from others.

This result corroborates previous research showing that SAI is associated with self-confidence (Howard & Cogswell, 2018). Moreover, the approach motivation accompanying SAI might explain the fact that SAI predicts educational achievements beyond objective intelligence (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2006). On the other hand, viewing one's abilities as low might decrease motivation and, in turn, undermine cognitive performance.

We confirmed our remaining hypotheses. In line with previous research (e.g., Ackerman & Wolman, 2007; Gold & Kuhn, 2017), we found that, in general, people estimated their intelligence lower after completing the IQ test. However, the type of IQ feedback (positive vs. negative) moderated the change of the SAI level. Specifically, telling participants that their intelligence was above average increased SAI, while the exposure to the information that IQ was below average decreased SAI. Thus, people's beliefs about their IQ seem to be sensitive to external information, even if the information is not necessarily accurate. This finding suggests that the feedback people receive about their abilities over the course of life (e.g., from parents, in school) may have important consequences for their intelligence self-views and, possibly, their self-concept. Our last hypothesis that the IQ feedback would have an impact on the perception of intelligence test validity was also supported. Participants perceived the test as more adequate for measuring IQ in the “higher-than-average” group than in the “lower-than-average” group. This implies that the attitude toward IQ testing, might be influenced by previous experience and the feedback one has received about his/her abilities.

We found that the negative IQ feedback had a larger effect on SAI than had the positive feedback. This is in line with some research findings showing that negative feedback might have greater influence on behaviour (e.g., learning, emotional reaction) than positive feedback (Freedberg, Glass, Filoteo, Hazeltine, & Maddox, 2017; Ilies, De Pater, & Judge, 2007). In the case of SAI, the possible explanation might be related to the confirmation bias and the fact that most people are convinced their intelligence is above-average (Zell et al., 2020). Thus, the positive IQ feedback is consistent with people's self-image, whereas the negative IQ feedback is a mismatch in their self-knowledge which leads to stronger psychological reactions.

The current study might have implications for our understanding of the origins of narcissism. Cumulative evidence shows that parents play a substantial role in shaping their children's level of narcissism (Thomaes & Brummelman, 2018). Individual differences in narcissism emerge around the age of 8, when children are able to form global views of themselves (Brummelman et al., 2015). Parents may cultivate narcissism in their children by overvaluing their accomplishments, that is, seeing and treating their children as more special and entitled than others. In one of the largest studies in this area, Brummelman et al. (2015) tested children (7–11 years old) and their parents for a period of 2 years. The results revealed that children's level of narcissism was highly associated with parental overvaluation. However, the study of Brummelman et al. (2015) assessed general beliefs of the parents, for instance, “my child is more special than other children”. In light of our findings, it would be interesting to examine whether narcissism in children is associated with parents overvaluation in more specific domains, such as cognitive ability. We found that the positive IQ feedback increased at least one subdimension of state narcissism. It is possible that a child frequently praised for his/her abilities, especially undeservedly, might develop a stable trait of (grandiose) narcissism. It needs to be acknowledged, however, that this interpretation is rather speculative. In our study we tested how a one-time information influenced state narcissism. In order to examine the development of trait narcissism, a longitudinal study is necessary testing the long-term effects of parents' evaluation of their children.

Our findings also reveal some interesting aspects of intelligence itself. The notion of intelligence is a central concept in modern (especially Western) society, however, people's perception of this construct might substantially differ from the academic definitions (Furnham, 2001). Intelligence is regarded as rather ambiguous attribute and laypersons may assign different meaning to it (Dunning, 2005). We found that the information people receive about their IQ level, after completing an IQ test, had a an impact on at least one dimension of state narcissism. It is possible that the lay concept of intelligence contains some narcissistic elements and the belief that one is smart is inseparably associated with narcissistic feelings of being special and better than others. This interpretation might shed some light on the controversies around the studies on intelligence group differences (e.g., Gottfredson, 1997; Neisser et al., 1996). The controversial debates on this topic might be fuelled by the lay understanding of intelligence. Specifically, members of presumably more intelligent group might provoke members of less intelligent group by manifesting their narcissistic superiority.

Our structural equation model revealed another interesting finding about the association between narcissism and SAI. While the correlation between the narcissism latent variable and pre-feedback SAI was similar across conditions, the magnitude of association between narcissism and post-feedback SAI depended on the feedback type. Specifically, it was substantially higher in the negative feedback condition than in the positive feedback group. Thus, individual differences in narcissism were more important for people's self-estimation in unfavorable situation. This suggests a regulatory role for grandiose narcissism, when faced with ego-threatening information. Perhaps when people received the feedback that their IQ was above average, they thought positively about their cognitive ability, regardless of the narcissism level. However, with respect to the “lower than average IQ” feedback condition, grandiose narcissists might have used self-protective tactics to maintain a positive image of their intelligence. According to many models of narcissism, grandiose narcissists use various intrapersonal strategies for regulating the self to make themselves feel positive (Campbell & Foster, 2007; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001). For instance, they might have blamed situational factors, rather than themselves, for their poor performance (e.g., Rhodewalt & Morf, 1995), by devaluating the idea of psychological testing or thinking that their extraordinary giftedness was not captured by the test they completed. More research is needed to understand the processes underlying narcissists self-regulation in this context.

Finally, we showed that narcissistic admiration might be successfully measured not only as a trait, but also as a temporary state. The state of narcissism has been already examined in previous studies (Giacomin & Jordan, 2018). However, the extant research has focused on the general grandiose narcissism (e.g., using modified instruction of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; Giacomin & Jordan, 2016) or used adjectives as items to measure temporary state of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism (Edershile et al., 2019). Our research expands these findings by showing that grandiose narcissism's facets might be assessed as a temporary state using the full items of the original Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire. We found that the type of feedback in the content domain of intelligence had a statistically significant impact on one of the admiration's subdimensions: striving for uniqueness. With large sample sizes, and more measures, it remains to be established whether other facets of narcissistic admiration, as well as narcissistic rivalry, might be sensitive to situational factors. Additionally, future studies could examine the influence of the information type on state narcissism. For instance, an intriguing question is whether the IQ-related effect generalizes to other agentic attributes (e.g., leadership, entrepreneurship, sexual potential etc.), or whether positive/negative feedback on communal attributes (e.g., kindness, morality, empathy) has distinct effect on state of grandiose narcissism. Another problem that requires attention relates to the similarities between narcissism and self-esteem. Although both constructs overlap, they also differ substantially with several respects (Brummelman, Gurel, Thomaes, & Sedikides, 2018). Thus, it would be worth investigating how feedback about IQ, and other attributes, affects states of narcissism and self-esteem.

7. Limitations and conclusions

The current study was not free of limitations. First, we used a between-subjects design. Specifically, we compared state narcissism in two groups after the IQ feedback, but we did not control participants' baseline (pre-feedback) state narcissism. We chose the less statistically powerful between-subjects design, because we believe that asking the same, very specific, questions twice, within a short period of time, might have a confounding impact on the (second) measurement. We attempted to deal with the problem of potential differences in the pre-manipulation level of narcissism by measuring trait narcissism. The analysis revealed no significant differences between compared groups. Second, the magnitude of the experimental feedback effect on state narcissism was relatively small (Cohen, 1988). Thus, replication, with a larger sample size, would be useful. Despite the fact that the effect on state narcissism was small, it should be considered potentially important, given that the significant effect was achieved with just one piece of feedback. Further research with multiple occasions of indiscriminate, positive feedback may show a more substantial impact on narcissism. Third, the study was conducted online. It is an open question whether the IQ feedback from an experimenter during face-to-face meeting might have greater impact on the state narcissism and its facets. Nonetheless, the current study's procedure allowed to avoid the effect of experimenter and his or her specific characteristics. Fourth, while we compared people's response to positive and negative feedback about their IQ, we did not include control group with neutral feedback. Future studies could examine this possibility by comparing feedback of different valence (positive, negative) with the situation where participants are told they have average IQ, or receive no feedback at all.

In conclusion, we found that IQ feedback influences people's self-views. Specifically, positive information results in higher estimation of one's intelligence and a higher state of narcissistic uniqueness, while negative information is linked with decreased self-assessed intelligence and lower level of state narcissism. Thus, the external feedback can influence people's beliefs about their intelligence, on the other hand, however, the lay concepts of intelligence might contain some narcissistic elements, such as the feeling of uniqueness.

How Does Our Brain Generate Sexual Pleasure?

How Does Our Brain Generate Sexual Pleasure? Barry R. Komisaruk & Maria Cruz Rodriguez del Cerro. International Journal of Sexual Health, Oct 13 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2021.1989534

Abstract: We present herein an exploratory essay on sexual pleasure, in support of the objective of developing an evidence base of knowledge for the WAS Declaration of Sexual Rights. We have attempted to account for the feeling of erotic sexual pleasure, in terms of what is known about neuronal function. The brain regions that are activated during women’s orgasm, and their perceptual and physiological roles, are compared with brain regions related to chemically induced euphoria and craving. The brain regions that are activated at orgasm match those that are activated by both euphoria and craving. Based on these findings, we propose that erotic, sensual feeling is a simultaneous activation of euphoria plus craving. The importance of sensory stimulation, proprioception, sensations, and feelings is emphasized by evidence that their disruption leads to pathologies. The process of buildup of excitation to a peak and then resolution is proposed as a basic “orgasmic” property of the nervous system shared by multiple systems, as in a sneeze, which we consider to be a non-genital orgasm. We postulate a process by which an excitation pattern feels pleasurable and – at higher intensity – euphoric, if it is congruent with an unconscious dynamic “template,” but aversive and at higher intensity painful, to the extent that it is incongruent with the template. Under this formulation, peak neuronal excitation that is congruent with the unconscious, simultaneously “getting what is craved,” generates orgasmic, erotic, sexual pleasure.

Moderate-to-large effect of MDMA (Ecstasy) on self-reported sociability-related outcomes (e.g., feeling loving, talkative, and friendly)

Does ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) induce subjective feelings of social connection in humans? A multilevel meta-analysis. Annie Regan, Seth Margolis, Harriet de Wit, and Sonja Lyubomirsky. In press, PLoS One, Oct 2021. http://sonjalyubomirsky.com/files/2021/10/Regan-Margolis-de-Wit-Lyubomirsky-in-press.pdf

Abstract: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a psychostimulant known for producing positive subjective effects and for enhancing social functioning and social connection in both clinical and recreational settings. Over the past two decades, scientists have begun to study the psychological effects of MDMA through rigorous placebo-controlled experimental work. However, most existing studies have small Ns, and the average sizes of the reported effects are unknown, creating uncertainty about the impact of these findings. The goal of the present study was to quantify the strength of MDMA’s effects on self-reported social connection by aggregating sociability-related outcomes across multiple placebo-controlled studies. To this end, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis based on 27 studies, 54 effect sizes, and a total of 592 participants. The results revealed a moderate-to-large effect (d = 0.86; 95% CI [0.68, 1.04]; r = .39; 95% CI [.32, .46]) of MDMA on self-reported sociability-related outcomes (e.g., feeling loving, talkative, and friendly). Given the magnitude of its effect on felt sociability, we propose that MDMA may have powerful implications for a variety of social contexts and for clinical settings, in particular. Finally, we discuss potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between MDMA and sociability-related feelings, as well as future directions for experimental work in this area. 

Keywords: MDMA, Psychopharmacology, Sociability, Connection, Meta-Analysis

Atheists were further perceived as more prone to infidelity, especially when attractive

Preliminary evidence for an aversion to atheists in long-term mating domains in the Southern United States. Mitch Brown. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, October 13, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211045051

Abstract: The centrality of religiosity in selecting long-term mates suggests atheism could be undesirable for that context. Given recent findings suggesting several positive stereotypes about atheists, a largely distrusted group, individuals could prefer atheists in mating domains not emphasizing long-term commitment (i.e., short-term mating). Two studies tasked U.S. participants with evaluating long-term and short-term mating desirability of theists and atheists while assessing perceptions of their personalities. Study 1 indicated atheists were more desirable in short-term mating than long-term mating, though this preference did not translate to being preferred over theists. The pre-registered Study 2 demonstrated this effect is specific to physically attractive targets. Atheists were further perceived as more prone to infidelity, especially when attractive. Results are framed from an evolutionary perspective while discussing anti-atheist prejudice.

Keywords: Atheism, mate preferences, evolutionary psychology, infidelity, stereotyping

How does noise generated by researcher decisions undermine the credibility of science? 73 research teams independently conducted studies on the same hypothesis with identical starting data, & we find excessive variation of outcomes

Breznau, Nate, Eike Mark Rinke, Alexander Wuttke, Muna Adem, Jule Adriaans, Amalia Alvarez-Benjumea, Henrik K. Andersen, et al. 2021. “Observing Many Researchers Using the Same Data and Hypothesis Reveals a Hidden Universe of Uncertainty.” MetaArXiv. March 24. doi:10.31222/osf.io/cd5j9

Abstract: How does noise generated by researcher decisions undermine the credibility of science? We test this by observing all decisions made among 73 research teams as they independently conduct studies on the same hypothesis with identical starting data. We find excessive variation of outcomes. When combined, the 107 observed research decisions taken across teams explained at most 2.6% of the total variance in effect sizes and 10% of the deviance in subjective conclusions. Expertise, prior beliefs and attitudes of the researchers explain even less. Each model deployed to test the hypothesis was unique, which highlights a vast universe of research design variability that is normally hidden from view and suggests humility when presenting and interpreting scientific findings.

Supplemental Materials osf.io/bs46f/ 

Regional personality assessment through social media language: Openness to experience was higher on the coasts, extraversion was higher in southern states, agreeableness was higher in western states, emotional stability was highest in the south

Regional personality assessment through social media language. Salvatore Giorgi et al. Journal of Personality, September 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12674

Abstract

Objective: We explore the personality of counties as assessed through linguistic patterns on social media. Such studies were previously limited by the cost and feasibility of large-scale surveys; however, language-based computational models applied to large social media datasets now allow for large-scale personality assessment.

Method: We applied a language-based assessment of the five factor model of personality to 6,064,267 U.S. Twitter users. We aggregated the Twitter-based personality scores to 2,041 counties and compared to political, economic, social, and health outcomes measured through surveys and by government agencies.

Results: There was significant personality variation across counties. Openness to experience was higher on the coasts, conscientiousness was uniformly spread, extraversion was higher in southern states, agreeableness was higher in western states, and emotional stability was highest in the south. Across 13 outcomes, language-based personality estimates replicated patterns that have been observed in individual-level and geographic studies. This includes higher Republican vote share in less agreeable counties and increased life satisfaction in more conscientious counties.

Conclusions: Results suggest that regions vary in their personality and that these differences can be studied through computational linguistic analysis of social media. Furthermore, these methods may be used to explore other psychological constructs across geographies.

The personality trait of neuroticism (proneness to negative emotions) leads to avoidance, which maintains negative emotions and can lead to emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety

Neuroticism and Disorders of Emotion: A New Synthesis. David H. Barlow, Andrew J. Curreri, Lauren S. Woodard. Current Directions in Psychological Science, August 23, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214211030253

Abstract: We describe an approach to anxiety, depressive, trauma-related, and other disorders, which we conceptualize as “emotional disorders” because of shared underlying dimensions uncovered by the study of traits or temperaments. We then explicate a functional model of emotional disorders based largely, but not exclusively, on the temperament of neuroticism and describe common factors that account for the development and maintenance of these conditions. We conclude by describing, and presenting supporting data for, a unified transdiagnostic approach to the treatment of emotional disorders that directly targets the underlying temperament of neuroticism and associated temperamental characteristics.

Keywords: neuroticism, transdiagnostic treatment, emotional disorders

Salivary testosterone among men was linked to concurrent sex partners & masturbation; among women, Sal-T was positively associated with masturbation; gay women, in addition, with partnered sex

Salivary Testosterone and Sexual Function and Behavior in Men and Women: Findings from the Third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3). W. G. Macdowall et al. The Journal of Sex Research, Oct 11 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1968327

Abstract: Using data from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) we examined associations between salivary testosterone (Sal-T) and sexual function and behavior. Single morning saliva samples were self-collected from a subsample of participants aged 18–74 years and analyzed using mass spectrometry. 1,599 men and 2,123 women were included in the analysis (40.6% of those invited to provide a sample). We adjusted for confounders in a stepwise manner: in model 1 we adjusted for age only; model 2 for age, season and relationship status, and model 3 we added BMI and self-reported health. In the fully adjusted models, among men, Sal-T was positively associated with both partnered sex (vaginal sex and concurrent partners) and masturbation. Among women, Sal-T was positively associated with masturbation, the only association with partnered sex was with ever experience of same-sex sex. We found no clear association between Sal-T and sexual function. Our study contributes toward addressing the sparsity of data outside the laboratory on the differences between men and women in the relationship between T and sexual function and behavior. To our knowledge, this is the first population study, among men and women, using a mass spectrometry Sal-T assay to do so.

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first population level study, of both men and women, using a validated salivary measure to explore the associations between Sal-T and aspects of sexual function and behavior.

We found no clear associations in our data between Sal-T and either overall sexual function (as measured by the Natsal-SF) or individual problems with sexual response in men or women. Among women, our data showed solitary sex to be more strongly associated than partnered sex with Sal-T; levels of Sal-T were higher in those who masturbated more recently and more frequently. We found no association between Sal-T and heterosexual partnered sexual activity among women, as measured by occurrence of vaginal sex in the past month, and nor did we find an association with number of partners or concurrency. The only measure of partnered sex associated with Sal-T among women was ever experience of same-sex behavior.

Among men, Sal-T was associated with masturbation but not more strongly than it was with partnered sex. Associations were seen between higher levels of Sal-T and recent occurrence of heterosexual partnered sex and with concurrency of sexual partners in the last five years, but not with number of sexual partners. The association with concurrency was reflected in men’s attitudes toward ‘casual’ sexual encounters, which were similarly linked with higher levels of Sal-T.

Contextualization and Interpretation

The absence of an association between T and overall sexual function in men in our large dataset is unsurprising given the measure of overall sexual function used in Natsal-3 which, as indicated above, took account not only of individual problems with response, but also the relational context, which is heavily influenced by psychosocial factors. The absence of any association with individual aspects of sexual function (erectile difficulties, lacking enjoyment in sex, distress about sex life, lacking interest in sex) is perhaps more surprising. The dominant narrative assumes T is the ‘biological driver’ of sexual desire in men. The fact that men have both higher levels of T and report higher levels of interest in sex than women seems to speak to this narrative (van Anders, 2012). Much of the evidence linking T with sexual desire in men has, however, come from clinical studies among those with overt T deficiency in the context of investigating the effects of TRT (Corona et al., 2017). There is little empirical evidence (van Anders, 2012), including that now provided by our study that T levels in men within the normal range are associated with sexual desire. In the European Male Aging Study (EMAS), which focused specifically on older men – though like Natsal drew on a large sample of community dwelling individuals – only weak associations were found between aspects of sexual function and T. These included ‘overall sexual function’ (O’Connor et al., 2011) and erectile dysfunction and frequency of both sexual thoughts and morning erections, though the associations with these latter three sexual symptoms were attenuated when adjustments were made for age, BMI, and co-existing health conditions (Wu et al., 2010). Further, the findings from EMAS highlight the non-linear relationship between T and aspects of sexual function and point to symptom-specific T ‘thresholds’; only under the ‘threshold’ does the probability of experiencing the sexual symptom increase (O’Connor et al., 2011; Wu et al., 2010). Hence, among older men, androgen deficiency is only likely to be a key pathogenic component in problems of sexual function when T levels are overtly subnormal (Wu et al., 2010). In older men with unequivocal age-related hypogonadism, TRT has been associated with modest improvements in sexual function (Matsumoto, 2019; Snyder et al., 2016). Evidence of the value of T supplementation for ‘low T’ within the normal range as a therapeutic solution to problems, such as erectile dysfunction and low libido, however, is lacking (Huo et al., 2016).

The few large community studies that have been conducted in women have identified associations between androgens and sexual function though in unadjusted analyses (Davis et al., 2005), or among women in menopausal transition (Randolph et al., 2015). In our unadjusted model, we did find an association between Sal-T and sexual desire in women, which remained significant after adjustment for age (with women lacking interest in sex having lower Sal-T than those who did not) but was attenuated after further adjustments for relationship status, season, BMI, and general health status, highlighting the importance of contextual factors. The current global consensus is that there is insufficient evidence regarding the use of T for the treatment of sexual function in premenopausal women, but among postmenopausal women T may yield benefits in terms of increasing sexual desire (as well as other components of sexual function including arousal and orgasmic function) (Davis et al., 2019). Evidence from controlled trials among postmenopausal women indicates that estrogen-only therapies are also associated with increases in sexual desire and that these effects can be enhanced when estrogen is coupled with T (Cappelletti & Wallen, 2016).

Our data support our prior assumption that the relative influence of hormonal status and social context, and hence the strength of associations between Sal-T and sexual behavior, would vary between men and women. Attempts to understand why dyadic sex, especially partner concurrency, is more strongly associated with T among men than women have drawn on evolutionary theories asserting that it may have greater reproductive advantage for men (Puts et al., 2015; van Anders et al., 2015). Yet associations between T and dyadic and solo sex may also be differentially moderated in men and women by gendered social norms regulating sexual behavior (van Anders et al., 2015). Variation in the extent to which men and women may be differentially socialized to non-exclusivity features regularly in explanations as to why men report larger numbers of sexual partners than women in research (Jonason & Fisher, 2009; Mitchell et al., 2019).

Sal-T’s marked link with masturbation among women, in the absence of an observed link with aspects of partnered behavior, may be seen as consistent with the notion of a stronger moderating effect of social factors on hormonal influences on women’s behavior. It has been proposed that masturbation may be a ‘truer’ measure of sexual desire, as although socially censured, it is neither constrained by social surveillance nor dependent on social relations. The suggestion in our data of a stronger link with solitary than partnered sexual activity among women accords with evidence reported elsewhere; albeit from either laboratory studies and/or those utilizing smaller convenience samples (Randolph et al., 2015; van Anders, 2012). Interpretation of these findings has drawn on the bi-directionality of the association between T and sexuality (Goldey & van Anders, 2011) and on the different meanings and motivations attached to solitary and partnered sex. For example, qualitative research among women points to solitary sexuality as primarily erotic and partnered sexuality as nurturant (Goldey et al., 2016). Women self-identifying as heterosexual have been shown to be more likely to reach orgasm in solitary compared with partnered sex (Carvalheira & Leal, 2013) and the experience of orgasm has been found to increase levels of T (van Anders et al., 2007).

Our finding of higher mean Sal-T in women with ever experience of same sex sex is illuminated by a recent systematic review, investigating whether lesbian and bisexual women may have different levels of sex hormones compared to heterosexual women. The review found tentative evidence of higher T among sexual minority women, though the heterogeneity of studies and problems with confounding made it hard to draw definitive conclusions (Harris et al., 2020).

Strengths and Weaknesses

This study had a number of strengths. Firstly, Natsal-3 is a large population-based study of men and women, covering a wide age range and capturing multiple aspects of sexual function, behavior, and attitudes. Secondly, Sal-T was measured by the ‘gold standard’ method of mass spectrometry using samples collected at the same time of day in order to account for the diurnal variation in testosterone. Thirdly, we were able to adjust for known confounders identified in our earlier analysis (Clifton et al., 2016; Keevil et al., 2017), so that independent associations between Sal-T and sexual function and behavior could be established. A number of limitations need also to be considered. Firstly, nonparticipation bias is likely to have occurred both in relation to recruitment to the main survey and providing a saliva sample. There were known differences between those who did and did not return a saliva sample, though statistical weighting was used to minimize these biases. The second limitation is that, with the exception of items relating to appraisal of sex life, the Natsal-SF (which included the questions about the individual problems with sexual response) was only asked of people who were sexually active in the past year and so excluded those who may not have had sex in over a year because of sexual difficulties. The third limitation relates to the adjustments made. While we did adjust for variables identified from our previous analyses as linked with both Sal-T and sexual function and behavior (Clifton et al., 2016; Keevil et al., 2017) there are, however, likely to be other confounders that we have not adjusted for. A further limitation relates to the complexity of the phenomena under investigation and the challenge in establishing causal direction when using cross-sectional data and single saliva samples given evidence that the relationship between T and sexual behavior is bi-directional (Escasa et al., 2011). We also have to recognize the limitations of a peripheral measure of T in assessing T status. In men and women, it is thought that a large proportion of androgens (and estrogens) are produced within cells where they exert their action and circulating androgens do not reflect this ‘intracrine’ androgen synthesis (Labrie, 1991). Relatedly, different forms of the androgen receptor are thought to vary in their sensitivity to T (Wåhlin-Jacobsen et al., 2018). Hence, circulating T is only part of a complex picture.

Our study contributes toward addressing the deficit in terms of attention paid to the role of T in women’s sexuality (Bancroft & Graham, 2011) and the sparsity of data on the differences between men and women in the relationship between T and sexual function and behavior. Our data tend to confirm that differences between men and women need to be understood by examining them in the context of both social and hormonal influences on sexual function and behavior.

Larger and higher‐earnings zones have much higher housing costs, enough so to more than completely offset their larger effects on nominal earnings; thus, movements to larger or to higher earnings locations mean reductions in real income

Location, Location, Location. David Card Jesse Rothstein Moises Yi. US Census, CES 21-32, Oct 2021. https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2021/CES-WP-21-32.pdf

Abstract: We use longitudinal data from the LEHD to study the causal effect of location on earnings. We specify a model for log earnings that includes worker effects and fixed effects for different commuting zones (CZs) fully interacted with industry, allowing us to capture potential impacts of local specialization. Building on recent work on firm‐specific wage setting, we show that a simple additive model provides a good approximation to observed changes in log earnings when people move across CZ’s and/or industries, though it takes a couple of quarters for migrants to fully realize the gains of a move. We also show that the earnings premiums for different CZ‐industry pairs are nearly separable in industry and CZ, with statistically significant but very small interaction effects. Consistent with recent research from France, Spain and Germany, we find that two thirds of the variation in observed wage premiums for working in different CZs is attributable to skill‐based sorting. Using separately estimated models for high and low education workers, we find that the locational premiums for the two groups are very similar. The degree of assortative matching across CZs is much larger for college‐educated workers, however, leading to a positive correlation between measured returns to skill and CZ average wages or CZ size that is almost entirely due to sorting on unobserved skills within the college workforce. 

Redheaded Women Are More Sexually Active Than Other Women, but It Is Probably Due to Their Suitors

Sýkorová, Kateřina, Vojtěch Fiala, Jana Hlaváčová, Šárka Kaňková, and Jaroslav Flegr. 2021. “Redheaded Women Are More Sexually Active Than Other Women, but It Is Probably Due to Their Suitors.” OSF Preprints. October 13. doi:10.31219/osf.io/8frq7

Abstract: Women with red hair colour, i.e., 1–9% of female Europeans, tend to be the subject of various stereotypes about their sexually liberated behaviour. The aim of the present case-control study was to explore whether a connection between red hair colour and sexual behaviour really exists using data from 110 women (34% redheaded) and 93 men (22% redheaded). Redheadedness in women, but not in men, correlated with various traits related to sexual life, namely with higher sexual desire as measured by Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory, with higher sexual activity and more sexual partners of the preferred gender over the past year, earlier initiation of sexual life, and higher sexual submissiveness. Structural equation modelling, however, showed that sexual desire of redheaded women meditated neither their higher sexual activity nor most of the variability of having more sexual partners. These results indicate that the apparently more liberated sexual behaviour in redheaded women could be the consequence of frequent attempts of potential mates to have sex with redheaded women. Other hypotheses, based on different physiology, faster life history strategy, or altered self-perception of red-haired women induced by stereotypes about them, were also tested and discussed.

We find, across a range of transgressions, that people frequently see victims of wrongdoing as more moral than nonvictims who have behaved identically

Virtuous victims. Jillian J Jordan, Maryam Kouchaki. Science Advances, Oct 13 2021. Vol 7, Issue 42. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg5902

Abstract: How do people perceive the moral character of victims? We find, across a range of transgressions, that people frequently see victims of wrongdoing as more moral than nonvictims who have behaved identically. Across 17 experiments (total n = 9676), we document this Virtuous Victim effect and explore the mechanisms underlying it. We also find support for the Justice Restoration Hypothesis, which proposes that people see victims as moral because this perception serves to motivate punishment of perpetrators and helping of victims, and people frequently face incentives to enact or encourage these “justice-restorative” actions. Our results validate predictions of this hypothesis and suggest that the Virtuous Victim effect does not merely reflect (i) that victims look good in contrast to perpetrators, (ii) that people are generally inclined to positively evaluate those who have suffered, or (iii) that people hold a genuine belief that victims tend to be people who behave morally.

Check also Ok, E., Qian, Y., Strejcek, B., & Aquino, K. (2020). Signaling virtuous victimhood as indicators of Dark Triad personalities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Jul 2020. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/07/a-specific-dimension-of.html

DISCUSSION

Across 17 experiments (total n = 9676), we have documented and explored the Virtuous Victim effect. We find that victims are frequently seen as more virtuous than nonvictims—not because of their own behavior, but because others have mistreated them. We observe this effect across a range of moral transgressions and find evidence that it is not moderated by the victim’s (white versus black) race or gender. Humans ubiquitously—and perhaps increasingly (1, 2)—encounter narratives about immoral acts and their victims. By demonstrating that these narratives have the power to confer moral status, our results shed new light on the ways that victims are perceived by society.

We have also explored the boundaries of the Virtuous Victim effect and illuminated the mechanisms that underlie it. For example, we find that the Virtuous Victim effect may be especially likely to flow from victim narratives that describe a transgression’s perpetrator and are presented by a third-person narrator (or perhaps, more generally, a narrator who is unlikely to be doubted). We also find that the effect is specific to victims of immorality (i.e., it does not extend to accident victims) and to moral virtue (i.e., it does not extend equally to positive but nonmoral traits). Furthermore, the effect shapes perceptions of moral character but not predictions about moral behavior.

We have also evaluated several potential explanations for the Virtuous Victim effect. Ultimately, our results provide evidence for the Justice Restoration Hypothesis, which proposes that people see victims as virtuous because this perception serves to motivate punishment of perpetrators and helping of victims, and people frequently face incentives to enact or encourage these justice-restorative actions. We find empirical support for the assumption that seeing victims as virtuous motivates justice-restorative action. We also find, critically, that introducing disincentives for justice-restorative action causes the Virtuous Victim effect to disappear. Moreover, our results provide direct evidence that the Virtuous Victim effect does not merely reflect (i) that victims look good in contrast to perpetrators, (ii) that people are generally inclined to positively evaluate those who have suffered, or (iii) that people hold a genuine belief that victims tend to behave morally.

By supporting the Justice Restoration Hypothesis, our work advances our understanding of how people evaluate the moral character of others. Previous research has established that moral character evaluations are shaped by the direct personal attributes of evaluated individuals, such as their moral or immoral behaviors (12–15), social group affiliations (16–20), or physical attractiveness (21, 22). Our results suggest that, because people frequently face incentives to respond to wrongdoing with justice-restorative action, moral character evaluations can also be influenced by whether an individual was the recipient of immoral treatment. In this way, our results contribute to a growing body of evidence from psychology that moral judgements can be colored by self-interested incentives (43, 52–54).

By proposing a link between perceptions of victim virtue and justice-restorative action, the Justice Restoration Hypothesis also aligns with theories of “indirect reciprocity.” Such theories posit that people track the reputation status of individuals in their community, and the normative value of a particular action (e.g., helping or stealing from somebody) can depend on the recipient’s reputation standing (57, 58). For example, in some cultures, stealing from somebody in good reputational standing is considered a norm violation, but stealing from somebody in bad reputational standing (e.g., somebody who himself is a thief) is not (59). According to this framework, a harmful act is more likely to be viewed by society as a transgression that merits justice-restorative action if the victim is morally virtuous. Thus, it stands to reason that seeing a victim as virtuous would boost motivation for justice-restorative action and that, when we face incentives to enact or encourage justice-restorative action, we would therefore benefit from elevating the victim’s character.

An interesting question for future research is whether incentives for justice-restorative action influence our perceptions of victims in other ways. We find that the Virtuous Victim effect does not extend equally to certain positive nonmoral traits (e.g., intelligence and athleticism). Providing a potential explanation for this pattern, we find some suggestive evidence that describing victims as competent may be less effective at motivating justice-restorative action than describing victims as moral. However, insofar as other traits beyond morality (e.g., helplessness or innocence) are particularly effective at motivating justice-restorative action, we might expect people to elevate victims on those traits.

This proposal may also relate to evidence that people typecast moral patients (i.e., the recipients of moral action), including victims, as less agentic and more passive (7–9). This phenomenon is distinct from the Virtuous Victim effect (being passive is not the same thing as being moral) and is unlikely to account for our results. If the Virtuous Victim effect simply reflected that victims are seen as passive patients who are incapable of wrongdoing, we would have expected the effect to extend to predicted immoral behavior, but subjects did not rate victims as any less likely to commit immoral acts (e.g., spreading mean gossip). However, future research should investigate whether there may be a psychological link between seeing victims as moral and as passive, insofar as both perceptions could plausibly motivate justice-restorative action.

Another open question is whether the Virtuous Victim effect may ever extend to victims of accidental misfortune. In our experiments, subjects did not see accident victims as more morally virtuous than neutral targets. When viewed through the lens of the Justice Restoration Hypothesis, this pattern makes sense: When accidents occur, there are no perpetrators (and thus no incentives for punishment). In addition, while accidents do create victims who may need help, our subjects did not perceive strong incentives to help them. Notably, our subjects did not expect helping accident victims to look any better than helping neutral targets. However, the accident victims in our experiments suffered relatively minor consequences (the loss of an iPad). When more serious accidents occur (e.g., natural disasters in poor countries), people might plausibly perceive stronger reputational incentives to help, in which case we would expect people to elevate the character of accident victims. Nevertheless, our theory and results also suggest that, holding constant the harm suffered, moral transgressions will create stronger incentives for justice-restorative action than accidents, and victims of immorality will therefore reliably be seen as more virtuous than accident victims.

Future research should also investigate how our results relate to victim blaming. There is ample evidence that people sometimes blame victims for causing their own victimization (3–6). This observation is not incompatible with our findings: One could conceivably see a victim as morally good and as having contributed, causally, to their victimization. However, moral evaluations of victims may nonetheless correlate interestingly with attributions of causal blame. For example, in some contexts, people face disincentives for justice-restorative action (and thus face pressure not to punish perpetrators and help victims, but rather to excuse wrongdoing and dismiss victims). Our theorizing predicts that in these contexts, people are unlikely to morally elevate victims (and may even derogate their moral character). Indeed, in the disincentives condition of experiment 11a, it was relatively easy to evoke such a context—and consequently eliminate the Virtuous Victim effect—by encouraging subjects to imagine some hypothetical drawbacks of justice-restorative action. Moreover, it seems plausible that in contexts where people perceive disincentives for justice-restorative action, they may also be more likely to attribute causal blame to victims. Future research should test this hypothesis, which is broadly consistent with evidence that motivation (60) and ideology (5) can influence empathy for victims.

Relatedly, it is interesting to consider why our sexual aggression vignette did not produce a significant Virtuous Victim effect, while our rape vignette produced a strong effect. In the victim condition of our sexual aggression vignette, the target initially participated in a consensual sexual encounter with the perpetrator (who then continued making advances after she asked him to stop). The vignette was also vague: The nature of the continued advances was unclear, and it was thus unclear whether a sexual assault occurred. In contrast, in the victim condition of our rape vignette, the target did not consent to any kind of a sexual encounter, and the vignette described an unambiguous assault. We thus speculate that subjects may have perceived the rape vignette as describing a context that would create greater social consensus that a moral transgression occurred, giving rise to stronger incentives for justice-restorative action and thus a stronger Virtuous Victim effect. Future research should directly test this proposal and more generally investigate when victims of sexual coercion are judged to be morally virtuous.

It is also interesting that, in our experiments, the Virtuous Victim effect was not significantly moderated by target gender or (white versus black) race and extended to female and black victims. When viewed through the lens of the Justice Restoration Hypothesis, these findings suggest that subjects in our experiments perceived incentives to help victims and punish the perpetrators who wronged them, including when the victims in question were female and/or black. However, this perception may not always hold, at least for all subsets of the population. Furthermore, in contexts where people do not perceive incentives to engage in justice-restorative action on behalf of female and/or black victims (or victims from other historically or currently marginalized groups), our theoretical framework suggests that the Virtuous Victim effect may not extend to members of these groups. For example, individuals who perceive incentives to excuse (rather than punish) police violence against black Americans may fail to elevate (and, as described above, perhaps even derogate) the character of such victims. Further research should investigate this important possibility.

Another open question is whether the Virtuous Victim effect occurs across cultures, including in populations that are not “WEIRD” (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) (61). As just articulated, our theorizing predicts that the generalizability of the Virtuous Victim effect across cultures is likely to depend on the universality of incentives for punishing perpetrators and helping victims. For example, in cultures and contexts where victims are seen as contaminated (5) and helping them is not socially rewarded, we predict that the Virtuous Victim effect may disappear (or even reverse).

Further research should also investigate the Virtuous Victim effect outside of the laboratory. A limitation of our work is that we relied on hypothetical vignettes, most of which were presented in third person by a presumptively objective narrator. Thus, future work should explore perceptions of real-world victims, both in contexts where victim narratives are presented by third parties (e.g., news coverage of or gossip about immoral acts and their victims) and victims themselves.

Relatedly, future work should attempt to shed further light on our finding that the Virtuous Victim effect can, but does not always, extend from third- to first-person narratives. We have speculated that this finding may reflect that narrator credibility is crucial for the Virtuous Victim effect. Moreover, while people may be especially likely to question first-person narrators, perceived credibility might also play an important role in shaping evaluations of third-person victim narratives, especially in contexts where narrators seem less objective than they did in our vignettes.

Future research should also investigate the broader societal implications of the Virtuous Victim effect. How does the perception that victims are morally virtuous shape the treatment of victims by society (both in daily life and in domains like policy and law) and the roles that victim narratives play in social debates? Furthermore, what are the implications of the Virtuous Victim effect for the behavior and psychology of victims? For example, when victims are bestowed with moral status, what are the downstream consequences for their moral self-concepts and behavior (62, 63)? In addition, are people aware that being seen as a victim can make them appear moral? Recent research has documented a correlation between the tendency to signal one’s victim status and the tendency to signal one’s moral character (56), and our work shows that victim status can itself serve to boost an individual’s perceived moral character. These results raise the question of whether people are motivated to share their victimization to appear virtuous. On the other hand, however, do victims anticipate the pitfalls that may come with personally sharing their first-person narratives? Future work should investigate how these considerations shape the ways that victims choose to come forward with their stories.

In conclusion, we have shown that people frequently see victims of wrongdoing as morally good and provided evidence that this Virtuous Victim effect flows from incentives for justice-restorative action. This work has important implications for the role of victim narratives in society and raises many interesting directions for future research.