How to prevent and combat employee burnout and create healthier workplaces during crises and beyond

How to prevent and combat employee burnout and create healthier workplaces during crises and beyond. Kelly P. Gabriel, Herman Aguinis. Business Horizons, February 4 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.02.037

Abstract: Burnout results from chronic work-related stress. People who are burned out are emotionally drained and feel negative and detached from work, which leads to decreased performance, inhibited creativity and innovation, workplace accidents, absenteeism, and physical and mental illnesses. Burnout is widespread, pernicious, and costly to human life, firm profits, and society—especially during a global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic but also during a broader set of pan-global crises yet to come. Fostering healthier workplaces is a necessity at any time, but particularly during a crisis that has intensified job demands and drained job resources. Based on a review of the evidence, we provide five recommendations and implementation guidelines that can help organizations prevent and combat burnout: (1) provide stress management interventions, (2) allow employees to be active crafters of their work, (3) cultivate and encourage social support, (4) engage employees in decision-making, and (5) implement high-quality performance management. Overall, our evidence-based recommendations, together with the implementation guidelines we provide, will help business leaders promote and create sustainable wellness at work during crises and beyond.

Keywords: BurnoutEngagementJob demandsJob resourcesHuman resource management

3. Evidence-based recommendations to prevent and combat employee burnout

3.1. Provide stress management interventions

Because burnout results from chronic work-related stress, a seemingly obvious solution would be to implement some type of stress management intervention. Although developing distress tolerance skills can be helpful for all people, managers need to be intentional with the implementation of this recommendation because stress management interventions cannot necessarily change the primary cause of burnout (i.e., high job demands and low job resources). Employees cannot meditate away poor work conditions, precarious unemployment, and widespread global death like in the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress management interventions can cause negative unintended consequences when implemented alone because employees feel they are being blamed for organization-level causes of their burnout and are in an untrusting environment (LaMontagne et al., 2007). However, there is evidence that stress management interventions can help employees adapt to stressful situations, mitigate emotional exhaustion, and develop distress tolerance skills in their work and home lives (Tetrick & Winslow, 2015). We recommend two types of stress management interventions: cognitive-behavioral training and mindfulness meditation groups.

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In cognitive-behavioral training, employees learn how to change their thoughts and develop active coping skills. If large groups of employees lack important personal resources, organizations may decide to arrange this type of training. Cognitive-behavioral training is effective in improving employees’ perceived quality of work and reducing work complaints (Richardson & Rothstein, 2008). It can also help employees develop personal resources they can utilize in their daily work routines and acquire new competencies (Luthans et al., 2006). Through developing distress tolerance skills, employees can better handle job demands, and through cognitive-behavioral interventions, they can learn to reframe how they think about their work, job demands, and resources.

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Mindfulness meditation groups do not seek to change cognitions like cognitive-behavioral training, but mindfulness helps individuals adapt to stressful events and reduce tension (Tetrick & Winslow, 2015). This type of training can be especially useful in times of crisis as an on-the-spot intervention in workplace situations (Hafenbrack, 2017). Further, workplace-based mindfulness meditation programs improve physiological indicators of stress (Heckenberg et al., 2018) such as decreased cortisol. Overall, interventions targeted at changing one’s mental headspace can be beneficial for combating burnout and dealing with the consequences of stress.

3.2. Allow employees to be active crafters of their work

Employees often engage in job crafting—proactive behaviors to improve their job’s actual or perceived characteristics—to combat burnout (Bruning & Campion, 2019). Managers can encourage employees to alter tasks and interactions that might be particularly emotionally exhausting, implement new ways to do their work to increase self-efficacy, and exert agency over their jobs in other ways to decrease feelings of cynicism (Rudolph et al., 2017).

Employees can craft their jobs in a diversity of ways. For example, they can alter the number of tasks they have, the content of their tasks, or the frequency or intensity of contact with colleagues or customers (Tims et al., 2012). Employees engage in these behaviors to better align their jobs with their needs and abilities; when employees are allowed to engage in these behaviors, they are not only able to better complete their work, but they are also more motivated and engaged (Lu et al., 2014; Rudolph et al., 2017).

Although job crafting seems like the sole responsibility of the employee, managers should facilitate and encourage this behavior (Berg et al., 2010) by allowing employees autonomy and flexibility to negotiate job content. Job autonomy is an important resource that makes employees feel trusted, valuable, and in control (Demerouti et al., 2001). When employees feel responsible for their own work and its success or failure, they can better identify with their work rather than feel like they are a mere cog in the wheel. We recommend the following behaviors to promote job crafting:

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Managers should allow employees to choose tasks that play to their strengths but are also challenging when negotiating job content. According to goal-setting theory, the best goals are ones that are challenging but achievable (Locke & Latham, 2020). Giving employees more control and flexibility over tasks that are tailored to their individual strengths and stretch their capacity can increase motivation along with feelings of control (Hätinen et al., 2007).

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Managers can also encourage and provide skill and task variety to enhance employee motivation and self-efficacy (Oldham & Fried, 2016). According to job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1976), a job has skill variety when it requires employees to develop and deploy a variety of skills, and it has task variety when employees need to engage in a variety of different tasks. When employees have skill and task variety, they feel more engaged and like they are using their abilities rather than feel like their work is monotonous and routine. Further, with more skills in their toolbox, employees can better respond to and manage work demands (Zaniboni et al., 2013).

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Finally, managers can provide development opportunities. When managers can expand or alter employees’ work in a way that does not add stress but instead provides opportunities to enhance skills and projects or tasks tailored to their professional development, employees can become more motivated, enthusiastic, and can find meaningfulness in their work (Harju et al., 2016). Through job crafting, employees are motivated to engage in professional development (Bruning & Campion, 2019), and managers can facilitate this by working with employees to find what developmental opportunities are conducive to achieving individual and organizational goals.

3.3. Cultivate and encourage social support

Social support is a powerful job resource that provides aid and comfort to others, typically to help them cope with physical, psychological, or social stressors. Social support can arise from many sources, such as family, friends, coworkers, and managers (Halbesleben, 2006), and it can take many forms, such as giving advice, listening, providing material assistance, or generally making a person feel valued and understood. As social creatures, employees always need social support. But in a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, where social distancing rendered people unable to spend time with loved ones to whom they might normally turn and where employees experienced strong emotions including fear, grief, isolation, and uncertainty, social support was even more critical. The following guidelines will help to cultivate and encourage social support in a workgroup:

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Managers should foster genuine and high-quality relationships with employees. In fostering these relationships, managers need to be empathetic, use perspective-taking to understand others’ points of view and create an environment of trust. Much research has shown that supervisor support is an important job resource (Schaufeli et al., 2009). Employees may receive supervisor support in the following ways: leaders may communicate the value of their employees, help employees develop new ways to achieve goals, and show concern for employee well-being (Pluut et al., 2018). Particularly in high-demand job conditions (e.g., emotionally draining work like that of a homeless shelter employee or emergency room worker), having a high-quality relationship with one’s supervisor can help to adjust an employee’s workload and provide job resources (Bakker et al., 2014).

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Managers should provide opportunities for coworkers to converse or reflect on their work. Individual burnout is related to team-level burnout (Bakker et al., 2006). If one employee is burned out, teammates are likely to be similarly burned out. At the same time, these employees are feeling isolated and likely not talking about their experiences due to their emotional exhaustion and the potential stigma. Workers in especially emotionally draining jobs such as crisis management or healthcare can benefit from venting about their upsetting or draining experiences, sharing ways they cope, and providing support.

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However, managers should reduce stressful and unnecessary social interactions. Cultivating social support is that managers must understand that this is not the same as social interaction, which, even with the intention of being helpful, can ironically add more stress. Forcing employees to get together too often can add yet another job demand. Employees in the 21st-century workplace, full of endless meetings and expectations of 24/7 availability, are already overloaded with communication. In a crisis like COVID-19 in which almost all forms of communication and gathering must be virtual, employees already suffer from Zoom fatigue. Managers can establish norms to make clear that everyone’s time and energy are precious resources (Rogelberg et al., 2006). For example, they can treat meetings as only happening when completely necessary and avoid collaboration for collaboration’s sake. Overall, managers need to maximize social support while minimizing unnecessary stressful social interactions.

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Managers can combat burnout by recognizing the importance of the nonwork realm. They should encourage social support from nonwork family, friends, and community. In the nonwork realm, social support from family and friends can act as a resource to mitigate the emotional exhaustion aspects of burnout (Tetrick & Winslow, 2015). For example, managers can use nonmonetary rewards to facilitate nonwork-related social support. These nonmonetary rewards can be work/life rewards such as adjusted hours, a more flexible work schedule, more vacation time, or other goods or services that might satisfy an employee and their family’s needs. Crises often reveal the importance of close relationships, so managers should encourage and respect the importance of this type of social support especially in times of crisis.

3.4. Engage employees in decision-making

The fourth recommendation is to engage employees in decision-making, which can take many forms. When considering the types of decisions in which employees can participate, managers should consider where employees’ input will be most valuable—the input should be well-informed and should lead to effects employees can experience (Christina et al., 2017). Asking for employee input and advice and then not following through is worse—and especially for burnout—than never having asked for it in the first place. Further, involving employees in decisions that do not affect them or that they do not care about can create unnecessary meetings that can further burden employees, exacerbating burnout symptoms (Cross et al., 2018). These guidelines will help promote employee engagement in decision-making:

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Managers should learn what resources employees need to perform to the best of their abilities. If employees are overloaded with job demands and not provided the necessary resources, they will not only suffer decreased performance but will also become frustrated and disengaged (Demerouti et al., 2001). Reaching out to employees to learn this information is a win-win situation. When managers seek to understand what employees need, employees can provide crucial input as to what job demands are causing overwhelming strain and frustration or what job resources are lacking (Christina et al., 2017).

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Managers should communicate transparently how decisions are made. When employees are treated as valuable partners and understand how decisions such as workload distribution and pay are made, they feel increased commitment, feel the organization is more just and fair, and are ultimately less likely to burn out (Moliner et al., 2005). This recommendation is especially important in an evolving crisis. In the COVID-19 pandemic, information and news on the virus, lockdowns, and other stressful matters changed on an ongoing basis. As a result, employees experienced heightened uncertainty and fear about their health and livelihoods. Thus, it is important to keep channels of communication open about how the crisis affects the company, their work, and their employment.

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Managers should provide outlets for employee voice when decisions are made. In this dynamic, communication is a two-way street. There are many documented positive outcomes of employees expressing ideas, suggestions, concerns, and opinions about organizational decisions, such as organizational effectiveness and decision-quality improvement (Bashshur & Oc, 2015). However, employees often fear backlash for voicing their opinion and staying silent about these ideas, suggestions, concerns, or opinions has been associated with burnout (Sherf et al., 2021). Therefore, managers should encourage voice behavior and make employees feel comfortable doing so. Feeling that decisions are made behind closed doors and with no chance of change can increase feelings of cynicism and the belief that one cannot be effective at work. Although not every decision can be made as a group, employees should be given a voice, especially in designing and implementing systems that directly affect them. This is not only just and fair, but it also makes sense given the people doing the job have intimate knowledge about their work and how it should best be done and evaluated.

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Finally, managers should involve employees in strategic decision-making. Strategy is usually created solely by top managers, but it is employees who carry out the strategy in their everyday work. This recommendation is particularly useful for crises because organizations face ongoing challenges, and employees are often an untapped source of knowledge for strategic decision-making. For example, many companies responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with corporate social responsibility initiatives but have not engaged employees in creating these strategies. This has not only created unnecessary stress and frustration for employees already at a high risk of burnout, but it also has led to unsuccessful initiatives (Aguinis et al., 2020). Involving employees in the decision-making process not only empowers employees to contribute to the success of the organization and feel meaning in their work but also saves the company time and money in increased productivity, reduced outsourcing, and, ultimately, better strategic decisions.

3.5. Implement high-quality performance management

Many managers and employees perceive performance appraisals (i.e., reviewing employee strengths and weaknesses usually once per year) as not only a bureaucratic waste of resources and time but also as awkward and stressful encounters that add little value (Aguinis & Burgi-Tian, 2021). In contrast to performance appraisals, performance management is “a continuous process of identifying, measuring, and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning performance with the strategic goals of the organization” (Aguinis, 2019, p. 8). Unlike a performance appraisal, implementing high-quality performance management can be effective in preventing and combating burnout, and the following guidelines can help:

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Managers should provide strengths-based feedback that is timely, frequent, specific, verifiable, consistent, and consequential. Unlike the weakness-focused approach of a typical performance appraisal, managers that deliver strengths-based feedback highlight employees’ strengths in job performance, knowledge, skills, and talents. Managers should provide positive feedback on behaviors that reflect employees’ strengths that they can extend to other contexts and situations (Aguinis, 2019). Good quality feedback is considered a job resource: When employees receive clear, actionable information about their work performance, they have better knowledge of the grander effect of their activities, have a better idea of what they need to do to improve their productivity, and feel motivated to further leverage their strengths. This job resource is even more valuable in a crisis because employees feel forgotten and uncertain about their current and future place in the organization.

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Managers should set developmental objectives and involve employees in the goal-setting process. When employees have a developmental plan, they feel more committed to their goals (Locke & Latham, 2020). Also, when both managers and employees are held accountable for seeing through these plans, employees feel supported socially and tangibly and are ultimately less likely to burn out. Involving employees in the goal-setting process benefits both the employee and the organization. The employee feels they can tangibly impact the type of work they do, choose the type of career they want for themselves, and remove obstacles to their most effective performance. The organization benefits because it cultivates a long-term, high-performing, and happy employee who will be motivated and proactive about goal attainment.

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Managers can connect performance management to financial and nonfinancial rewards as a way to target burnout. Performance management encourages timely rewards through ongoing and regular evaluations, feedback, and developmental opportunities (Aguinis et al., 2013). Through the use of rewards, employees feel engaged and motivated and also that they are being treated justly and fairly. Nonmonetary rewards can be especially important for dealing with burnout because monetary rewards alone cannot decrease the stressful characteristics of one’s job. For example, employees could be rewarded with developmental training. A more flexible work schedule could be an extremely valuable nonmonetary reward in a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic where employees were forced to work while also caring for or even teaching their school-aged children at home. Managers and employees can also negotiate idiosyncratic deals – customized work arrangements. Distinct from job crafting, as described earlier, these formal negotiations can provide valuable career opportunities and additional work-life benefits (Liao et al., 2016).

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Finally, managers should implement fair and equitable performance management. Although managers should strive for fairness because it is the right thing to do, they should also do it for the pragmatic reason that unfairness perceptions are tied to burnout (Moliner et al., 2005). Performance management systems should entail two-way communication, not a top-down, supervisor-employee relationship with no employee input. Finally, to increase fairness and justice, performance management systems should be correctable. If employees feel they have no recourse if a mistake or an unjust decision is made, they will be more likely to disengage from work and burn out (Aguinis, 2019).

Earlier research finds social comparison and envy to be common on social media and linked to lower well-being; newer studies contradict this conclusion, finding positive links to well-being as well as heterogeneous, person-specific, effects

Meier, Adrian, and Benjamin K. Johnson. 2021. “Social Comparison and Envy on Social Media: A Critical Review.” PsyArXiv. November 15. doi:10.31234/osf.io/93ftm

Abstract: Popular concern and much research assumes that (passive) social media use decreases well-being by providing a fertile ground for harmful (upward) social comparison and envy. The present review critically summarizes empirical evidence on this assumption. We first comprehensively synthesize existing studies, with a focus on the most recent publications (2019 to 2021). Results show that earlier research finds social comparison and envy to be common on social media and linked to lower well-being. Yet, increasingly, newer studies contradict this conclusion, finding positive links to well-being as well as heterogeneous, person-specific, conditional, and reverse or reciprocal effects. The review further identifies four critical conceptual and methodological limitations of existing studies, which offer new impulses for future research.

Older adults in four European countries: Associated factors and prevalence of masturbation

Prevalence of Masturbation and Associated Factors Among Older Adults in Four European Countries. Nantje Fischer, Cynthia A. Graham, Bente Træen & Gert Martin Hald. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Nov 9 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-021-02071-z

Abstract: Solitary sexual activity is a free, safe, and accessible way to experience sexual pleasure. Despite these advantages, research on masturbation in later life is highly understudied. Using data from a cross-sectional probability-based survey of 3816 European adults (mean age 67 years; range 60–75 years), we explored several sociodemographic, health, attitudinal, and sexual behavioral factors associated with reported masturbation frequency. Across all countries, between 41% and 65% of men and 27% and 40% of women reported any masturbation in the preceding month. Satisfaction with sexual activity and attitudes related to disapproval of sex without love were significant predictors of reported masturbation in almost all countries and in both genders. Age, education, self-perceived health, and depression were for the most part predictive of men’s reported masturbation, but not women’s. Generally, those believing sex is beneficial to older people were more likely to masturbate, while less permissive attitudes decreased the likelihood of reporting masturbation. To improve healthy sexual aging, misinformation about masturbation and sexual attitudes in older people need to be addressed.

Discussion

In this European four-country study, we assessed several sociodemographic, health, attitudinal, and sexual behavioral factors associated with reported masturbation frequency among men and women aged 60–75 years. Despite marked cross-cultural and gender differences in masturbation frequency, predictors of masturbation were in most instances more similar than different across the four countries. Satisfaction with the level of sexual activity was a significant negative predictor of masturbation in Norwegian, Danish, and Belgian men and women, and Portuguese men. Another important predictor of frequent masturbation was sexual attitudes. Specifically, attitudes reflecting the idea that sex is legitimized by love were associated with masturbation in Norwegian, Danish, and Belgian men, and Norwegian and Portuguese women. While age, education, self-perceived health, and depression were significantly related to men’s reported masturbation, few sociodemographic and health factors were associated with masturbation activity among women.

Satisfaction with sexual activity was significantly related to masturbation in almost all countries. Men and women in Norway, Denmark, and Belgium, and men in Portugal were less likely to report frequent masturbation if they were satisfied with their level of sexual activity. The central role of sexual contentment in predicting solitary sexual activity may reflect older adults’ tendency to view masturbation as a second-best alternative that is only needed if one desires more sex or partnered sex is not satisfying. Although this finding supports the idea that masturbation functions as a substitute among contemporary older populations, it is possible that this will not be the case for the coming generations. Findings from Finland and Germany indicate cultural changes in the meaning of masturbation, with younger generations increasingly considering it as an independent source of experiencing sexual pleasure (Dekker & Schmidt, 2003; Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2003).

Similar to previous findings, the association between intercourse and masturbation frequency was not unequivocal (Regnerus et al., 2017; Rowland et al., 2020). As with Gerressu et al. (2008), we found a gender-specific pattern where, among Norwegian and Belgian women, more frequent intercourse increased the likelihood of frequent masturbation (reflecting the complementary model), while the opposite relationship was found among Danish men (in line with the compensatory model). In contrast to this pattern was the finding in Portuguese men, where more intercourse activity was related to higher levels of masturbation. Although this finding may represent a difference in sexual culture in southern Europe, it is more likely that it reflects a sample selection bias, given a less reliable sampling method, a high refusal rate, and a much lower response rate for the Portuguese sample than for the samples in Norway, Denmark, and Belgium.

Another key finding points to the important role of sexual attitudes in predicting sexual behavior in aging men and women. Sexual attitudes mirror prevailing sociocultural norms and the attached meaning of sexual behavior within a cultural context (Masters et al., 2013). We investigated several sexual attitudes as possible predictors of masturbation and found that attitudes reflecting the idea that sex is legitimized by love were negatively associated with masturbation in Norwegian, Danish, and Belgian men, and in Norwegian and Portuguese women. This finding may reflect the prevailing heterosexual sexual script, where sexual behavior is legitimized by romantic love (also termed the “love ideology”) (Francoeur & Noonan, 2004; Gagnon & Simon, 2005; Træen & Lewin, 2008). According to this script, “good” sexuality is contextualized within intimate relationships, where partnered sex symbolizes mutual love and commitment (Fileborn et al., 2017; Gagnon & Simon, 2005; Hinchliff & Gott, 2004; Træen & Lewin, 2008). Within this love script, there exists little space for sexual self-pleasuring (Hogarth & Ingham, 2009). Disapproval of sex without love among older adults seems to reflect this traditional script and the idea that partnered sex is superior to masturbation. Hence, masturbation signifies something suboptimal and unnecessary, especially if one has access to the “real deal” (Træen et al., 2019). Moreover, practicing sexual self-pleasuring in a relationship might be associated with the fear that the partner may misconstrue the behavior as a sign of personal undesirability and sexual incompetence (Onar et al., 2020). Attitudes reflecting the notion that sexuality decreases with older age and that society has become too sexualized were also negatively related to masturbation frequency, but only in men from Norway and Denmark. In contrast to these less permissive attitudes, Danish and Belgian men and women who believed that sexual activity is beneficial for older people were more likely to report frequent masturbation than those who did not endorse these attitudes. This finding is consistent with previous research showing a positive link between more liberal attitudes/values and reported masturbation (Das et al., 2009; Gerressu et al., 2008).

Overall, more sociodemographic factors were predictive of men’s masturbation than women’s. As found by others (Corona et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2016; Lindau et al., 2007; Mercer et al., 2013; Palacios-Ceña et al., 2012; Richters et al., 2014; Schick et al., 2010), older age was negatively associated with masturbation in Norwegian, Danish, and Belgian men, and Danish women. However, as with previous cross-sectional data, it was not possible to assess whether this reflected an age or cohort effect. Regarding the level of education, we found some cultural-specific patterns. While higher levels of education increased the likelihood of masturbation frequency in northern European men (Norway and Denmark), southern European men (Portugal) with higher levels of education were less likely to report frequent masturbation. Being socialized in an environment influenced by traditional and religious structures repressing sex education (Francoeur & Noona, 2004), older educated Portuguese men may have internalized more normative constraints inhibiting sexual self-pleasure. In contrast, among Norwegian and Danish men who were socialized in the sex-liberal Nordic countries, with open discourses on sexual issues and broad dissemination of sex education, pornography, and sex literature (Francoeur & Noona, 2004), higher education may have shaped masturbation habits by diminishing health-related fears and guilt about masturbation (Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2003).

In terms of health, we observed a negative association between self-estimated health and reported masturbation among older men in Denmark, Belgium, and Portugal. Previous evidence on the relationship between general health and masturbation has been mixed (Das, 2007; Lee et al., 2016; Lindau et al., 2007; Schick et al., 2010). One possibility for the inconsistency is that the association might be confounded by older men’s sexual difficulties and sexual desire. While for some men poor health may negatively affect their overall sexual functioning and sexual interest, hence influencing both partnered and solo sex, others with reduced sexual function but high desire may replace partnered sex by increased autoerotic behavior. Future research is needed to address this moderation hypothesis.

In addition to self-rated general health, we assessed the relationship between negative mood and solitary sexual activity. Interestingly, our findings demonstrated a significant association between depression and masturbation among Norwegian and Belgian men; the higher the level of depression, the more likely the reported masturbation. Although this finding seems counterintuitive, it is consistent with previous research (Cyranowski et al., 2004; Frohlich & Meston, 2002; Rowland et al., 2020). One assumption has been that when feeling depressed increased masturbation might reflect a self-soothing strategy, where solo sex functions as a reliable way to make oneself feel better (Frohlich & Meston, 2002). Although self-stimulation when feeling depressed may be self-soothing in the short term, it does not necessarily enhance mood as masturbation also seems to reinforce feelings of loneliness and isolation (Bancroft et al., 2003).

Finally, regarding relationship status, we found that women in Norway and Portugal were less likely to report frequent masturbation if they were in a current relationship. This finding seems to corroborate results from previous studies among varied age groups (DeLamater & Moorman, 2007; Regnerus et al., 2017; Rowland et al., 2020; Schick et al., 2010). It seems probable that since partnered adults may anticipate the opportunity of having sex with their committed partner, they wish to channel their sexual desire into their sexual relationship and/or do not feel the need for masturbation (Regnerus et al., 2017).

Strengths and Limitations

Our survey had several strengths, including the large probability-based samples and the use of similar sampling methods, identical measures, and age cohorts across four European countries. Several limitations, however, should also be acknowledged. The sample size in Portugal, as well as the response rate, was much lower than in the other countries. Due to a less reliable sampling method, an overrepresentation of urban individuals, and a high refusal rate, the selection bias was possibly most substantial among Portuguese participants (Boughner, 2010). Overall, this gives rise to questions relating to the Portuguese samples’ representativeness and its comparability with the samples from Norway, Denmark, and Belgium, which should be taken into consideration when evaluating the study findings. A second limitation pertains to the item formation. In this study, a preexisting one-item indicator was used to measure reported masturbation frequency (ELSA; Lee et al., 2016). Because the question did not specifically refer to solo masturbation, we cannot be sure about the extent to which the results reflected only solo masturbation or both partnered and solo masturbation. However, both the wording of the item (“How often did you masturbate in the past month”) and the context (following a question asking about sexual intercourse frequency) provide some reassurance that the participants interpreted it as a question about solo sexual activity. Further, satisfaction with sexual activity was measured by the question: “How satisfied are you with the current level of sexual activity in your life, in a general way?” Considering the lack of defining sexual activity when asking about participants’ levels of sexual satisfaction, it is likely that participants used divergent definitions when they evaluated their levels of sexual satisfaction (Regnerus et al., 2017). Some might limit sexual activity to solely partnered sex, while others might incorporate solo sexual activities. Yet, a study that investigated the concept of sexual satisfaction among German women found that most of the variance in satisfaction with sex life in general was explained by sexual satisfaction through intercourse and intercourse frequency (Philippsohn & Hartmann, 2009). Another important limitation was that the survey did not assess the role of pornography use. Although our samples might have been biased toward individuals with more liberal and open views about sexuality (Boughner, 2010; Dunne et al., 1997; Strassberg & Lowe, 1995), as sexual self-stimulation is a stigmatized and sensitive topic that might be embarrassing to older individuals, the prevalence of masturbation may still have been underestimated due to social desirability. How possible volunteer bias and social desirability influenced the associations is uncertain, but it may restrict the generalizability of our findings (Boughner, 2010). Finally, due to the cross-sectional design, conclusions about possible causal relationships are not warranted. 

Rice farming in China had effects on polygenic scores for height, body mass index, depression, time discounting, reproduction, educational attainment, risk preference, alcohol metabolism capacity

Relationship between rice farming and polygenic scores potentially linked to agriculture in China. Chen Zhu et al. Royal Society Open Science, August 18 2021. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210382

Abstract: Following domestication in the lower Yangtze River valley 9400 years ago, rice farming spread throughout China and changed lifestyle patterns among Neolithic populations. Here, we report evidence that the advent of rice domestication and cultivation may have shaped humans not only culturally but also genetically. Leveraging recent findings from molecular genetics, we construct a number of polygenic scores (PGSs) of behavioural traits and examine their associations with rice cultivation based on a sample of 4101 individuals recently collected from mainland China. A total of nine polygenic traits and genotypes are investigated in this study, including PGSs of height, body mass index, depression, time discounting, reproduction, educational attainment, risk preference, ADH1B rs1229984 and ALDH2 rs671. Two-stage least-squares estimates of the county-level percentage of cultivated land devoted to paddy rice on the PGS of age at first birth (b = −0.029, p = 0.021) and ALDH2 rs671 (b = 0.182, p < 0.001) are both statistically significant and robust to a wide range of potential confounds and alternative explanations. These findings imply that rice farming may influence human evolution in relatively recent human history.

3. Discussion

In sum, genetic data from over 4000 people across China produced evidence that genes for earlier reproduction and alcohol flush response were more common among people from areas with more historical rice farming. Rice farming was negatively associated with PGSs for educational attainment, although this relationship became marginal after controlling for the history of herding.

The effect of rice remained robust after controlling for individual demographic characteristics, ethnic make-up, a range of regional characteristics and potential self-selection into rice farming. Moreover, the large sample size of counties substantially increases statistical power and allows for greater control over confounding factors in the analysis. The results of this study suggest that a major cultural transition in human history had small but detectable effects on genes.

Researchers used to believe that evolution worked so slowly that meaningful changes were unlikely to have happened in the last 10 000 years of human history. But more recently, researchers have concluded that ‘evolutionary change typically occurs much faster than people used to think’. There is also evidence that human evolution actually sped up in the last 40 000 years [49]. If rice domestication selected for particular genes, it would fit with this emerging picture of relatively recent human evolution.

We should note several limitations in our data that point to possible future improvements. (i) The current study is based on a sample of 4101 observations, which may lack statistical power due to the small sample size. (ii) The GWAS summary statistics used to construct the PGSs in this study were mostly based on samples of European ancestry, which may lead to a Euro-centric bias and limit the predictive power constructed PGSs [14].4 (iii) Identifying regional ancestry through the place of birth is not perfect. This method may misidentify people whose recent ancestors moved large distances. (iv) We analysed genetic differences but not phenotypes or actual behaviour. Genetic propensities are not destiny. (v) We do not have DNA samples from historical periods (e.g. ancient DNA). If future researchers gain access to historical DNA samples, this will allow for a directly test or completely rule out of the reverse causality issue.

It is worth remembering that environment is not destiny, either. It would be overly simplistic to expect that exact same pattern of results everywhere people grow rice. There is ample evidence that the same type of environment does not always lead to the same culture. As one small example, how farmers dealt with peak labour demands in rice differed across cultures. While Chinese farmers preferred to trade labour with family members, West African rice farmers sometimes relied on groups of youths, who would move from farm to farm. Rice presents common challenges, but cultures' solutions to those challenges (and the genetic selection pressures that come along) may differ.

Finally, the finding of rice–wheat genetic differences presents a hint about a puzzle of modernization. As fewer and fewer people are farming in China, how is it that rice–wheat differences persist in modern China? Studies have found rice–wheat differences among people who do not farm [8,9]. Genetic differences present one possible mechanism—but surely not the only mechanism—through which historical differences in subsistence style live on in the present day.

Urbanicity is a growing environmental challenge for mental health; here, we investigate correlations of urbanicity with brain structure and function, neuropsychology & mental illness symptoms in young people from China & Europe

Global urbanicity is associated with brain and behaviour in young people. Jiayuan Xu et al, & CHIMGEN and IMAGEN Consortia. Nature Human Behaviour, Oct 28 2021. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01204-7

Abstract: Urbanicity is a growing environmental challenge for mental health. Here, we investigate correlations of urbanicity with brain structure and function, neuropsychology and mental illness symptoms in young people from China and Europe (total n = 3,867). We developed a remote-sensing satellite measure (UrbanSat) to quantify population density at any point on Earth. UrbanSat estimates of urbanicity were correlated with brain volume, cortical surface area and brain network connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum. UrbanSat was also associated with perspective-taking and depression symptoms, and this was mediated by neural variables. Urbanicity effects were greatest when urban exposure occurred in childhood for the cerebellum, and from childhood to adolescence for the prefrontal cortex. As UrbanSat can be generalized to different geographies, it may enable assessments of correlations of urbanicity with mental illness and resilience globally.

Women: Greater pleasure (autonomous) motives related to higher sexual assertiveness, which in turn related to higher orgasmic function in casual sex; greater insecurity (nonautonomous) motives related to lower sexual assertiveness

It’s The “Why”: Links between (Non)autonomous Sexual Motives, Sexual Assertiveness, and Women’s Orgasm in Casual Sex. Val Wongsomboon, Gregory D. Webster & Mary H. Burleson. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Nov 11 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-021-02103-8

Abstract: Existing literature shows conflicting and inconclusive evidence regarding women’s sexual experiences in casual sex. Some studies have found negative sexual outcomes (e.g., fewer orgasms), while others have found positive sexual outcomes (e.g., more orgasms, higher sexual satisfaction) when women had casual sex. According to self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), people’s needs are fulfilled when their choice and behavior are self-motivated and reflect their intrinsic values. We hypothesized that women’s autonomous motivation to have casual sex would be associated with higher orgasmic function, whereas nonautonomous motivation would be associated with lower orgasmic function in casual sex. We also hypothesized that sexual assertiveness would mediate the relationship between sexual motives and orgasmic function in casual sex. Participants in this study were women (N = 401) aged 18–59 years who reported having had casual sex in the past 12 months. Participants completed an online survey reporting their motives to have casual sex, sexual assertiveness, and orgasmic function (e.g., orgasm frequency, satisfaction with orgasm) in casual sex. We focused on two motives: (a) pleasure motive and (b) insecurity (i.e., self-esteem boost and pressure) motive. Results showed that greater pleasure (autonomous) motives related to higher sexual assertiveness, which in turn related to higher orgasmic function in casual sex. In contrast, greater insecurity (nonautonomous) motives related to lower sexual assertiveness, which in turn related to lower orgasmic function in casual sex. The findings support self-determination theory, suggesting that autonomous motives are important for women’s sexual experience in casual sex.

Facial feminization surgery had success in achieving goals of minimizing mis-gendering in public (appropriately identifying trans-women as female), & reduction in dysphoric feelings (improved patient satisfaction)

Facial Feminization Surgery Review: Diagnosis, Preoperative Planning, Surgical Techniques, and Outcomes. Joshua Choe et al. Face, November 10, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/27325016211057299

Abstract: Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) broadly encompasses a series of surgical procedures offered by craniomaxillofacial surgeons designed to modify facial features and transform both skeletal and soft tissues to create a more feminine appearance. Techniques, initially pioneered by Dr. Douglas Ousterhout, have been modified to include preoperative virtual planning and evolving aesthetic preferences. Computed Tomography (CT) imaging assists with morphologic typing of the brow, supraorbital, chin, and lateral mandible regions. Advancements in instrumentation increase the efficiency and accuracy of FFS procedures. More recently, trends in transgender acceptance have led to improved insurance authorization for FFS procedures. Objective outcome studies have shown success in achieving goals of (1) minimizing mis-gendering in public (appropriately identifying trans-women as female) and (2) reduction in dysphoric feelings (improved patient satisfaction).

Keywords: facial feminization surgery, FFS, transgender surgery, gender dysphoria, virtual surgical planning, facial features

Apis cerana workers apply materials (i.e. animal faeces in Vietnam, plant material in Japan) around nest entrances to repel giant hornets

Giant hornet (Vespa soror) attacks trigger frenetic antipredator signalling in honeybee (Apis cerana) colonies. Heather R. Mattila et al. Royal Society Open Science, November 10 2021. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211215

Abstract: Asian honeybees use an impressive array of strategies to protect nests from hornet attacks, although little is understood about how antipredator signals coordinate defences. We compared vibroacoustic signalling and defensive responses of Apis cerana colonies that were attacked by either the group-hunting giant hornet Vespa soror or the smaller, solitary-hunting hornet Vespa velutina. Apis cerana colonies produced hisses, brief stop signals and longer pipes under hornet-free conditions. However, hornet-attack stimuli—and V. soror workers in particular—triggered dramatic increases in signalling rates within colonies. Soundscapes were cacophonous when V. soror predators were directly outside of nests, in part because of frenetic production of antipredator pipes, a previously undescribed signal. Antipredator pipes share acoustic traits with alarm shrieks, fear screams and panic calls of primates, birds and meerkats. Workers making antipredator pipes exposed their Nasonov gland, suggesting the potential for multimodal alarm signalling that warns nestmates about the presence of dangerous hornets and assembles workers for defence. Concurrent observations of nest entrances showed an increase in worker activities that support effective defences against giant hornets. Apis cerana workers flexibly employ a diverse alarm repertoire in response to attack attributes, mirroring features of sophisticated alarm calling in socially complex vertebrates.

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This study explores the signalling repertoire of A. cerana during naturally occurring attacks by two hornet predators that differ in the degree of threat they pose to colonies. At our study site in Vietnam, the deadliest hornet predator that A. cerana encounters is Vespa soror, a giant hornet that can decimate honeybee colonies through group predation [81,82]. A successful attack starts when a V. soror scout recruits nestmates to a prey colony, where together they kill many of the defending honeybees, occupy their nest and harvest undefended brood to feed their larvae. Vespa soror is not well studied, but it is morphologically and behaviourally similar to its better-known sister species, the giant hornet Vespa mandarinia [70,71,81–87]. By contrast to the two species of giant hornets, Vespa velutina is a smaller hornet that hunts solitarily by hawking individual honeybees while hovering in front of nests [72]. In the evolutionary arms race between predator and prey, A. cerana has evolved several colony-level defences to fend off hornet attacks. They often aggregate at the nest entrance as a first step [70,88,89], referred to as a ‘bee carpet’ in A. mellifera [90–93]. Once amassed, workers can engulf an individual hornet in a ball of hundreds of bees, simultaneously overheating and asphyxiating it [89,94–96]. Apis cerana workers apply materials (i.e. animal faeces in Vietnam, plant material in Japan) around nest entrances to repel giant hornets, a defensive behaviour that is not triggered by smaller hornets [82,97]. Groups of workers also perform coordinated body shaking in response to hornets, a visually intimidating display that deters attackers from approaching the nest [77,98–101].

Individuals recognize their lifestyle is more unsustainable than what is generally acceptable, yet they consider the lifestyle of others to be even more harmful; there are compensatory green beliefs on the biases in the estimated environmental impacts

Biased perception of the environmental impact of everyday behaviors. Laura Pasca & Lucía Poggio. The Journal of Social Psychology, Nov 12 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.2000354

Abstract: Despite our concern about climate change, certain psychological barriers hinder the adoption of a pro-environmental lifestyle. In the present study (n = 186), we analyzed the participants’ estimates of the environmental impact of their lifestyles, compared to their moral standards and the perceived normative impact. Results show that individuals recognize their lifestyle is more unsustainable than what is generally acceptable, yet they consider the lifestyle of others to be even more harmful. Furthermore, we studied the role of compensatory green beliefs on the biases in the estimated environmental impacts. The results showed that individuals tend to consider that pro-environmental behaviors have a neutral environmental impact. Thus, our research suggests the existence of a bias in individuals’ perception of environmental impacts.

Keywords: Environmental impactmoral licensingclimate changecompensatory green beliefssocial norms

Divorcees do not repartner with someone of the same personality as their ex-spouse, and they are in some cases constrained by marriage market forces to repartner with less stabilizing personalities

More of the Same? Comparing the Personalities of Ex-Spouse and New Partner after Divorce. Sascha Spikic, Dimitri Mortelmans and Dries Van Gasse. Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(11), 431; Nov 9 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10110431

Abstract: The similarity of the Big Five personality traits of ex-spouses and new partners was examined post-divorce. The notion that divorcees replicate their partner choice (fixed-type hypothesis) was tested against the hypotheses that they learn to select a new partner with more marriage-stabilizing personality traits than their former spouse (learning hypothesis), or are constrained by marriage market forces to repartner with someone who has less stabilizing personality traits (marriage market hypothesis). Data was derived from a Flemish study that sampled divorcees from the national register. The sample consisted of 700 triads of divorcees, their ex-spouses, and their new partners. The analysis results rejected the fixed-type hypothesis and instead supported both the learning hypothesis and the marriage market hypothesis, with higher order repartnering supporting the latter. Women also seemed to validate both hypotheses, as their partner comparison showed decreases in both stabilizing traits (conscientiousness and agreeableness) and destabilizing traits (neuroticism and extraversion). Overall, the results seem to suggest that divorcees do not repartner with someone of the same personality as their ex-spouse, and they are in some cases constrained by marriage market forces to repartner with less stabilizing personalities, while in other cases they are able to improve their partner selection.

Keywords: Big Five; ex-partner; new partner; personality; divorce

Do chimpanzees enjoy a virtual forest? A pilot investigation of the use of interactive art as a form of environmental enrichment for zoo-housed chimpanzees

Do chimpanzees enjoy a virtual forest? A pilot investigation of the use of interactive art as a form of environmental enrichment for zoo-housed chimpanzees. Yumi Yamanashi, Kazuki Hitoosa, Nobuaki Yoshida, Fumihiro Kano, Yuko Ikkatai, Hidefusa Sakamoto. American Journal of Primatology, November 11 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23343

Abstract: Environmental enrichment is essential for the well-being of zoo animals. Recent advances in sensor and video technologies may contribute to improvements in enrichment in terms of their flexibilities and time constraints. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether interactive movie art can be used as a form of environmental enrichment. We implemented interactive movies designed by a professional artist, a visual art aiming to reflect naturalistic forest habitat, in an indoor chimpanzee enclosure at Kyoto City Zoo in Japan. Motion-tracking sensors embedded in buoys were installed at several locations around the indoor enclosure; the chimpanzees could change the movie contents by physically interacting with these objects. We recorded behaviors by observing entire troop of chimpanzees (six) between March 16 and 20, 2020 (control condition), then recorded behaviors when the interactive movie was presented (experimental condition) between March 21 and 29, 2020. Behaviors were recorded via direct observations and video recordings to examine any changes after the installation of interactive art. The chimpanzees spent more time in the indoor enclosures during the experimental condition than during the control condition. Activity budgets did not change substantially during the study period. There was no evidence of habituation to the movie during the study period. Three chimpanzees, including two young chimpanzees, interacted with the movie more frequently than the others; these young chimpanzees occasionally showed playful expressions when interacting with the movie and exhibited different reactivities to the movie scenes. These results demonstrate, first, that the interactive art did not negatively affect chimpanzee behavior, and second, that some of the chimpanzees indeed showed positive responses to the art. This study, therefore, introduces a novel possibility for environmental enrichment in zoos, involving a collaboration between science and art.

Research Highlights

.  We investigate whether technology-based interactive movie art can be used as a form of environmental enrichment by analyzing their behaviors.

.  The chimpanzees spent more time in the locations where the arts were presented and did not lose interest across the experimental condition. Two young chimpanzees particularly used it and showed play face in relation to the interactive arts.

.  These results demonstrate that the interactive art did not negatively affect chimpanzee behavior, and that some of the chimpanzees indeed showed positive responses to the art.

When and Why Does Gossip Increase Prosocial Behavior? When it is accurate rather than inaccurate; when targets are dependent on receivers rather than independent; when it is anticipated rather than actually experienced

When and Why Does Gossip Increase Prosocial Behavior? Annika S. Nieper et al. Current Opinion in Psychology, November 12 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.10.009

Highlights

• We review research on the effects of gossip on prosocial behavior.

• Empirical evidence shows that gossip can increase and decrease prosocial behavior.

• Gossip increases prosociality: 1) when it is accurate rather than inaccurate.

• 2) when targets are dependent on receivers rather than independent.

• 3) when it is anticipated rather than actually experienced.

Abstract: Understanding when people behave prosocially is integral to solving many challenges in groups and society. Gossip – the exchange of information about absent others – has been proposed to increase prosocial behavior, but findings are mixed. In this review, we illuminate the relationship between gossip and prosocial behavior, reconcile disparate findings, and suggest new directions for research. Our review reveals that gossip increases prosocial behavior to the degree that 1) it is accurate rather than inaccurate, 2) targets are interdependent with, rather than independent from, gossip receivers, and 3) targets anticipate that they might be gossiped about, rather than actually experience negative gossip. We discuss implications of our reviewed findings for understanding when gossip serves to uphold desirable behavior and when it inadvertently engenders undesirable behavior.

5. Conclusions and suggestions for future research

We reviewed empirical research on the link between gossip and prosocial behavior to illuminate when gossip promotes prosocial behavior and when gossip undermines it. Our review revealed three moderating factors that help to reconcile disparate findings: the accuracy of gossip, the interdependence structure between actors in the gossip triad, and whether gossip is actually experienced versus anticipated. The impact of these factors has so far been examined mostly in isolation. In future studies it would be interesting to investigate their joint impact as well as to identify further boundary conditions of the effects reviewed here. For example, we discussed how actually experiencing, rather than merely anticipating the possibility of, becoming the target of negative gossip lowers feelings of social inclusion in the group and thereby undermines prosocial behavior. Perhaps these effects are moderated by the perceived accuracy of gossip: If targets perceive the gossip about them to contain false information, they might feel that they have been wrongfully punished via gossip [38], which would reduce their prosocial behavior. Conversely, when targets perceive the gossip to be truthful, they might be inclined to attempt to repair their reputation by engaging in prosocial acts.

An additional moderator of the effect of actually experienced versus anticipated gossip might be the dependency on one's group members or the availability of alternative groups that gossip targets can join. If somebody learns that they have been gossiped about negatively by their group members, yet has no alternative groups to join, they may feel compelled to resolve the issues that sparked the gossip and restore their reputation rather than reduce their effort and detach from the group, which may result in targets increasing their prosocial behavior. In contrast, the presence of alternative groups might lead to reduced cooperation with the group in which one became the target of gossip and lead one to exit this group to join another group.

Another factor that might further influence the relationship between gossip and prosocial behavior is the visibility of prosocial behavior. If people want to restore their reputation or think they have been gossiped about negatively, they might be especially likely to decrease prosocial behaviors that are not very visible to others, while still trying to maintain visible prosocial behaviors that have reputational consequences. Future research could investigate such social dynamics to further understanding of how gossip influences prosocial behavior.

Going forward, we see a need for studies on gossip and prosocial behavior that combine experimental rigor with fine-grained analysis of gossip statements as they "naturally" occur. Such studies would allow researchers to examine how gossip senders construct gossip statements within different interdependence structures and provide insights into what elements of gossip statements lead recipients to be influenced by gossip, or rather, to discard it. As discussed earlier, to capture real-life gossip dynamics, researchers should additionally consider including a risk that gossip is transmitted to a relevant person when studying the consequences of gossip for the gossip target.

A final fruitful direction for future research is to examine what happens in situations in which prosocial behavior engendered by (the possibility of) gossip is harmful for society as a whole, for instance because it is unethical [[39], [40], [41]]. For example, in the case of corruption or "partnering in crime", helping another person has damaging effects for the broader collective. In such instances, gossip (or the threat thereof) could have adverse effects for society, because when gossip is present and people are therefore more concerned about their reputation [14,15], they are likely to act more in accordance with perceived social norms [21], potentially increasing prosocial unethical behavior. Furthermore, in terms of partner selection, gossip might enable corrupt people to find corrupt partners (e.g., when the Mafia seeks new members, gossip might inform them that someone is the right fit for their organization). Future research in those directions will help to further understand when gossip increases prosocial behavior and when it has adverse effects.

In closing, we have shown that gossip can but does not always stimulate prosocial behavior. Whether it does depends on gossip accuracy, the interdependence structure of the parties in the gossip triad, and whether gossip is actually experienced versus anticipated. We hope our review and research directions will spark new investigations that will further our understanding of when gossip increases prosocial behavior and when it does not.

We trace the origins of porn hypnosis, both in early cinema’s theorization of the hypnotic screen and also in mid-twentieth-century brainwashing paranoia, examining the ways that the evil hypnotist mythos built up during this period

Hypnosis and pornography: a cultural history. James Mackay & Polina Mackay. Porn Studies, Nov 11 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2021.1978312

Abstract: A major form of porn creativity in the digital age has been the ‘hypno video’: a user-generated film mashing up short clips from various porn sources, accompanied by hypnotic imagery and sound, often designed with the overt intent to alter the viewer’s gender, racial or sexual preferences. These videos are highly popular, judging from view counts, although in most cases their effectiveness as hypnotic inductions is dubious at best. In this article, we discuss the science of hypnosis, and the reasons why ‘reprogramming’ videos are unlikely to have any basis in hypnotic practice. To understand the prevalence of this form, therefore, we trace the deep connections between hypnosis and pornography, showing that the highly subjective practice of hypnosis has consistently been associated with the erotic over at least the last two centuries. We trace the origins of porn hypnosis, both in early cinema’s theorization of the hypnotic screen and also in mid-twentieth-century brainwashing paranoia, examining the ways that the evil hypnotist mythos built up during this period and then became a staple of hardcore cinema. Finally, we discuss the function of hypnosis in porn, and the ways that porn hypnosis enables the viewer to overcome shame.

Keywords: Hypnosispornographymicropornographyshamemind controltransgender

Behavior causes: Phylogeny, natural selection, & genomics (ultimate causes); maturation, sensitive period effects, & routine environmental effects (intermediate); & hormonal/metabolic processes, neural circuitry, and eliciting stimuli (proximate)

Nine Levels of Explanation — A Proposed Expansion of Tinbergen’s Four-Level Framework for Understanding the Causes of Behavior. Melvin Konner. Human Nature, Nov 5 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12110-021-09414-8

Abstract: Tinbergen’s classic “On Aims and Methods of Ethology” (Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 20, 1963) proposed four levels of explanation of behavior, which he thought would soon apply to humans. This paper discusses the need for multilevel explanation; Huxley and Mayr’s prior models, and others that followed; Tinbergen’s differences with Lorenz on “the innate”; and Mayr’s ultimate/proximate distinction. It synthesizes these approaches with nine levels of explanation in three categories: phylogeny, natural selection, and genomics (ultimate causes); maturation, sensitive period effects, and routine environmental effects (intermediate causes); and hormonal/metabolic processes, neural circuitry, and eliciting stimuli (proximate causes), as a respectful extension of Tinbergen’s levels. The proposed classification supports and builds on Tinbergen’s multilevel model and Mayr’s ultimate/proximate continuum, adding intermediate causes in accord with Tinbergen’s emphasis on ontogeny. It requires no modification of Standard Evolutionary Theory or The Modern Synthesis, but shows that much that critics claim was missing was in fact part of Neo-Darwinian theory (so named by J. Mark Baldwin in The American Naturalist in 1896) all along, notably reciprocal causation in ontogeny, niche construction, cultural evolution, and multilevel selection. Updates of classical examples in ethology are offered at each of the nine levels, including the neuroethological and genomic findings Tinbergen foresaw. Finally, human examples are supplied at each level, fulfilling his hope of human applications as part of the biology of behavior. This broad ethological framework empowers us to explain human behavior—eventually completely—and vindicates the idea of human nature, and of humans as a part of nature.

I review, replicate and extend the analysis from seven econometric papers studying how events that happened to and values held by our ancestors affect their descendants several generations afterwards (intergenerational persistence)

Persistence - A critical review [abridged]. Jaime Sevilla. Nov 10 2021. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wWGi4jTNNMhz2pHhJ/persistence-a-critical-review-abridged. Full form: Persistence - A critical review

In short: I review, replicate and extend the analysis from seven econometric papers studying how events that happened to and values held by our ancestors affect their descendants several generations afterwards (intergenerational persistence). I argue that together the papers provide moderate evidence of the existence of long term causal effects mediated by parentage.

Keywords: persistence, cultural persistence, economic history, multiple hypothesis testing, post design power analysis, spatial autocorrelation bias, causality, natural experiments, instrumental variables.

Intergenerational persistence is an important topic for Effective Altruism, because it can help us understand how our actions today can affect many generations after. I undertook this research to help us shed light on whether cultural interventions (like increasing the degree at which present people value truth and cooperation) can be an effective way of affecting the long-term future.

The papers I review are:

• The long term effects of Africa’s slave trades (Nunn, 2008) 
• The slave trade and the origins of mistrust in Africa (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2011)
• On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough (Alesina et al., 2013)
• The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation (Schulz et al., 2019)
• Persecution perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Nazi Violence (Voigtländer & Voth, 2012)
• Trade, Institutions, and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia (Jha, 2013)
• Long-term persistence (Guiso et al., 2016)

Highlights:

. I discuss a gold standard for cultural persistence studies, covering how to (1) identify robust long term correlations via regression studies under different sets of controls, (2) identify causal effects via natural experiments and (3) identify whether culture is a significant mediator via children-of-immigrant studies.

.  I find that many of the papers manage to find statistically significant results. A naive aggregation of the estimated correlation effect sizes suggests that future correlational studies might find effects of around β ≈ 0.28 (0.13) standard deviations per standard deviation of exposure variation. That is, future studies in similar topics should expect to find that one standard deviation of variation on an event would predict ~28% of variation in long term outcomes. However it is hard to rule out spurious correlations due to issues such as spatial autocorrelation or outliers.

.  Some of the papers attempt to study causation via natural experiments. While a couple of such papers arguably succeed in identifying a causal effect, we cannot discard that subsequent robustness checks will cast doubt on the results. We need better tools to study long term persistent effects. A naive aggregation of the estimated correlation effect sizes suggests that future causal studies might find effects of around β ≈ 0.11 (0.02) standard deviations per standard deviation of exposure variation. That is, future studies in similar topics should expect to find that one standard deviation of difference on an event would cause ~11% of variation in long term outcomes.

.  I find that children-of-immigrant analysis suggests the possibility of long term persistence of variation mediated by parentage. The authors of the papers tend to explain this persistence in terms of cultural variation, relying mostly on historical accounts as evidence.

.  Whether long term persistence of variation usually stays constant, wanes or increases with time is an open question. Studying better these dynamics of persistence would be critical to understand the very long-term impact of cultural interventions today.

These results suggest the possibility of sustained AI innovation under the Chinese regime: AI innovation entrenches the regime, and the regime’s investment in AI for political control stimulates further frontier innovation

AI-tocracy. Martin Beraja, Andrew Kao, David Y. Yang & Noam Yuchtman. NBER Working Paper 29466, November 2021. DOI 10.3386/w29466

Abstract: Can frontier innovation be sustained under autocracy? We argue that innovation and autocracy can be mutually reinforcing when: (i) the new technology bolsters the autocrat’s power; and (ii) the autocrat’s demand for the technology stimulates further innovation in applications beyond those benefiting it directly. We test for such a mutually reinforcing relationship in the context of facial recognition AI in China. To do so, we gather comprehensive data on AI firms and government procurement contracts, as well as on social unrest across China during the last decade. We first show that autocrats benefit from AI: local unrest leads to greater government procurement of facial recognition AI, and increased AI procurement suppresses subsequent unrest. We then show that AI innovation benefits from autocrats’ suppression of unrest: the contracted AI firms innovate more both for the government and commercial markets. Taken together, these results suggest the possibility of sustained AI innovation under the Chinese regime: AI innovation entrenches the regime, and the regime’s investment in AI for political control stimulates further frontier innovation.