Belgian couples feel satisfied more via relatively higher happiness, Japanese couples more through less negative affect

Relatively Happy: The Role of the Positive-to-Negative Affect Ratio in Japanese and Belgian Couples. Alexander Kirchner-Häusler et al. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, October 11, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221211051016

Abstract: Satisfied couples in European-American cultural contexts experience higher ratios of positive to negative affect during interactions than their less satisfied counterparts. The current research tests the possibility that this finding is culture-bound. It compares proportions of positive to negative affect during couple interactions in two different cultural contexts: Belgium and Japan. Whereas Belgian relationship goals (e.g., mutual affirmation and self-esteem) call for the experience of positive affect, Japanese relationship goals (e.g., harmony and self-adjustment) call for the avoidance of negative affect. We propose that these differences result in different affect ratios in close relationships. To test this idea, we tracked positive and negative feelings during couple interactions. Fifty-eight Belgian and 80 Japanese romantic couples took part in a lab interaction study, in which they discussed a topic of disagreement. Using a video-mediated recall, participants rated their positive and negative feelings during the interaction; relationship satisfaction was assessed before the interaction. As expected, Belgian couples’ positive-to-negative affect ratios were more positive than those of Japanese couples. Furthermore, in both cultures relationship satisfaction was positively associated with more positive affect ratios, but this effect was significantly stronger for Belgian than Japanese couples. Finally, mediation analyses showed that higher affect ratios were achieved in culturally different and meaningful ways: satisfied Belgian couples showed higher ratios primarily through higher levels of positive feelings, whereas satisfied Japanese couples showed higher ratios primarily through lower levels of negative feelings.

Keywords: affect, ratio, culture, couples, relationship satisfaction

Discussion

The current study set out to examine the role of culture for the experience of positive and negative feelings in close relationships. Given cultural differences in close relationship goals, we expected that Belgian relationships would be characterized by a relatively greater focus on positive affect compared to Japanese relationships. We tested our assumption by inviting couples from Belgium (considered a “Western” context) and Japan (considered an “East-Asian” context) to take part in a standardized disagreement interaction, and to rate their affect during their interaction through a video-mediated recall procedure. This approach allowed us to examine affective experiences as they occurred in actual interactions and relationships in different cultures, and as reported by the key actors themselves—the couples under study. As such, we (a) “conceptually replicated” (Crandall & Sherman, 2016) previous findings about couple affect ratios using a less-represented Western context (Belgium, rather than the United States) and different affect measures (continuous self-report rather than single retrospective self-report or coded behavior) and (b) extended previous findings by highlighting the role of culture in affective experiences in close relationships.

In our analyses, we focused on positive-to-negative affect ratios as an indicator of affective balance in couples’ relationships. We were particularly interested in the link between affect ratios and partners’ relationship satisfaction. As predicted, Belgian couples showed significantly more positive average ratios than Japanese couples, suggesting that Belgian couples generally experienced more positive relative to negative affect during their disagreement interactions than Japanese couples (H1). These differences were also associated with well-functioning relationships within the cultural contexts: While couples who were more satisfied with their relationships in both cultures showed more positive affect ratios than less satisfied couples, higher affect ratios were more characteristic for more satisfied Belgian than more satisfied Japanese couples, and the difference between satisfied and less satisfied couples was more pronounced in Belgium than in Japan (H2). Finally, we found that the link between affect ratios and relationship satisfaction came about in culturally different ways: More positive affect ratios in more satisfied Belgian couples were mediated by greater proportions of positive affect, but by lower proportions of negative affect in more satisfied Japanese couples (H3).

Cultural Differences in Positive Versus Negative Affect

Overall, interactions of Belgian couples center more around positive feelings than those of Japanese couples: Belgian couples reported more positive feelings than their Japanese counterparts, and they also reported more positive feelings than they reported negative feelings. In contrast, Japanese couples reported positive and negative feelings to more similar extents. These cultural differences in couple affect during disagreement interactions parallel cultural differences in the general frequency or intensity of positive and negative feelings yielded by research comparing individuals from other Western and East-Asian contexts (Kitayama et al., 2000; Mesquita & Karasawa, 2002; Miyamoto & Ryff, 2011; Scollon et al., 2004; Suh et al., 1998; Tsai & Levenson, 1997). We also found cultural differences in the association between affect ratios and relationship satisfaction: While more satisfied couples from both cultures showed relatively higher affect ratios, this was more strongly the case for satisfied Belgian than Japanese couples. Again this findings is consistent with previous research showing that positive affect is tied more strongly to wellbeing in Western than in East-Asian cultures (Kuppens et al., 2008; Suh et al., 1998). This study thus expands research on cultural differences in affective valence beyond the level of the individual, and suggests that similarly meaningful differences in affect can be found at the level of couple interactions.

Affect and Relationship Goals

Previous work had suggested that well-functioning relationships of European-American couples seem to be characterized by positive affect ratios (Gottman, 1993b). The current study conceptually replicated the original studies with couples in Belgium, a less studied cultural context that we assumed is similarly characterized by individualist, Western values (Schwartz et al., 2001); the latter idea is further supported by our results which, similar to findings in the U.S., highlight the particular importance of positive affect for Belgian relationships. The emphasis on positive over negative affect in both countries may be understood from shared relationship goals of mutual affirmation, fostering each partner’s positive self-view, and being positively distinct from others (Rothbaum et al., 2000). To the extent that couples succeed in achieving these goals, they would be expected to experience relatively more positive feelings (Kim & Markus, 1999; Kitayama & Markus, 2000). Our mediation models further support the idea that positive affect (not negative) was the primary driving force behind higher positive-to-negative affect ratios in satisfied Belgian couples (compared to less satisfied Belgian couples).

In Japan, couple relationships were also marked by more positive relative to negative affect, and satisfied couples showed higher affect ratios than less satisfied ones. Yet, differences between satisfied and less satisfied couples were markedly smaller than those between their Belgian counterparts, a finding that fits previous work on the lesser importance of greater positivity for individual wellbeing across a range of East-Asian countries (Suh et al., 1998). Moreover, the differences in affect ratios between high and low satisfaction couples were primarily driven by the levels of negative (not positive) feelings. One way of interpreting this finding is that satisfied Japanese couples, consistent with the central tendency of avoiding disruptions of harmony (Elliot et al., 2001; Kitayama et al., 1997), are particularly motivated to avoid or quickly resolve higher levels of negative affect (even if negative affect may initially alert partners to adjust their behavior). That positive feelings do not play a bigger role in relationship satisfaction for Japanese couples is consistent with the Japanese belief that an excess of positive feelings is harmful to relationships (e.g., because it may reduce attentiveness to the needs of the partner or may disrupt harmony, Uchida & Kitayama, 2009), a belief that is shared by other East-Asian cultures (see e.g., Sims et al., 2015, for results with Chinese-origin samples).

Overall, the present work suggests that couple interactions in different cultures are marked by different affective experiences. More satisfied couples report affective patterns that appear more in line with the relationship practices in their respective cultures. This finding is consistent with previous research that has found that individuals who experience the normative emotions of their culture report higher wellbeing (De Leersnyder et al., 2014, 2015). Couples and clinical practitioners might benefit from the insight that relationship satisfaction takes a different shape in different cultures. Depending on the culture in which you ask, the question of what feelings characterize a good and fulfilled relationships may be answered differently. Future research should explicitly test what processes and behaviors between partners might give rise to culturally beneficial patterns of affect (e.g., Schoebi et al., 2010), and test the efficacy of culturally tailored interventions with couples from varied cultural backgrounds (Ibrahim & Schroeder, 1990).

Limitations and Future Directions

There are some limitations to take into account when interpreting our results. First, our analyses focused on partners’ self-reports of their affect during the interaction, assessed by a second-by-second video-mediated recall, and cannot speak to emotional behaviors. Some of the previous research on balance theory focused on coded behaviors. While video-mediated recall of affect has been found to correspond to emotional behaviors (Gottman & Levenson, 1985; Mauss et al., 2005), we cannot be sure that our results would replicate with behavioral measures.⁸ We would expect that a study on affect ratios in emotional behaviors may show somewhat similar patterns as found with our self-report measure, but may also face particular cross-cultural challenges, such as differences in display rules or expressivity (see e.g., Safdar et al., 2009).

A second limitation of this study is that it only focused on one particular type of interaction, that is, discussions of a disagreement in the relationship. Decades of research with European-American couples have provided strong support for the validity of conflict interactions as a way to probe affective patterns and quality of relationships (Gottman & Notarius, 2000). However, the same may not be true for other cultures. While conflict is thought to be unavoidable in relationships in Western cultures, such as Belgium or the United States, and conflict resolution an important indicator of relationship quality, this may not be true in non-Western contexts, such as Japan (Rothbaum et al., 2000). It is possible that affective patterns during conflict interactions are less relevant to relationship satisfaction in Japanese couples. Future research should aim at expanding and comparing the findings of the present study to situational contexts that are more central to relationship practices in non-Western cultures (e.g., cooperation, perspective taking).

A third limitation of our study is that it focuses on cultural differences in affect during interactions, but fails to explain the types of processes that may underlie any differences. Research on conflict interactions has shown that contextual elements are extremely important to the (emotional) course of conflict between people. Examples of such contextual elements are the behavioral strategies to manage the early emergence of disagreements (e.g., attempts to avoid conflict either physically or mentally; Hample & Hample, 2020), the different ways that conflict may start between actors (e.g., jointly or unexpectedly; Hample et al., 2019), or conflict narratives (Lewiński et al., 2018); all of these elements may differ between cultures. Future research should aim to provide a detailed picture of how disagreement may emerge and unfold in different cultures, including a cross-cultural analysis of wider contextual variables that contribute to differential unfolding.

A fourth limitation relates to the affect ratios themselves. Discussions of the early findings on affective balance in relationship have often shown a tendency to “essentialize” the ratios established, referring to 5:1 as the “magic ratio” in relationships (e.g., Stillman, 2020). Similar tendencies have been found for ratio research in other fields (e.g., in the context of teaching; Sabey et al., 2019). It is important to point out that the ratios yielded by our research differed somewhat from those in previous work: Even less-satisfied Western couples in our study showed higher proportions (8.5:1) than the stable partners in the original article (5:1). This may have been due, in part, to the different approach taken, with a higher time resolution and slightly different criteria to categorize affect as positive or negative. More generally, we would caution against treating the ratios of our highly satisfied couples (32.57:1 in Belgium, 6.52:1 in Japan) as absolute standards or goals. The main goal of the current study was not to establish new, definite ratios for relationships in different cultures, but to highlight the important role that culture plays for emotions in close relationships—a domain of research that has traditionally been dominated by research and perspectives from Western cultural contexts. We see our results as an indication that the ratios of positive over negative feelings may be different for satisfied relationships across cultures, especially between Western and East-Asian cultures.

Finally, our work examines positive and negative affect as couple and interaction-level aggregates, but does not examine how these aggregates emerge dynamically during the interaction. For example, previous work in European-American couples has examined specific sequences of positive and negative patterns (e.g., reciprocity, contagion) in couple interactions and successfully linked them to relationship satisfaction (Gottman & Levenson, 1985; Margolin & Wampold, 1981). Our findings may be fruitfully followed up by analyses of the dynamic patterns that underlie different affect ratios in Belgian and Japanese couples. We expect that these patterns are not random, but will reveal some coordination between partners toward culture-specific desirable affect states (Boiger & Mesquita, 2012; Boiger et al., 2020). Zooming in on cultural differences in these interpersonal affect patterns could also offer more specific insights into what affective processes contribute to well-functioning relationships in different cultures, and which behaviors may be targets for interventions to increase satisfaction with one’s relationship.

Self-serving bias—individuals’ tendency to attribute personal success more strongly to internal forces and failure to external forces—and belief in free will

Genschow, Oliver, and Jens Lange. 2021. “Belief in Free Will & Self-serving Bias.” PsyArXiv. October 18. psyarxiv.com/a8fze

Abstract: Past research indicates that individuals’ belief in free will is related to attributing others’ behavior to internal causes. An open question is whether belief in free will is related to the attribution of one’s own action. To answer this question, we tested two opposing predictions against each other by assessing the relation of belief in free will with the self-serving bias—individuals’ tendency to attribute personal success more strongly to internal forces and failure to external forces. The resource hypothesis predicts that a higher endorsement in free will belief relates to a lower self-serving bias. The intention attribution hypothesis predicts that belief in free will relates to higher internal attributions, as compared to external attributions, irrespective of success and failure. Meta-analytic evidence across five high-powered studies (total N = 1,137) supports the intention attribution hypothesis, but not the resource hypothesis.

Facebook: For preference dimensions that are systematically biased toward the same gender across the globe, differences between men and women are larger in more gender-equal countries

The Gender Gap in Preferences: Evidence from 45,397 Facebook Interests. Angel Cuevas et al. Southern Methodist Univ, October 7, 2021. http://faculty.smu.edu/kdesmet/papers/GenderGapFB.pdf

Abstract: This paper uses information on the frequency of 45,397 Facebook interests to study how the difference in preferences between men and women changes with a country’s degree of gender equality. For preference dimensions that are systematically biased toward the same gender across the globe, differences between men and women are larger in more gender-equal countries. In contrast, for preference dimensions with a gender bias that varies across countries, the opposite holds. This finding takes an important step toward reconciling evolutionary psychology and social role theory as they relate to gender.

1 Introduction

Do gender differences in preferences get attenuated or accentuated in more gender-equal societies? On the one hand, evolutionary psychology theory posits that gender equality accentuates differences by facilitating the expression of innate preferences that set men and women apart. On the other hand, social role theory posits that gender equality attenuates differences by eroding gender stereotypes and norms. Using data on the prevalence of a comprehensive set of 45,397 interests by gender across most countries of the world, this paper takes an important step towards reconciling both theories. Our premise is that innately gender-specific interests should mostly conform to evolutionary psychology theory, whereas other interests should mostly conform to social role theory. We find strong evidence consistent with this premise.

Our data on the prevalence of interests by gender and country come from Facebook. The social media company observes each of its almost three billion users’ online activity, not just on its own platform, but also on all websites and apps where it has a presence. In addition, it tracks many of its users’ offline activities by relying on GPS. Through their online and offline activities, users reveal their preferences and interests to Facebook. Using this information to assign interests to users, Facebook has unintentionally created the world’s largest database on preferences. By querying this database through Facebook’s publicly available Marketing API, we collect for most countries of the world the number of male and female users interested in 45,397 different topics. Because the data are at the level of populations (e.g., Canadian men or Ghanaian women), they do not entail any individual privacy issues. Compared to other potential data sources on preferences, Facebook data have two key advantages. First, the interests are broad and comprehensive in their scope, ranging from religious beliefs and sports, to political positions and cuisine. Second, in contrast to surveys, Facebook interests constitute a bottom-up revealed measure of preferences, covering whatever users find interesting, rather than what social scientists deem important. We start by computing for each country the cosine distance between the interest frequency vectors of men and women. This gives us a country-level metric of the overall difference in interests between genders. When regressing this metric on the degree of gender equality, we uncover a weak positive association between a country’s gender equality and the interest gap between men and women. Because different interests may sometimes reflect the same underlying preferences, we use singular value decomposition of the data matrix to identify the main latent preference dimensions. When recomputing our distance metric in this lower-dimensional subspace, we find a slightly stronger positive association between a country’s gender equality and its gender gap in preferences. Next, we differentiate between gender-related and non-gender-related interests. We say that an interest is gender-related if it displays a systematic bias toward the same gender across the globe. More specifically, if in more than 90% of countries an interest is more prevalent among the same gender, then we refer to it as gender-related. For example, “cosmetics” and “motherhood” are universally more common among women, whereas “motorcycles” and “Lionel Messi” are universally more common among men. Conversely, we say that an interest is non-gender-related if its gender bias varies across countries. More specifically, if an interest is more common among men in at least 30% of countries and more common among women in at least another 30% of countries, then we refer to it as nongender-related. For example, “world heritage site” and “physical fitness” do not display a systematic gender bias across the globe. When exploring the relationship between a country’s gender equality and the difference in interests between men and women, we uncover a sharp distinction between gender-related interests and nongender-related interests. More gender equality is associated with greater differences between men and women for gender-related interests, whereas the opposite is true for non-gender-related interests. As an alternative way of classifying interests, we use singular value decomposition to differentiate between gender and non-gender dimensions of preferences. For a preference dimension to be gender-related, we require the relative positions of men and women along that dimension to be similar across countries. With this alternative method, we confirm the paper’s central result: more gender-equal societies tend to be associated with greater differences in gender-related preferences but smaller differences in non-gender-related preferences. To interpret the paper’s main empirical finding, we turn to two seemingly contrasting theories (Falk and Hermle, 2018). Evolutionary psychology argues that men and women differ in areas where they faced different adaptive problems in their evolutionary history (Atari, Lai and Dehghani, 2020). In societies with more equal gender rights, men and women are able to more freely express their innate predispositions, so that preference differences between men and women should widen (Buss, 1989; Schmitt, 2015; Atari, Lai and Deghani, 2020).1 Social role theory, instead, argues that gender differences stem from gender socialization, social norms and sociocultural power structures (Schmitt et al., 2017). Since greater equality of gender rights erodes these norms, preference differences between men and women should narrow. While many papers on gender differences have been framed as a debate on the relative merits of evolutionary psychology and social role theory, these two views are not necessarily competing. Rather, their predictions apply to different preferences – evolutionary psychology to preferences that are innate and social role theory to preferences that are socially constructed. How does the difference between innate and socially constructed preferences relate to our paper’s main result? We argue that for preferences to be innate, they must display a systematic bias toward the same gender across the globe. As such, we can interpret our gender-related interests as potentially innate. In contrast, non-gender-related interests display a gender bias that varies across countries, and must hence be socially constructed. Using this interpretation, our findings are consistent with the predictions of both theories: in more gender-equal countries, differences between men and women are larger for innate (gender-related) preferences and smaller for socially constructed (non-gender-related) interests. Our interpretation depends crucially on the way we classify interests, and hence requires caution. We refer to gender-related interests as potentially innate, because we cannot discard the possibility that some of these interests might be socially constructed. Of course, this would require the process of social construction to occur in the same way in all countries. While in general this seems quite unlikely, in some cases the process of globalization might have led to the homogenization of socially constructed norms across countries. In other cases nature might have given rise to universally held gender norms in the distant past that then persisted through nurture despite no longer having a biological basis.2 For example, historically the relative physical strength of men and women was an important determinant of the division of labor between genders. As a result, universal gender norms emerged that associated some professions with men and others with women. Although technology has eroded these gendered patterns of comparative advantage, the gender norms might still survive.3 While ultimately such norms still have an innate origin, they are no longer subject to biological determinism. This paper is related to several strands of the literature on gender differences in preferences. Closest to our work is the large literature in psychology, sociology and economics that studies whether differences in values, attitudes and personality get accentuated in societies that are more gender-equal. Most empirical studies in this area have focused on gender differences in personality characteristics (Costa et al., 2001; Kaiser, 2019; Mac Giolla and Kajonius, 2019), cognitive abilities (Lippa, Collaer and Peters, 2010), education (Stoet and Geary, 2018), basic human values (Fors Connolly, Goossen and Hjerm, 2020), and specific cultural, behavioral and moral values (Falk and Hermle, 2018; Atari, Lai and Dehghani, 2020). Many of these studies find evidence of divergence between men and women in more gender-equal societies. For example, countries that are more gender-equal are found to exhibit greater sex differences in care and fairness (Atari, Lai and Dehghani, 2020), altruism, trust and risktaking (Falk and Hermle, 2018), and the big five personality traits (Mac Giolla and Kajonius, 2018). Some other studies find the opposite or argue that this relation is not robust. For example, Guiso et al. (2008) show that in societies with greater gender equality the math gender gap narrows, and Kaiser (2019) argues that the gender divergence in personality traits disappears after controlling for ecological stress factors such as hunger and disease. Our paper differs from this previous work in three respects. First, our data cover a broad crosssection of countries. Second, while most studies have focused on particular traits, values or abilities, we focus on 45,397 interests. Because of a lack of comprehensive data on interests and preferences, previous research has been unable to fully compare the predictions of evolutionary psychology and social role theory. Third, while these papers look at the effect of gender equality on differences in preferences, they do not address the possibility of causality running the other way. We deal with this potential endogeneity concern by taking an instrumental variable approach. Our results are suggestive of a causal interpretation of the paper’s main finding.

Also related to our work is the literature that seeks to identify some of the key differences in preferences between men and women. Many experimental papers have documented systematic gender differences in risk attitudes, dislike of competition, and social preferences (see Croson and Gneezy, 2009, Bertrand, 2011, and Niederle and Vesterlund, 2011, for excellent surveys). An important, related, question is to what extent these gender differences are a consequence of nature or nurture. Most direct evidence of the role of nature comes from studies that show that male hormones play a role in certain preferences, such as attitudes towards competition and risk-taking, as well as in career choices and activities (Archer, 2006; Dreber and Hoffman, 2007; Sapienza, Zingales and Maestripieri, 2009; Berenbaum and Beltz, 2021). More generally, the consensus points to both nature and nurture mattering. Even in the case of risk-taking, Gneezy et al. (2008) show that gender differences are society-dependent, ruling out a purely nature-based explanation.

Finally, an extensive literature in economics and political science explores how gender differences in preferences affect individual and societal choices. If women and men have different preferences, then greater female participation in political decision-making has wide-reaching consequences. ClotsFigueras (2012) demonstrates that the election of women politicians in India improves educational attainment; Lippmann (2021) shows that in the French parliament female legislative activity focused more on women’s issues and male legislative activity more on the military; and Funk and Gathmann (2015) show that in direct democracy initiatives in Switzerland women make different choices in health, environmental protection, defense spending and welfare policy. Differences in preferences are also relevant within the household. Quisimbing and Maluccio (2000) show that giving more assets to women translates into an increase in spending on offspring in a variety of developing countries. This is an important insight for government policy that often relies on direct cash transfers to improve children’s welfare. An additional effect of greater preference heterogeneity within the household is increased marital instability (Serra-Garcia, 2021). Gender differences in preferences also have important effects on career choices and other labor market outcomes (Bertrand, 2011). Hence, better understanding the evolution of gender differences in preferences is of great interest to economists.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the data, with a special emphasis on the Facebook data on interests; Section 3 analyzes the relation between gender equality and gender differences in interests and preferences; Section 4 explores how this relation depends on whether interests and preferences are gender-related or not; and Section 5 concludes.

The Current State of Relationship Science: A Cross-Disciplines Review of Key Themes, Theories, Researchers and Journals

The Current State of Relationship Science: A Cross-Disciplines Review of Key Themes, Theories, Researchers and Journals. Jennifer A Sharkey, Jacqueline S Feather, Sonja Goedeke. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, October 11, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211047638

Abstract: This article provides a circumscribed descriptive analysis of the current state of research worldwide related to adult romantic relationship processes and their underlying mechanisms. A scoping review was used to gather data. This yielded 15,418 eligible articles from 1,687 different academic journals. From these, we outline key themes and theories arising in the last seven decades and note the most prolific journals and authors. The study of relational wellbeing has focused on overt behaviors such as communication and commitment, on underlying attitudes and motives such as empathy and contempt, and on substrates and circumstances such as neurobiological functioning and life stressors. The results reveal the strong interdisciplinary research underpinnings of the field of relationship science and show up key influences over its expansion. Results are intended to give an overview of key peer reviewed research that has contributed to the development of current scientific knowledge and theory development in this field.

Keywords: relationship science, romantic relationships, couples, literature review, marriage, relationship theory, relationship authors, relationship research, scoping review

The Immigrant Health Advantage: An Examination of African-Origin Black Immigrants in the United States

The Immigrant Health Advantage: An Examination of African-Origin Black Immigrants in the United States. Justin Vinneau Palarino. Population Research and Policy Review volume 40, pages895–929, Mar 20 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-021-09647-6

Abstract: The immigrant health advantage suggests that, despite significant socioeconomic disadvantage, immigrant populations report better-than-expected health relative to U.S.-born counterparts. This phenomenon has been repeatedly shown in Hispanic-origin immigrant population with little focus on other racial/ethnic groups. In this study, the immigrant health advantage is examined as it pertains to overweight, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes in African-origin black immigrants (n = 2748) relative to U.S.-born non-Hispanic blacks (n = 71,320). Additionally, to investigate within-immigrant heterogeneity in health deterioration associated with duration in the United States, the health of African-origin black immigrants is compared to non-Hispanic white and Mexican–American immigrants. Analyses are conducted on adults aged 18–85 + (n = 570,675) from the 2000–2018 National Health Interview Survey using binomial logistic regressions. Findings support the notion of an immigrant health advantage and suggest that, relative to U.S.-born blacks, African-origin black immigrants are at lower odds for obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, regardless of duration in the United States. Further, when compared to non-Hispanic white and Mexican–American immigrants, African-origin black immigrants display similar probabilities of reporting overweight, obesity, and diabetes across four duration categories. These findings suggest that, despite potentially experiencing high rates of discriminatory and/or racist behaviors, African-origin black immigrants’ health does not deteriorate differently than this sample of non-black immigrant counterparts. The findings presented here provide further insight into the health of African-origin blacks immigrants, a rapidly growing proportion of both the U.S.-black and foreign-born population.

We investigate which types of legislators are more likely to gain company board service: There is a strong preference for appointing moderates to boards, regardless of strong legislative record, service on powerful committees, or networks

Extremists Not on Board: Labor market costs to radical behavior in elected office. Benjamin C.K. Egerod, Hai Tran. Oct 2021. https://github.com/BCEgerod/BCEgerod.github.io/blob/master/papers/Politician_Directors_wp.pdf

Abstract: Board appointments represent highly lucrative career trajectories for former politicians. We investigate which types of legislators are more likely to gain board service. Leveraging comprehensive data on the board service of former Members of Congress, we show that ideological extremists are less likely to be appointed to a board after serving in Congress. Additionally, we use a difference-in-differences design to show that when the supply of legislators who are willing to take a directorship increases, firms become less likely to appoint extremist legislators to their board. The estimates are striking in magnitude, indicating a strong preference for appointing moderates to boards. Surprisingly, we find no evidence that a strong legislative record, service on powerful committees, or networks increase the probability of board service. The results show that extremist legislators are effectively shut out of one of the most lucrative post-elective career paths, placing a cost on radical behavior.

Keywords: The revolving door; The post-elective labor market; Political incentives and selection

Those in this extreme upper tail of wealth are more educated and better-looking than the average person of the same age

“Beauty Too Rich for Use”*: Billionaires’ Assets and Attractiveness. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Andrew Leigh. NBER Working Paper 29361. October 2021. DOI 10.3386/w29361

Abstract: We examine how the net worth of billionaires relates to their looks, as rated by 16 people of different gender and ethnicity. Surprisingly, their financial assets are unrelated to their beauty; nor are they related to their educational attainment. As a group, however, billionaires are both more educated and better-looking than average for their age. Men, people who reside in Western countries, and those who inherited substantial wealth, are wealthier than other billionaires. The results do not arise from measurement error or nonrandom sample selectivity. They are consistent with econometric theory about the impact of truncating a sample to include observations only from the extreme tail of the dependent variable. The point is underscored by comparing estimates of earnings equations using all employees in the 2018 American Community Survey to those using a sample of the top 0.1 percent. The findings suggest the powerful role of luck within the extremes of the distributions of economic outcomes.

Underestimating Learning by Doing

Horn, Samantha and Loewenstein, George F., Underestimating Learning by Doing (October 12, 2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3941441

Abstract: Many economic decisions, such as whether to invest in developing new skills, change professions, or purchase a new technology, benefit from accurate estimation of skill acquisition. We examine the accuracy of such predictions by having experimental participants predict the speed at which they will master an unfamiliar task. The first experiment finds systematic underestimation of learning, even after multiple rounds of performance feedback. Replicating earlier findings by psychologists, we observe an abrupt drop in confidence, from overconfidence to underconfidence, following initial task experience. The second experiment shows that underpredicting learning leads decision makers to make choices that lower average payoffs.

Keywords: learning, beliefs, forecasting

JEL Classification: C91, D83, D91

We propose that people exhibit an insight bias, such that they undervalue persistence and overvalue insight in the creative process

Lay people’s beliefs about creativity: evidence for an insight bias. Brian J. Lucas, Loran F. Nordgren. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, October 16 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.09.007

Abstract: Research finds that creative ideas are generated by two cognitive pathways: insight and persistence. However, emerging research suggests people’s lay beliefs may not adequately reflect both routes. We propose that people exhibit an insight bias, such that they undervalue persistence and overvalue insight in the creative process.

Keywords: creativitycreative processinsightpersistencelay beliefsjudgment

From performance to perception

What might an insight bias look like? We propose that an insight bias would be supported by evidence that people’s beliefs about creativity systematically mispredict creative performance such that people undervalue persistence and overvalue insight.

Initial evidence of an insight bias comes from research that compared people’s beliefs about the value of persistence for creativity against actual performance. After an initial period of idea generation, people predicted how many more ideas they would generate during a second round of idea generation and then they actually generated ideas a second time. This research found that people consistently underestimated how many ideas they would generate during the second round [6]. That is, they underestimated the value of persisting. Building on this finding, other research investigated people’s beliefs about how creativity changes over time. People were asked to predict the trajectory of their creativity across an ideation session and then to actually complete the session. These studies found that whereas creativity actually increased or stayed the same across the session, people consistently predicted their creativity would decline [7]. Finally, problem solving research has found that people overestimate how quickly they exhaust a problem’s solution space (i.e., the set of reasonable solutions to a problem). In one study, people estimated that they generated 75% of the solution space when in fact their ideas covered only 20–30% [8].

Other research more directly compares beliefs about insight and persistence. For instance, people believe creative ideas are more likely to be produced by cognitive processes related to insight (e.g., cognitive flexibility) than processes related to persistence (e.g., deliberate, persistent thinking) [9]. One study found that people believe creativity is stimulated more by defocusing (i.e., not working on the problem) than by focusing (i.e., deliberately working) on the task. However, when asked to recall and describe a recent idea generation experience, they reported the opposite: their idea was more often preceded by focusing than defocusing [9]. The preference for insight resonates with research on beliefs about the origins of talent. This research finds that people favor entrepreneurs whose ideas stem from innate talents (e.g., from traits related to genius and insight) over entrepreneurs whose ideas result from effort and hard work. In one study, people even preferred an innately talented entrepreneur with fewer achievements over a hard-working entrepreneur with more achievements [10].

The studies summarized above provide evidence that people undervalue persistence and overvalue insight. Understanding these (faulty) beliefs is important because they influence how people choose to engage in creative work. For instance, undervaluing persistence and believing one’s best ideas come early leads people to disengage from creative work more quickly, which limits creativity [6,7]. Valuing insight leads people to expect more creativity when in the bathtub than at one’s workstation [9] and to discount the value of others whose accomplishments draw on persistence rather than innate genius [10].

What causes the insight bias? One explanation relates to the subjective experience of idea generation itself. Specifically, the feeling of effortfulness experienced while generating ideas (also called metacognitive fluency) [11]. Generating ideas via insight feels less effortful and less mentally exhausting than generating ideas via persistence. This more pleasant experience of insight, versus persistence, leads people to think and feel more positively about insight [6,11]. For example, the research where people underestimated how many ideas they would generate while persisting [6] found that the feeling of effortfulness experienced during initial idea generation accounted for the discrepancy between predictions and performance. Similarly, people’s belief that creativity declines across an ideation session [7] was explained by people’s pessimism about the difficulty of producing ideas over time. Future research should continue to test this and other mechanisms.

374 districts in the UK: Geographic regions with higher aggregate scores on given personality trait collectively spend more money on categories associated with trait (extravert-drinking, agreeable-charity, conscientious-savings; open-transport)

Ebert, T., Götz, F. M., Gladstone, J. J., Müller, S. R., & Matz, S. C. (2021). Spending reflects not only who we are but also who we are around: The joint effects of individual and geographic personality on consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(2), 378–393. Oct 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000344

Abstract: Interactionist theories are considered to have resolved the classic person-situation debate by demonstrating that human behavior is most accurately described as a function of both personal characteristics as well as environmental cues. According to these theories, personality traits form part of the personal characteristics that drive behavior. We suggest that psychological theory stands to gain from also considering personality traits as an important environmental characteristic that shapes sociocultural norms and institutions, and, in turn, behavior. Building on research in geographical psychology, we support this proposition by presenting evidence on the relationship of individual and regional personality with spending behavior. Analyzing the spending records of 111,336 participants (31,915,942 unique transactions) across 374 Local Authority Districts (LAD) in the United Kingdom, we first show that geographic regions with higher aggregate scores on a given personality trait collectively spend more money on categories associated with that trait. Shifting the focus to individual level spending as our behavioral outcome (N = 1,716), we further demonstrate that regional personality of a participant’s home LAD predicts individual spending above and beyond individual personality. That is, a person’s spending reflects both their own personality traits as well as the personality traits of the people around them. We use conditional random forest predictions to highlight the robustness of these findings in the presence of a comprehensive set of individual and regional control variables. Taken together, our findings empirically support the proposition that spending behaviors reflect personality traits as both personal and environmental characteristics. 

The parent–daughter relationship, laden with the Confucian value of filial piety, is the major pathway of minority stigma to force Chinese women with same-sex attraction into heterosexual marriage & make female SSA culturally unintelligible

Cultural Unintelligibility and Marital Pressure: A Grounded Theory of Minority Stigma Against Women with Same-Sex Attraction in Mainland China. Tao H. Wei, Lori L. Jervis, Yun Jiang, Kerstin M. Reinschmidt, Lancer D. Stephens, Ying Zhang & Thomas A. Teasdale. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Oct 12 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-021-02050-4

Abstract: Minority stigma against sexual minority women and its contributions to these women’s health disparities have been widely investigated in Western countries. By contrast, little has been known about minority stigma against women with same-sex attraction (WSSA) in mainland China. This study aimed at exploring the nature, genesis, and pathways of minority stigma among this rarely studied minority group in terms of China’s unique social and cultural organization of gender and sexuality. A grounded theory approach was applied to 28 participants of Chinese WSSA through in-depth telephone interviews to elicit their views and perspectives anchored in their daily experiences with gender hierarchy and normative heterosexuality. Findings of this study identified marital pressure and cultural unintelligibility as two principal components of minority stigma against Chinese WSSA. A conceptual framework was developed to illustrate how minority stigma relies on the mutually reinforcing loop of martial pressure and culturally unintelligible status of female same-sex attraction to oppress Chinese WSSA within and across intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels. The parent–daughter relationship, laden with the Confucian value of filial piety, was highlighted as the major pathway of minority stigma to force Chinese women with same-sex attraction into heterosexual marriage and make female same-sex attraction culturally unintelligible. These findings lay a foundation for conceptualizing and measuring minority stigma of Chinese WSSA caused by the stigmatization of their same-sex attraction. Moreover, these findings would contribute greatly to understanding how cultural particularities critically affect the local process of stigmatization through which power relations and social control are practiced.

Tendency to laugh negatively predicts conversation enjoyment

Wood, Adrienne, Emma Templeton, Jessica M. Morrel, Frederick T. Schubert, and Thalia Wheatley. 2021. “Tendency to Laugh Is a Stable Trait: Findings from a Round-robin Conversation Study.” PsyArXiv. October 15. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gk9z2

Abstract: Is the tendency to laugh a stable trait? What does the amount of laughter tell us about the personality and state of the producer, and how does their laughter influence the people around them? To answer these questions, we used a round-robin design where participants (N=66) engaged in 10 different conversations with 10 same-gender strangers. This design allowed us to determine state- and trait-level differences in how much people laugh and to isolate different sources of variability in the amount of laughter per conversation. More than half of the variability in the amount a person laughs is attributable to individual differences. This tendency to laugh negatively predicts conversation enjoyment. A smaller amount of variability in the amount people laugh is due to qualities of their conversation partners. Partners who tend to elicit others’ laughter are perceived as more relatable. We examined the personality correlates of laughter and found that less intellectual and less empathically-concerned participants (i.e., nonserious participants) produced and elicited more laughter. In summary, how much a person laughs is not a straightforward function of enjoyment. Instead, it is a behavioral trait associated with being perceived as relatable, supporting laughters’ proposed function of conveying harmless, nonserious intentions.

The New Genetic Evidence on Same-Gender Sexuality: Implications for Sexual Fluidity and Multiple Forms of Sexual Diversity

The New Genetic Evidence on Same-Gender Sexuality: Implications for Sexual Fluidity and Multiple Forms of Sexual Diversity. Lisa M. Diamond. The Journal of Sex Research, Volume 58, 2021 - Issue 7, Feb 23 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1879721

Abstract: In September of 2019, the largest-ever (N = 477,522) genome-wide-association study of same-gender sexuality was published in Science. The primary finding was that multiple genes are significantly associated with ever engaging in same-gender sexual behavior, accounting for between 8–25% of variance in this outcome. Yet an additional finding of this study, which received less attention, has more potential to transform our current understanding of same-gender sexuality: Specifically, the genes associated with ever engaging in same-gender sexual behavior differed from the genes associated with one’s relative proportion of same-gender to other-gender behavior. I review recent research on sexual orientation and sexual fluidity to illustrate how these findings speak to longstanding questions regarding distinctions among subtypes of same-gender sexuality (such as mostly-heterosexuality, bisexuality, and exclusive same-gender experience). I conclude by outlining directions for future research on the multiple causes and correlates of same-gender expression.

Do We Have the Right Categories?

Another avenue for future research involves investigating the degree to which observations of subtypes of same-gender expression and their differing genetic/environmental influences depends on our conceptual framings of gender and sexual orientation. Historically, laypeople and scientists have conceptualized individuals as oriented toward the same gender or the other gender (or both genders), as opposed to being oriented toward women or men (or both). This framing directly affects the type of gender differences we observe. Consider, for example, one of the most robust gender differences in same-gender sexuality: the fact that women show more genital arousal than do men when presented with sexual stimuli depicting their “less-preferred” gender (Chivers & Bailey, 2005; Chivers et al., 2004, 2007). Early work suggested that this “nonspecific” pattern of genital arousal (i.e., arousal that is not specific to one’s preferred gender) characterized all women, but later work showed that nonspecific genital arousal was most pronounced among self-described heterosexual women (reviewed in Chivers, 2017), and scholars have considered a range of social and evolutionary reasons for heterosexual women’s uniqueness in this regard (Chivers, 2017; Diamond, 2017; Kuhle & Radke, 2013).

Yet the definition of heterosexual women as “unique” depends on the classification of sexual stimuli as preferred or non-preferred, according to participants’ self-described patterns of attraction. Within this framework, heterosexual women are unique because they show stronger genital arousal to their non-preferred gender (i.e., women) than do all other groups. But what if we re-classified the sexual stimuli as simply “men” versus “women?” Using this re-classification, exclusively gay men are suddenly the outlier group (Diamond, 2017). Whereas heterosexual women, lesbian women, bisexual women, heterosexual men, and bisexual men all show some degree of genital arousal to sexual stimuli depicting women, gay men do not.

Hence, should we describe heterosexual women’s genital arousal patterns as uniquely “fluid” or gay men’s genital arousal patterns as uniquely “rigid?” How much do these patterns depend on the mechanisms underlying genital versus subjective arousal, given that these mechanisms are distinct (Chivers, 2017), and that concordance between genital and subjective arousal differs for men versus women (Suschinsky et al., 2009)? Furthermore, what is the role of aversion to same-gender versus other-gender stimuli and/or partners (or male versus female stimuli/partners) in shaping subtypes of sexual diversity (see Dehlin et al., 2019; Freund, Langevin, Chamberlayne et al., 1974; Freund, Langevin, Zajac et al., 1974; Jabbour et al., 2020; Safron et al., 2007; Semon et al., 2017)? As reviewed earlier, the Kinsey-type “single continuum” model of sexual orientation (challenged by Ganna et al. 2019) posits exclusive same-gender attractions and exclusive other-gender attractions as polar opposites, but perhaps the true opposite of exclusive same-gender attraction is same-gender aversion or indifference. Models which account for aversion and/or indifference are better suited to including the experiences of asexual individuals (Bogaert et al., 2018; Brotto & Yule, 2017) and those who experience their own attractions as “gender neutral” (Diamond, 2008). Further integration of these nuances into genetically-informed research would make a strong contribution to understanding the nature and development of different forms of sexual diversity.

On this point, it bears noting that a growing body of sexuality researchers now refer to sexual orientations as gynephilic (preferring women), androphilic (preferring men) and biphilic (preferring both genders) rather than “same-gender” and “other-gender” (for example, Antfolk et al., 2017; Chivers, 2017; Huberman & Chivers, 2015; Huberman et al., 2015; Petterson et al., 2018; Semenyna et al., 2017; Skorska & Bogaert, 2020; Snowden et al., 2020; Timmers et al., 2018; Vásquez-Amézquita et al., 2019). There is an intuitive appeal to this approach, given that most individuals describe themselves as desiring aspects of “women” and “men” rather than “sameness” and “otherness.” This approach is also better suited to describing the experiences of transgender and nonbinary individuals, since it focuses on the gender expression of sexual partners without making presumptions about one’s own or one’s partners’ birth-assigned sex/gender. Yet the “same-gender/other-gender” framework represented by the Kinsey scale continues to dominate social scientific research on this topic, perhaps reflecting the cultural dominance of this model of sexual orientation in Western culture (which necessarily feeds back to influence how sexually-diverse individuals come to perceive, understand, and experience their own patterns of eroticism). Certainly, the same-gender/other-gender framing is useful for capturing the fact that heterosexuality is culturally valued and expected, whereas same-gender sexuality is stigmatized and marginalized. The experience of stigma and marginalization is so relevant to the life experiences of individuals with same-gender attractions (and to the likelihood that they will express these attractions) that it seems naive to categorize attractions as “woman-oriented” or “man-oriented” without taking account of which type of attractions are socially permitted versus punished. Yet as we move forward in trying to understand genetic influences on sexuality, we should remain mindful of the extent to which our framing of core constructs (such as same/other versus woman/man) shapes our observations and interpretations.

Questions of Mechanism

Future research on sexual orientation, sexual fluidity, and their genetic/environmental underpinnings may also benefit from closer attention to the full range of conscious and nonconscious processes through which different types of sexual stimuli are attended to, neurologically processed, and responded to (Dickenson et al., 2020; Safron et al., 2007; Safron & Hoffmann, 2017). Such process-oriented work is exemplified by Chivers’s (2017) nuanced and sweeping analysis of the potential contribution of visual attention, implicit and explicit processing, and incentive motivation to heterosexual women’s “nonspecific” patterns of genital arousal. Given that environments fluctuate over the lifespan, whereas genes remain fixed (setting aside for now the complications of epigenetics, Charney, 2012; Ngun & Vilain, 2014; Rice et al., 2012; Richardson & Stevens, 2015), the mechanisms underlying change in sexual experience and expression warrant particularly close study. As reviewed above, sexual fluidity has been defined as a heightened sensitivity to situational change in sexual responsiveness (Diamond, 2008), but this definition leaves unspecified the process through which sexual responsiveness changes at all. There is a growing body of rigorous research on the role of learning and conditioning in human sexual response (Hoffmann, 2012, 2017; Hoffmann, Janssen, & Turner; Klucken et al., 2009), and this work should be more comprehensively integrated into investigations of genetic and environmental influences on same-gender expression.

Of course, the notion of learned or conditioned sexual responses may bring to mind the unfortunate history of behavior-modification approaches to “extinguishing” undesirable sexual impulses (Hoffmann, 2017), which has had particularly harmful effects on sexually-diverse individuals who have been subjected to “conversion” and “reparative” therapies (APA Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation, 2009). Perhaps because of this history, sexual orientation is commonly (if inaccurately) described as fundamentally immutable (Diamond & Rosky, 2016). Yet from a basic developmental perspective, the role of learning and exposure in human and nonhuman sexual development is well established (reviewed in Hoffmann, 2012, 2017). As Hoffman summarized, conditioning is quite simply “a process by which organisms, including humans, learn about the relationship between events. Through conditioning, we can learn to predict events, we can learn signals for biologically significant stimuli, we can learn the value of stimuli, and we can learn the consequences of our actions. Hence, sexual conditioning can prepare us to respond sexually and can contribute to our erotic preferences and to how we behave sexually” (Hoffmann, 2017, p. 2213).

Positing a role for learning and experience in the expression of same-gender sexuality does not invalidate the notion of genetically influenced sexual predispositions. Rather, drawing from Freund and Blanchard (1993), we might think of genetic influences as differential sensitivities to certain classes of reproductively-relevant stimuli (in this case, “man/woman” may prove a more relevant classification scheme than “other-gender/same-gender”), and our experiences interact with and elaborate these sensitivities to produce consistent – albeit not rigidly static – patterns of desire. Notably, learning and conditioning played an important role in Kinsey’s understanding of same-gender sexuality. As reviewed by Cass (1990), he viewed all forms of sexual preferences as learned. Cass suggested instead (similar to Freund and Blanchard) that individuals possess intrinsic sexual interests, but that these interests could be strengthened by repeated, satisfying same-gender experiences, as well as the process of attaching psychological significance to these experiences (in the form of gay/lesbian/bisexual identification and social validation). Cass posited that such strengthening effects should be more influential for those whose preferences were less “regular, stable, and fixed” to begin with (1990, p. 252), and she speculated that both women and bisexuals were more likely to belong to the latter group.

These thirty-year-old speculations demonstrate that scientific debates about subtypes of same-gender sexuality (bisexual versus exclusive, man-oriented versus woman-oriented, fixed versus fluid) have been longstanding interests within sexuality research (for an even broader historical and cultural view, see Murray, 2000). Ganna et al’s (2019) data do not definitively resolve these questions, but they point toward productive avenues for future study, in addition to suggesting new questions that we had not yet thought to consider.

More frequent and more extreme upward comparisons resulted in immediate declines in self-evaluations & cumulative negative effects on individuals’ state self-esteem, mood, & life satisfaction after a social media browsing session

Midgley, C., Thai, S., Lockwood, P., Kovacheff, C., & Page-Gould, E. (2021). When every day is a high school reunion: Social media comparisons and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(2), 285–307. Oct 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000336

Abstract: Although past research has shown that social comparisons made through social media contribute to negative outcomes, little is known about the nature of these comparisons (domains, direction, and extremity), variables that determine comparison outcomes (post valence, perceiver’s self-esteem), and how these comparisons differ from those made in other contexts (e.g., text messages, face-to-face interactions). In 4 studies (N = 798), we provide the first comprehensive analysis of how individuals make and respond to social comparisons on social media, using comparisons made in real-time while browsing news feeds (Study 1), experimenter-generated comparisons (Study 2), and comparisons made on social media versus in other contexts (Studies 3 and 4). More frequent and more extreme upward comparisons resulted in immediate declines in self-evaluations as well as cumulative negative effects on individuals’ state self-esteem, mood, and life satisfaction after a social media browsing session. Moreover, downward and lateral comparisons occurred less frequently and did little to mitigate upward comparisons’ negative effects. Furthermore, low self-esteem individuals were particularly vulnerable to making more frequent and more extreme upward comparisons on social media, which in turn threatened their already-lower self-evaluations. Finally, social media comparisons resulted in greater declines in self-evaluations than those made in other contexts. Together, these studies provide the first insights into the cumulative impact of multiple comparisons, clarify the role of self-esteem in online comparison processes, and demonstrate how the characteristics and impact of comparisons on social media differ from those made in other contexts.

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.