An Eye-Tracking Investigation on Mirror Gazing: Those of higher self-esteem spent less time checking themselves in a mirror

Effects of Self-Esteem on Self-Viewing: An Eye-Tracking Investigation on Mirror Gazing. Jonas Potthoff, Anne Schienle. Behav. Sci. 2021, 11(12), 164. Nov 29 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11120164

Abstract: While some people enjoy looking at their faces in the mirror, others experience emotional distress. Despite these individual differences concerning self-viewing in the mirror, systematic investigations on this topic have not been conducted so far. The present eye-tracking study examined whether personality traits (self-esteem, narcissism propensity, self-disgust) are associated with gaze behavior (gaze duration, fixation count) during free mirror viewing of one’s face. Sixty-eight adults (mean age = 23.5 years; 39 females, 29 males) viewed their faces in the mirror and watched a video of an unknown person matched for gender and age (control condition) for 90 s each. The computed regression analysis showed that higher self-esteem was associated with a shorter gaze duration for both self-face and other-face. This effect may reflect a less critical evaluation of the faces.

Keywords: face; self-perception; mirror; eye-tracking; self-esteem; self-disgust; narcissism

4. Discussion

This study investigated whether gaze parameters while viewing one’s face in the mirror are associated with the personality traits of self-esteem, self-disgust, and narcissism propensity. High self-esteem indicates that, on the whole, individuals are satisfied with themselves and are not overly critical [30,31]. In previous eye-tracking research, elevated self-esteem was associated with attentional biases towards self-faces [13]. Surprisingly, in the present investigation, higher self-esteem was associated with shorter—possibly less critical—viewing of the own face. It is possible that people with high self-esteem need less time to evaluate themselves (critically), while low self-esteem seems to be associated with a more thorough and more prolonged evaluation of one’s facial appearance.

Following this interpretation, the shorter viewing time of the other face associated with higher self-esteem would imply that individuals with high self-esteem are also less critical of others [32]. It is possible that in previous research [13] this viewing pattern could not be identified due to brief exposure times. The participants looked at the faces until they identified them. This took them less than one second on average. Additionally, in previous research, faces were not viewed freely, and task demands (face identification) may have overruled a critical and thorough evaluation of the faces [13]. Future research needs to investigate the effect of exposure time and viewing tasks on gaze behavior concerning self-face and other-face.

Self-esteem did neither predict the number of fixations on self-face nor other-face. Many short fixations (i.e., hyperscanning) are commonly conducted when affective stimuli with negative valence and high intensity are explored [22,33]. In the present study, dynamic faces with neutral expressions were viewed, which do not induce high arousal, at least in non-clinical samples [19,20,21]. While self-esteem predicted a more thorough evaluation of faces (longer viewing time), it was not associated with visual hyperscanning, which would have required elevated arousal. Taken together, the results suggest that low self-esteem is related to a thorough but calm evaluation of faces.

Earlier investigations indicated that the number of fixations on specific face areas differs between self-face and other-face viewing. Hoffmann et al. [8] observed that more fixations were conducted on the eyes when viewing unfamiliar faces than the own face. We refrained from using a similar analysis approach (an analysis of fixation counts for specific facial areas) because of insufficient spatial precision of the measuring procedure. There are slight interindividual differences in the position of facial features (e.g., location of eyes, mouth), which cannot be detected with sufficient spatial accuracy during mirror viewing. It would have been possible to control for the location of the eyes during mirror viewing by adjusting the chinrest for each participant until they see their eyes at a predefined mirror location. This procedure would, however, lead to self-face exposure before the eye-tracking experiment begins. Therefore, we focused on the gaze behavior for the face as a whole.

There was no relationship between NPI scores and gaze behavior. Narcissism propensity was neither associated with a more thorough (prolonged) viewing nor hyperscanning. These null-findings contrast our expectations and previous research, especially for self-face viewing [15]. In the present paradigm, participants viewed self-faces and other faces one after another and not simultaneously (e.g., as image pairs). It is possible that associations between narcissism propensity and viewing behavior did not show up because participants could not directly compare their faces with the faces of others. Furthermore, participants did not perform any task in which they could have compared their performance with the performance of others. Future studies should investigate whether narcissism propensity is associated with specific self-face viewing behaviors in competitive contexts (i.e., when comparing one’s own and others’ physical appearance).

The NPI assesses feelings of self-importance. However, narcissism has different facets. It has been suggested to distinguish between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism [34,35]. Vulnerable narcissistic individuals are anxious, defensive, and avoidant, while grandiose narcists are extraverted and self-satisfied [36]. Additionally, there are intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of narcissism [37]. To maintain a grandiose self, people with a high narcissism propensity might, on the one hand, strive for feelings of uniqueness (intrapersonal) [38]. On the other hand, they can also devaluate others or strive for supremacy (interpersonal) [39]. Therefore, more differentiated NP measures should be used in the future, which can differentiate between these separable yet related expressions of narcissism that should prompt different styles of self-viewing [40].

Self-disgust also showed no association with viewing the own face. Self-disgust has been conceptualized as a dysfunctional personality trait [12,41] which typically has a very low level in mentally healthy individuals [41]. This was also the case in the present investigation. In contrast, Ypsilanti, Robson et al. [6] analyzed eye-tracking data from participants with mental health problems. This group with elevated self-disgust displayed avoidance of self-viewing. Therefore, the present null results do not contrast previous findings [5,6]. Future research should further investigate self-face viewing in conditions with elevated self-disgust, such as depression [2,42], disordered eating [43,44,45], and body dissatisfaction [45,46,47]. For example, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is associated with high self-disgust [47] but not with avoidance of self-viewing. Many patients with BDD even report spending a significant amount of time checking themselves in the mirror [45]. Mirror viewing paradigms can therefore contribute to a deeper understanding of self-viewing avoidance as well as excessive mirror viewing in eating disorders and BDD. For these disorders, mirror exposure is a commonly used therapy component [48].

We also investigated possible gender effects on face-viewing behavior. In general, males, as well as females, spent the majority of the 90 s-viewing time on the faces. Thus, there was no indication of face avoidance. Male participants were characterized by a longer total viewing time. They showed a longer gaze duration for both the own face and the other face. Previous studies have already demonstrated that face exploration dynamics (for other faces) differentiate men and women [49,50]. In an investigation by Coutrot et al. [49], the participants (203 males and 202 females) watched videos of actors. Male participants showed longer fixation durations for the faces than female participants. However, this difference was small. Overall, face viewing has many functions and serves multiple purposes (e.g., aiding speech perception [51], emotion recognition [52], person identification [53], or affective evaluation [15]). Moreover, context factors (e.g., cultural, social) have to be considered as well [54]. It needs further investigation whether differences in face-viewing intentions might have contributed to the observed gender difference in gaze duration.

It is plausible that several limitations might have influenced the results obtained. We studied a convenience sample, and the participants were healthy, predominantly young students. Therefore, the present results cannot be generalized to other samples. Furthermore, the study did not differentiate between different aspects of narcissism propensity.

We preferably copy the behavior of our own group’s members, even if group the group is arbitrary and novel, and even if one's peers are less competent than others

Copy the In-group: Group Membership Trumps Perceived Reliability, Warmth, and Competence in a Social-Learning Task. Marcel Montrey, Thomas R. Shultz. Psychological Science, December 23, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211032224

Abstract: Surprisingly little is known about how social groups influence social learning. Although several studies have shown that people prefer to copy in-group members, these studies have failed to resolve whether group membership genuinely affects who is copied or whether group membership merely correlates with other known factors, such as similarity and familiarity. Using the minimal-group paradigm, we disentangled these effects in an online social-learning game. In a sample of 540 adults, we found a robust in-group-copying bias that (a) was bolstered by a preference for observing in-group members; (b) overrode perceived reliability, warmth, and competence; (c) grew stronger when social information was scarce; and (d) even caused cultural divergence between intermixed groups. These results suggest that people genuinely employ a copy-the-in-group social-learning strategy, which could help explain how inefficient behaviors spread through social learning and how humans maintain the cultural diversity needed for cumulative cultural evolution.

Keywords: cumulative cultural evolution, intergroup dynamics, social-learning strategies, transmission biases, open data, preregistered

Discussion

Although previous studies have found an apparent in-group bias in social learning, they have failed to resolve whether this constitutes a genuine social-learning strategy or a mere confluence of other factors (Buttelmann et al., 2013; Howard et al., 2015). Our study disentangled group membership from similarity and familiarity by assigning group membership at random. We found that rather than eliminating the preference for in-group members, this approach resulted in a robust in-group-copying bias, which (a) was bolstered by a tendency to observe in-group members, (b) overrode participants’ stated beliefs, (c) grew stronger when social information was scarce, and (d) even caused cultural divergence between intermixed groups. Taken together, our findings suggest that people genuinely employ a copy-the-in-group strategy and that group membership has both a direct and indirect effect on copying.

Why might a copy-the-in-group strategy have evolved in the first place? One reason could be that it allowed humans to rapidly adopt and vigorously maintain group norms that enhance coordination (McElreath et al., 2003) or promote cooperation (Boyd & Richerson, 2009). Another reason could be that social learning is useful only to the extent that adopting other people’s behavior yields similar payoffs (Laland, 2004). For example, copying out-group members could be less efficient or even counterproductive if groups differ in terms of what behavior is punished or rewarded. Finally, such a strategy could also have evolved because it minimized the risk of deception. Because social learning is essentially information scrounging (Kameda & Nakanishi, 2002), in which the copier benefits from other people’s knowledge without incurring the same costs, knowledgeable individuals have an incentive to mislead others. However, this incentive is minimized when observed individuals have a vested interest in the copier’s success. This holds true in kin relationships (Laland, 2004) and likely generalizes to other settings, such as intergroup competition.

Although the in-group-copying bias may be adaptive, we were careful to control for factors that could justify such a bias or evoke a similar-looking one. First, we limited the role of similarity and familiarity by assigning participants to groups at random. Second, we ensured that there was no inherent advantage to copying either group by giving participants access to the same information and by discouraging deception. Third, we deterred intergroup competition by framing the game in terms of individual performance and by obscuring group membership whenever participants saw others’ scores. Fourth, we prevented selective copying from advancing social goals (Over & Carpenter, 2012), such as inclusion (Watson-Jones et al., 2016), by limiting social interactions to unidirectional observations of previous participants. Finally, we matched everyone with an equal number of participants from each group to ensure that fellow in-group members did not form a majority. That being said, because cultures could conceivably vary in their reliance on group membership, the generalizability of our findings may be limited by our sample consisting solely of U.S. residents. Furthermore, although online recruitment platforms often yield a more diverse pool of participants than traditional student samples, they raise other concerns about data quality. For a brief overview of these concerns and our analysis of their impact, see “Data Quality” in Supplemental Information About Data Quality, Preregistration, and Other Results.

In addition to controlling for potential confounds, we also tested several proposed explanations for why people may preferentially copy in-group members. One is that we attend to them more often (Kinzler et al., 2011). This seems sensible, given that native-language speakers attract more attention from a very young age (Kinzler et al., 2007) and that adults bias their attention toward in-group members, whether that group is preexisting or novel (Kawakami et al., 2014). However, developmental studies have failed to reveal any obvious in-group attentional bias in social learning (Oláh et al., 2016), and both looking times (Buttelmann et al., 2013; Pető et al., 2018) and eye-tracking data (Howard et al., 2015) contradict this hypothesis. It is therefore curious that most participants in our experiments (70% and 67%) observed the in-group more often and that this drove much of the in-group bias in copying. One possibility is that humans become more likely to attend to in-group members over the course of development. For example, instead of attention guiding children’s copying, biases in copying could shape their attention. Another possibility is that attention played a greater role in our study because participants explicitly chose whom to observe and paid a clear opportunity cost for each selection. Our findings may thus be particularly relevant to contexts in which people have strong and explicit control over their sources of social information, such as on social media.

Another proposed explanation for why people may prefer to copy in-group members is that we ascribe greater competence to the in-group (Kinzler et al., 2011) or view out-group members as less reliable (Oláh et al., 2016). This hypothesis is rooted in the classic social-psychology finding that in-group members are evaluated more favorably, even when groups are arbitrary and novel (Brewer, 1979). Indeed, we found that the in-group enjoyed advantages in perceived reliability, warmth, and competence. However, none of these beliefs had much effect on whom participants copied. On the contrary, because the in-group-copying bias arose even among participants who viewed the out-group as more competent, our results seemingly contradict the axiom that social-learning strategies exist solely to help people identify and adopt the most effective behavior (Kendal et al., 2018).

In fact, if people are predisposed to copy in-group members, perhaps even when their perceived competence is low, this could help explain the spread of inefficient or even deleterious behaviors. For example, opposition to vaccination is often disseminated through highly clustered and enclosed online communities (Yuan & Crooks, 2018) who use in-group-focused language (Mitra et al., 2016). Likewise, fake news tends to spread among politically aligned individuals (Grinberg et al., 2019), and the most effective puppet accounts prefer to portray themselves as in-group members rather than as knowledgeable experts (Xia et al., 2019). Our research also sheds light on why social media platforms seem especially prone to spreading misinformation. By offering such fine-grained control over whom users observe, these platforms may spur the creation of homogeneous social networks, in which individuals are more inclined to copy others because they belong to the same social group.

Finally, the fact that the in-group-copying bias produced some amount of cultural divergence in both of our experiments is of particular interest from a cultural evolutionary point of view. This is because the exceptional complexity of human culture and technology (Montrey & Shultz, 2020) likely depends on integrating and recombining diverse cultural traits (Mesoudi & Thornton, 2018). Theory suggests that for cultural evolution to be cumulative (i.e., for complexity to increase over time), populations may have to be fragmented to some degree so that unique traits have the opportunity to flourish (Derex et al., 2018). Otherwise, cultural traits may homogenize, leaving learners with little to recombine. Although the intergroup differences in behavior we observed do not rise to the level of cultural traditions, our findings could help explain how cultural differences persist in intermixed groups (McElreath, 2004). A copy-the-in-group strategy could thus be one mechanism for achieving the cultural diversity needed for cumulative cultural evolution.

Watching A Lecture Twice At Double Speed Can Benefit Learning Better Than Watching It Once At Normal Speed

Learning in double time: The effect of lecture video speed on immediate and delayed comprehension. Dillon H. Murphy,Kara M. Hoover,Karina Agadzhanyan,Jesse C. Kuehn,Alan D. Castel. Applied Cognitive Psychology, November 14 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3899

Abstract: We presented participants with lecture videos at different speeds and tested immediate and delayed (1 week) comprehension. Results revealed minimal costs incurred by increasing video speed from 1x to 1.5x, or 2x speed, but performance declined beyond 2x speed. We also compared learning outcomes after watching videos once at 1x or twice at 2x speed. There was not an advantage to watching twice at 2x speed but if participants watched the video again at 2x speed immediately before the test, compared with watching once at 1x a week before the test, comprehension improved. Thus, increasing the speed of videos (up to 2x) may be an efficient strategy, especially if students use the time saved for additional studying or rewatching the videos, but learners should do this additional studying shortly before an exam. However, these trends may differ for videos with different speech rates, complexity or difficulty, and audiovisual overlap.

Popular version: Watching A Lecture Twice At Double Speed Can Benefit Learning Better Than Watching It Once At Normal Speed. Emma Young. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/12/21/watching-a-lecture-twice-at-double-speed-can-benefit-learning-better-than-watching-it-once-at-normal-speed/

1.5 million years of hunting: Larger species were hunted to extinction or until they became exceedingly rare

Levantine overkill: 1.5 million years of hunting down the body size distribution. Jacob Dembitzer, Ran Barkai, Miki Ben-Dor, Shai Meiri. Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 276, January 15 2022, 107316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107316

Abstract: Multiple large-bodied species went extinct during the Pleistocene. Changing climates and/or human hunting are the main hypotheses used to explain these extinctions. We studied the causes of Pleistocene extinctions in the Southern Levant, and their subsequent effect on local hominin food spectra, by examining faunal remains in archaeological sites across the last 1.5 million years. We examined whether climate and climate changes, and/or human cultures, are associated with these declines. We recorded animal abundances published in the literature from 133 stratigraphic layers, across 58 Pleistocene and Early Holocene archaeological sites, in the Southern Levant. We used linear regressions and mixed models to assess the weighted mean mass of faunal assemblages through time and whether it was associated with temperature, paleorainfall, or paleoenvironment (C3 vs. C4 vegetation). We found that weighted mean body mass declined log-linearly through time. Mean hunted animal masses 10,500 years ago, were only 1.7% of those 1.5 million years ago. Neither body size at any period, nor size change from one layer to the next, were related to global temperature or to temperature changes. Throughout the Pleistocene, new human lineages hunted significantly smaller prey than the preceding ones. This suggests that humans extirpated megafauna throughout the Pleistocene, and when the largest species were depleted the next-largest were targeted. Technological advancements likely enabled subsequent human lineages to effectively hunt smaller prey replacing larger species that were hunted to extinction or until they became exceedingly rare.

Keywords: LevantMegafaunaEarly humansHuntingPleistoceneQuaternaryClimate

How a Tardigrade "Micro Animal" Became Quantum Entangled with Superconducting Qubits

Entanglement between superconducting qubits and a tardigrade. K. S. Lee, Y. P. Tan, L. H. Nguyen, R. P. Budoyo, K. H. Park, C. Hufnagel, Y. S. Yap, N. Møbjerg, V. Vedral, T. Paterek, R. Dumke. arXiv Dec 16 2021. https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.07978

Quantum and biological systems are seldom discussed together as they seemingly demand opposing conditions. Life is complex, "hot and wet" whereas quantum objects are small, cold and well controlled. Here, we overcome this barrier with a tardigrade -- a microscopic multicellular organism known to tolerate extreme physiochemical conditions via a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis. We observe coupling between the animal in cryptobiosis and a superconducting quantum bit and prepare a highly entangled state between this combined system and another qubit. The tardigrade itself is shown to be entangled with the remaining subsystems. The animal is then observed to return to its active form after 420 hours at sub 10 mK temperatures and pressure of 6×10−6 mbar, setting a new record for the conditions that a complex form of life can survive.

Popular version: How a Tardigrade "Micro Animal" Became Quantum Entangled with Superconducting Qubit. Dec 22 2021. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-a-tardigrade-micro-animal-became-quantum-entangled-with-superconducting

Within each colony of some ants, only some individuals are capable of performing a complex sequence of behavioral patterns to free trapped nestmates, sequence that is responsive to the particular circumstances of that entrapment & how the rescue operation unfolds

Rescue specialists in Cataglyphis piliscapa ants: The nature and development of ant first responders. Elise Nowbahari, Karen L. Hollis, Melanie Bey, Lara Demora & Jean-Luc Durand. Learning & Behavior, Dec 16 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13420-021-00503-3

Abstract: Previous research in our laboratories has demonstrated that, within each colony of Cataglyphis piliscapa (formerly C. cursor) ants, only some individuals are capable of performing a complex sequence of behavioral patterns to free trapped nestmates—a sequence that not only is memory-dependent but also is responsive to the particular circumstances of that entrapment and how the rescue operation unfolds. Additionally, this rescue behavior is inherited patrilineally from but a few of the many males that fertilize the eggs of the colony’s single queen. Here, we describe three experiments to explore rescue behavior further—namely, whether rescuers are in any way selective about which nestmates they help, how the age of rescuers and the victims that they help affect the quantity and quality of the rescue operation, and when this complex behavior first emerges in an ant’s development. Taken together with the previous heritability analysis, these behavioral experiments provide clear evidence that the ability to rescue nestmates in distress should be recognized as a specialization, which together with other specialized tasks in C. piliscapa, contributes to a division of labor that increases the efficiency of the colony as a whole and, thus increases its reproductive success.

Geographic Variation in Personality is Associated With Fertility Across the United States

Geographic Variation in Personality is Associated With Fertility Across the United States. Eleanor J. Junkins et al. Personality Science, 2021, Vol. 2, Article e7275, Dec 16 2021. https://doi.org/10.5964/ps.7275

Abstract: Levels of fertility and the shape of the age-specific fertility schedule vary substantially across U.S. regions with some states having peak fertility relatively early and others relatively late. Structural institutions or economic factors partly explain these heterogeneous patterns, but regional differences in personality might also contribute to regional differences in fertility. Here, we evaluated whether variation in extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience measured at the U.S. state-level was associated with the level, timing, and context of fertility across states above and beyond sociodemographics, voting behavior, and religiosity. Generally, states with higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness had more traditional fertility patterns, and states with higher levels of neuroticism and openness had more nontraditional fertility patterns, even after controlling for established correlates of fertility (r ~ |.50|). Personality is an overlooked correlate that can be leveraged to understand the existence and persistence of fertility differentials.

Keywords: personality, fertility, demography, geographic variation, Big Five

Non-Technical Summary

What is the study’s background?

People living in different regions of the U.S. make different choices about having children. In some regions, people have babies early and often, whereas in other regions, people have babies late or not at all.

Why was this study done?

This study was done to test whether regional differences in personality were related to regional differences in fertility. Researchers in the field of demography, which studies how populations differ in birth and death rates, have typically not considered that people living in different regions may have different personalities—meaning different patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are stable across time and context.

What did the researchers do and find?

Researchers in this study used data on how each U.S. state differs in its average level of five basic personality traits, known as the “Big Five”. Residents of states like Wisconsin are higher on agreeableness (warmth and consideration of other people) and conscientiousness (dutifulness and planning ahead), and they show more traditional patterns of fertility. The regional differences in personality were predictive of fertility patterns even after considering differences in religiousness and politics.

What do these findings mean?

People’s fertility behaviors are related to where they live. Part of what makes areas of the U.S. different from one another is the personality traits of the people who live there. These results have the potential to expand theoretical models of population growth and change by linking demography with personality science.

The woman in high heels was perceived as being more sexually attractive, physically attractive, feminine, & of a higher status; were not rated as more or less warm, enthusiastic, trustworthy, socially competent, healthy, intelligent, affectionate, friendly, or successful

On a pedestal: High heels and the perceived attractiveness and evolutionary fitness of women. T. Joel Wade et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 188, April 2022, 111456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111456

Abstract: We analyzed the responses of 448 participants who completed questions on attractiveness and other evolutionary fitness related traits, and long- and short-term mating potential, of a woman in either high heeled or flat shoes. We hypothesized that the woman in high heels would be rated as more attractive and evolutionarily fit by both men and women, and preferred for short-term mating by men. The hypothesis was partially supported. The woman in high heels was perceived as being more sexually attractive, physically attractive, feminine, and of a higher status. Additionally, women rated women as having a higher status regardless of the shoe, than men, while men rated women as having higher short- and long-term mating potential, than women did, regardless of the shoe. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Keywords: High heelsAttractivenessSilhouetteShoesFeminineStatus

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positive effect maybe due to greater lumbar curve

Children have initially a good view of the rich but with age that preference decreases; also have an increasing view as unfair of the wealth gap between the wealthy and the poor; have a developing understanding of the link between wealth & power

Yang, Xin, and Yarrow Dunham. 2021. “Emerging Complexity in Children's Conceptualization of the Wealthy and the Poor.” OSF Preprints. December 22. doi:10.31219/osf.io/fp9xq

Abstract: Past work suggests that children have an overly rosy view of rich people that stays consistent across childhood. However, adults do not show explicit pro-rich biases and even hold negative stereotypes against the rich (e.g., thinking that rich people are cold and greedy). When does this developmental shift occur, and when do children develop more complex and differentiated understandings of the wealthy and the poor? The current work documents the developmental trajectory of 4- to 12-year-old primarily American middle-class children’s conceptualizations of the wealthy and the poor (total N = 164). We find: 1) age-related decreases in pro-rich preferences and stereotypes relative to the poor; 2) domain-sensitive stereotypes across prosociality, talent, and effort; 3) resource-specific behavioral expectations such that with age children increasingly expect the wealthy to contribute more material resources but not more time than the poor; 4) an increasing recognition of the unfairness of the wealth gap between the wealthy and the poor; and 5) a developing understanding of the link between wealth and power. In sum, this work illuminates the emergence of more complex understandings of wealth, poverty, and inequality.

When a conspiracy theory goes mainstream, people feel more positive toward conspiracy theorists

When a conspiracy theory goes mainstream, people feel more positive toward conspiracy theorists. Curtis Bram. Research & Politics, December 21, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/20531680211067640

Abstract: This paper uses an experiment and a follow-up survey immediately before and after the publicly revealed results of the Department of Defense’s 2021 report on unidentified flying object (UFO) origins to test how public opinion changes when government leaders across the political spectrum take an issue that had been on the margins of respectability seriously. In both studies, I find that when politicians acknowledge the possibility that UFOs are extraterrestrial visitors, people report more positive attitudes toward those who believe in conspiracies in general. Implications are that when government leaders publicly walk back a long-held consensus that a particular issue is not worth serious consideration, they may cause people to feel more favorable toward those perceived to hold other fringe views.

Keywords: Conspiracy theories, partisanship, American politics, unidentified flying objects

Discussion

This study demonstrates that when political elites take seriously a possibility that had been ridiculed, and associated with those who believe in conspiracies, people feel more positive toward conspiracy theorists. To be sure, conspiracy theorists do not make up a cohesive group, and many who hold such beliefs do not identify as such. Furthermore, many conspiracy theories outside the UFO case are pushed by partisan actors, potentially limiting the generalizability of these results. That said, a recent review argued that “there is surprisingly little research into how people who espouse conspiracy theories are viewed” (Douglas et al., 2019, 23) and this result motivates further work on the spillover effects of cases where something was previously seen as outside the mainstream, such that people who believed it were considered to be on the margins of respectability, and then this changed rapidly. Past work also finds that people hide some opinions because they fear social consequences (Lantian et al., 2018), suggesting that increasingly positive attitudes toward those who believe in conspiracies will increase the willingness of those who engage in conspiracy thinking to reveal those beliefs.

Future work will benefit from expanding this approach beyond the UFO case and evaluating how support for conspiracy theories themselves change as elite opinion changes. New information may also emerge, as former President Barack Obama said: “what is true – and I’m actually being serious here – is that there is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are.”

Recent work has shown that body distortions are common in healthy individuals; there is a general bias to overestimate body width compared to length/height; this distorsion appear to be linked to aspects of psychological well-being, including body satisfaction and self-esteem

Distortion of mental body representations. Matthew R. Longo. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, December 21 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.11.005

Highlights

*  Distortions in the representation of the body are a conspicuous feature of several clinical disorders, including eating disorders and chronic pain.

*  Recent work has shown that distortions are also common in healthy individuals, including in tasks assessing tactile spatial perception, proprioception, and the conscious body image.

*  Across a range of tasks, there is a general bias to overestimate body width compared to length/height.

*  Distorted body representations in conditions such as anorexia nervosa and chronic pain appear to be exaggerated forms of the distortions that occur in healthy individuals.

*  Distorted body representations appear to be linked to aspects of psychological well-being, including body satisfaction and self-esteem.

Abstract: Our body is central to our sense of self, and distorted body representations are found in several serious medical conditions. This paper reviews evidence that distortions of body representations are also common in healthy individuals, and occur in domains including tactile spatial perception, proprioception, and the conscious body image. Across domains, there is a general tendency for body width to be overestimated compared to body length. Intriguingly, distortions in both eating disorders and chronic pain appear to be exaggerations of this baseline pattern of distortions, suggesting that these conditions may relate to dysfunction of mechanisms for body perception. Distortions of body representations provide a revealing window into basic aspects of self-perception.

Keywords: selfbody imagetouchproprioceptionpaineating disorders

The cartesian folk theater: People conceptualize consciousness as a spatio-temporally localized process in the human brain

Forstmann, M., & Burgmer, P. (2021). The cartesian folk theater: People conceptualize consciousness as a spatio-temporally localized process in the human brain. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Dec 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001108

Abstract: The present research (total N = 2,057) tested whether people’s folk conception of consciousness aligns with the notion of a “Cartesian Theater” (Dennett, 1991). More precisely, we tested the hypotheses that people believe that consciousness happens in a single, confined area (vs. multiple dispersed areas) in the human brain, and that it (partly) happens after the brain finished analyzing all available information. Further, we investigated how these beliefs are related to participants’ neuroscientific knowledge as well as their reliance on intuition, and which rationale they use to explain their responses. Using a computer-administered drawing task, we found that participants located consciousness, but not unrelated neurological processes (Studies 1a and 1b) or unconscious thinking (Study 2) in a single, confined area in the prefrontal cortex, and that they considered most of the brain not involved in consciousness. Participants mostly relied on their intuitions when responding, and they were not affected by prior knowledge about the brain. Additionally, they considered the conscious experience of sensory stimuli to happen in a spatially more confined area than the corresponding computational analysis of these stimuli (Study 3). Furthermore, participants’ explicit beliefs about spatial and temporal localization of consciousness (i.e., consciousness happening after the computational analysis of sensory information is completed) are independent, yet positively correlated beliefs (Study 4). Using a more elaborate measure for temporal localization of conscious experience, our final study confirmed that people believe consciousness to partly happen even after information processing is done (Study 5).

Content in which emotions are more prevalent than argument quality is more likely to be shared; content in which positive emotions are more prevalent than negative emotions is more likely to be shared

What makes people share political content on social media? The role of emotion, authority and ideology, Jason Weismueller et al. Computers in Human Behavior, December 20 2021, 107150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107150

Highlights

• Emotionality is more important than argument quality in fostering user engagement.

• Positive political content receives more engagement than negative content.

• Ideological extreme users are less likely to engage with positive content.

• Politicians may use influential users in the political sphere for political campaigning.

• Social media platforms should emphasize a greater focus on critical thinking.

Abstract: In this paper, we examine which content characteristics lead to increased sharing of political information on social media, and which role political ideology has in user sharing behavior. More specifically, we investigate the impact of emotions and authority on sharing, as well as the moderating role of political extremity of social media users. We analyzed 10,141 political tweets, sent by 527 influencers between July 2019 and June 2020. The results reveal that content in which emotions are more prevalent than argument quality is more likely to be shared than content in which argument quality is prevalent. Perhaps surprisingly, we also show that content in which positive emotions are more prevalent than negative emotions is more likely to be shared than content in which negative emotions are prevalent. Moreover, authority (i.e., a dominant language style and a high number of followers) can lead to increased shares. Finally, we find that content in which positive emotions are more prevalent than negative emotions is less effective in increasing shares when users are located at the ideological extreme compared to the ideological center. On the one hand, we provide insights into how influencers in social media networks can be utilized for political campaigning. On the other hand, we provide insights into what makes users engage with political content from influencers that might contribute to political polarization on social media.

Keywords: InfluencersUS PoliticsSharingIdeologySocial network analysisTwitter

People form face impressions based on a conceptual understanding of personality structure that they have come to learn from their regional environment

Personality across world regions predicts variability in the structure of face impressions. DongWon Oh, Jared D. Martin, and Jonathan B. Freeman. Psychological Science, accepted. Dec 2021. https://files.cargocollective.com/c860495/OhMartinFreeman_PersonalityAcross.pdf

Abstract: Research on face impressions has often focused on a fixed and universal architecture, treating  regional variability as noise. Here, we demonstrate a crucial yet neglected role of cultural  learning processes in forming face impressions. In Study 1, we found that variability in the  structure of perceivers’ face impressions across 42 world regions (n=287,178) could be  explained by variability in the actual personality structure of people living in those regions. In  Study 2, data from 232 world regions (n=307,136) revealed that perceivers use the actual  personality structure learned from their local environment to form lay beliefs about personality,  which in turn scaffold the structure of perceivers’ face impressions. Together, these results  suggest that people form face impressions based on a conceptual understanding of personality  structure that they have come to learn from their regional environment. The findings call for greater attention on the regional and cultural specificity of face impressions.

Keywords: person perception, face processing, social cognition, semantic memory, cultural psychology

Adolescent close friendship quality was a significantly better predictor of adult peer and romantic outcomes, work performance, and depressive symptoms than parental reports of the parent–teen relationship

When friendships surpass parental relationships as predictors of long-term outcomes: Adolescent relationship qualities and adult psychosocial functioning. Joseph P. Allen, Meghan Costello, Jessica Kansky, Emily L. Loeb. Child Development, December 6 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13713

Abstract: Perceptions of adolescent–parent and adolescent–peer relationship qualities, and adolescents’ attachment states of mind were examined as predictors of adult social and romantic relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and work performance. Adolescents (86 male, 98 female; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other groups) were followed from age 13 to 24 via observational, self-, parent-, and close friend-reports. Adolescent close friendship quality was a significantly better predictor of adult peer and romantic outcomes, work performance, and depressive symptoms than parental reports of the parent–teen relationship; attachment security was also a strong predictor of numerous outcomes. Results are interpreted as reflecting the difficulty for parents judging parent–teen relationship quality and as reflecting the growing importance of close friendships during this period.

Assessment of Romantic Relationship Quality

Ribotta, B., Silan, M. A., Dujols, O., Bellemin, R., & IJzerman, H. (2021, December 15). Lack of Construct Validity and Item-Content Overlap in the Assessment of Romantic Relationship Quality. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/w32dc

Abstract: Central to interventions to improve the quality of romantic relationships is its measurement. Yet, to what degree is the concept of relationship quality well-defined, and, importantly, well-measured? In the present article, the authors conducted a comprehensive search of instruments measuring relationship quality in ProQuest, Web of Science, and Scopus finding a total of 599 scales, with 26 meeting our definition of romantic relationship quality. When the authors investigated the 26 scales’ overlap of item-content, they identified 25 distinct categories among 754 items (with our database of items on the OSF: https://osf.io/v964p/). The mean overlap between scales was weak (Jaccard Index correlation coefficient = 0.39), indicating that these scales were very heterogeneous. The authors then assessed to what extent researchers reported internal validity in 43 scale development-validation articles. They found that Cronbach’s Alpha was most often reported (in 91% of the articles). Other aspects were reported far less often, with 55% reporting exploratory factor analyses, 26% reporting confirmatory factor analyses, 23% reporting test-retest reliability, 7% reporting measurement invariance. The heterogeneity of measures and lack of reported general validity of romantic relationship quality points to the need for concept-driven work on the assessment of romantic relationship quality.

Fifty-nation study: Values better predict alcohol consumption; traits better predict obesity

Using Public Datasets to Understand the Psychological Correlates of Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, and Obesity: A Country-Level Analysis. Paul H. P. Hanel, Sara M. G. da Silva, Richard A. Inman. Cross-Cultural Research, December 16, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/10693971211062130

Abstract: In the present research, we investigate whether cultural value orientations (CVOs) and aggregate personality traits (Big-5) predict actual levels of alcohol consumption, smoking, and obesity across 50 countries using averages derived from millions of data points. Aggregate traits explained variance above and beyond CVOs in obesity (particularly neuroticism and extraversion), while CVOs explained variance beyond aggregate traits in alcohol consumption (particularly harmony and hierarchy). Smoking was not linked to aggregated traits or CVOs. We conclude that an understanding of the cultural correlates of risky health behaviors may help inform important policies and interventions for meeting international sustainable development goals.

Keywords: public data, smoking, obesity, alcohol, health, personality traits, cultural value orientations

Discussion

Few studies have investigated the psychological predictors of risky health behaviors at an aggregated country level. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by obtaining reliable estimates of health and psychological variables from big publicly available datasets comprising millions of individuals, and using them to test theoretical predictions.

How Do Country-Level Values and Traits Relate to Risky Health Behaviors?

Cultural values: A recent study using similar datasets has demonstrated that cultural values show a particular pattern of association with alcohol consumption across countries (Inman et al., 2017). Specifically, alcohol consumption was greater in countries that value harmony and autonomy, and lower in countries that value embeddedness and hierarchy. Given that the present study used the same data for cultural values, it was unsurprising that the partial correlations in the present study replicated those of Inman et al. Specifically, significant correlations were observed for harmony (positive) and embeddedness (negative), although the effect sizes were small.

Beyond alcohol, the present study was interested in how values would be associated with smoking and obesity. The pattern of partial correlations for these health indicators suggested some similarity with alcohol consumption. For example, the direction of the associations between alcohol, smoking, and obesity were the same for hierarchy (negative) and mastery (negative). There were, however, some clear differences. Alcohol and smoking were positively correlated with harmony, but obesity appeared to be unrelated. Inman et al. (2017) explained that harmony may be positively correlated to alcohol consumption at the country level because cultures high in harmony regulate how their members relate to the social world via an emphasis on appreciation and “fitting in” (Schwartz, 2006). Such an emphasis may promote “having a good time” as a social motive and thus encourage individuals to engage in risky social behaviors such as drinking, smoking, and illicit drug use. In contrast, obesity may be unrelated to harmony values as its associated risky behaviors are less social in nature.

A second finding was that hierarchy was negatively associated with alcohol consumption. On the other hand, obesity appeared unrelated to embeddedness, and smoking had a positive correlation. Cultures that value hierarchy emphasize responsible behavior in line with rules assigned to their respective roles (Schwartz, 2006). Alcohol has long been considered a threat to public order (Mold, 2018), and contemporary evidence links alcohol consumption to socially undesirable behaviors and health problems (World Health Organization, 2014), both of which are threatening hierarchies. Smoking and obesity, on the other hand, are not linked to disinhibited social behaviors in the same manner as alcohol (e.g., intoxicated behavior) and thus may not be considered as threatening to authorities.

Finally, egalitarianism had a significant negative association with smoking but was unrelated to alcohol, and obesity. This can be understood by considering that egalitarian cultures socialize their populations to feel concern for everyone’s welfare and to act for the benefit of others (Schwartz, 2006). Smoking may be negatively related to egalitarianism because it is a behavior that presents a risk to others, via secondhand smoke, as well as the individual. Indeed, there are a wide range of risks associated with passive smoking including heart disease, stroke and cancer (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006), and studies within individual countries, such as the U.S.A, have shown that a large proportion of people perceive secondhand smoke as being harmful (Kruger et al., 2016). In short, egalitarian populations may be less likely to smoke because their members try and act in a manner that does not risk the health of others.

Big-5 traits: The study expands on Inman et al. (2017), Mackenbach (2014) and others by also considering country-level aggregates of personality traits. Firstly, it was evident that neither alcohol consumption nor smoking was linked to aggregate personality. Partial correlations did, however, hint that countries with high aggregated scores for openness to new experiences had increased alcohol consumption (although this correlation fell short of being statistically significant, p = .052).

Unlike smoking and alcohol, obesity did present a clear pattern of associations with aggregate personality traits. Specifically, obesity had a strong positive association with extraversion, and a moderate negative association with neuroticism. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that links extraversion to obesity at a country level (McCrae & Terracciano, 2008) and concur with those of several studies that have linked extraversion to increased BMI (Armon et al., 2013; Kakizaki et al., 2008). A clear question that emerges from these results is: why is a personality trait linked to descriptors such as “outgoing” and “energetic” linked to increased obesity? Indeed, some studies at the individual level have linked extraversion to healthier eating habits (Mõttus et al., 2012). To account for this, some authors have argued that the positive mood state linked to high extraversion leads individuals to perceive themselves as less vulnerable to negative health conditions and thus to engage in behaviors, such as overeating, that can lead to obesity (Grant & Schwartz, 2011).

Interestingly, our findings only partly replicate those on an individual level. For example, we found that harmony is positively associated with alcohol consumption, whereas Rudnev & Vauclair (2018) have not found a significant relation on an individual level; we found no association between conscientiousness and obesity, whereas a range of other studies found a negative association (e.g., Allen et al., 2015; Gerlach et al., 2015; Kim, 2016; cf. Table 1); we found a positive association between obesity and extraversion which is in line with the literature (e.g., Kim, 2016; Mõttus et al., 2012); however, we also found a negative association between neuroticism and obesity, whereas other studies either found no or positive associations (Kim, 2016; Mõttus et al., 2012).

We do not perceive a significant finding to be conflicting with a non-significant one because effect sizes can vary across studies: Assuming a statistical power of <1 (in many cases, the power is clearly below <.80; Brysbaert, 2019), a mix of significant and non-significant findings is expected (Lakens & Etz, 2017). Thus, our findings were mostly in line with the literature. However, the negative association between neuroticism and obesity requires further explanation because some previous research found positive associations between obesity and neuroticism (whereas some others found no association, cf. Table 1). This might indicate to an ecological fallacy: The pattern of association is reversed on the aggregated level as opposed to an individual level. Alternatively, neuroticism might have a different meaning on a country level than on an individual level. The effects of a neurotic person might be different than those of a neurotic large group of people (here: country). Future research is needed to explore this possibility. Importantly, since our findings are overall consistent with the literature, it is unlikely that the ecological fallacy is an issue.

Which Is a Better Predictor of Country-Level Risky Health Behaviors: Values or Traits?

The present study tested theoretical predictions regarding the relative importance of value and traits for understanding risky health behaviors. Our finding was that values and traits were differentially important for different behaviors. In line with our predictions, cultural values were a better predictor of alcohol consumption than traits. Alcohol consumption has always been rooted in a social context and in many societies (excluding “abstinent” societies that expressly forbid alcohol consumption for religious reasons; Room & Mäkelä, 2000) alcohol consumption is a common occurrence at social events (Galea et al., 2004). In other words, drinking alcohol is a social behavior. Because values are more important for guiding social interactions than traits (Boer et al., 2011), they were also the better predictors.

Also in line with our predictions, B5-traits were a better predictor of obesity than cultural values. Obesity can be a result of by poor eating habits and a lack of physical exercise (Prentice & Jebb, 1995). In other words, it is caused by behavior that lies in the past. Thus, obesity is conceptually closer to traits, which measure how a person is in the present (Saucier, 1994), in contrast to values, which are better able to capture future behavior (Eyal et al., 2009).

Finally, the results did not support our third hypothesis that values explain variance beyond traits in smoking. Initially, we predicted that values would be better at explaining smoking than traits because values are more relevant for social interactions (Boer et al., 2011). However, in retrospect, we believe that smoking might have a weaker social component than alcohol consumption. Indeed, the number of cigarettes daily smokers consume on average per hour varies little between 10 a.m. and midnight (Shiffman et al., 2014). If smoking was mostly social, it would be higher in the late afternoons and evenings when people are more likely to be in social situations. Note however that our data does not allow us to distinguish between social smokers and “full-time” smokers. We assume that values are better predictors for social smokers, a prediction that can be investigated by future research.

Limitations

One potential limitation pertains to differences in sample types across the measures. While smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption were based on official representative data, not all of our traits and values data was based on representative samples. However, the value importance and structure remains mainly the same across sample types such as representative, student, or teacher samples (Hanel et al., 2018; Schwartz & Bardi, 2001), indicating that the sample type barely matters.

Another possible limitation pertains to the sample size of only 50 countries. However, the term “sample size” is misleading here: The numerical value of each country for each variable consists of hundreds to thousands of participants (traits and values) or even millions (smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption), making our analysis very robust. Moreover, a sample of 50 countries is more representative of the total “population” of around 200 countries than, for example, a sample of even 1,000,000 Americans to the total US population of around 300, 000, 000. Finally, with 50 countries, we included more countries than many previous studies which often included 20–30 countries (see Introduction, for example). It is important to acknowledge, however, that countries from geographical regions other than Europe, and particularly the East Mediterranean and Africa regions, were underrepresented in our sample.

Finally, the trait data we used were measured with two different questionnaires, the NEO-PI-R (McCrae, 2001) and the BFI (Schmitt et al., 2007), which show on a country level relatively low convergence, rs ≤ .45 (Schmitt et al., 2007). However, both trait measures are reliable and valid, which makes it unlikely that the combination of trait measures impacted the results.

Implications

A current UN goal for sustainable development by 2030 includes ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages (United Nations General, 2015). This includes specifically, reducing by one-third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promoting well-being. This study adds to a growing body of research that suggests information about cultural-level psychological characteristics, including dimensions and profiles of cultural values and aggregate personality, may be useful for informing policies and interventions aimed at meeting these goals. Campaigns promoting healthy behaviors, for example, may be differentially effective across populations with distinct cultural values or personality characteristics. Future research is, however, required to further understand the causal mechanisms between country-level psychological characteristics and risky health behaviors.

Many publicly available datasets, and particularly those including health-related variables, have data for most countries. Unfortunately, datasets including national indices of psychological variables typically have smaller samples. Moreover, while national health indicators are abundant and easily accessible, it is currently more difficult to find and obtain national indices of psychological variables. The present study demonstrates that public datasets can be useful to researchers who wish to test theoretical predictions about country-level psychological characteristics and their relations to indicators of health or well-being. Given that such research findings may have important implications for meeting international goals for sustainable development (e.g., the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development), a clear implication of our study is that an effort is required to construct public datasets that outline the psychological characteristics of all countries globally.

Monkeys vs Dogs: It is claimed that over 200 puppies were dropped to their deaths by vengeful simians... Hyenas can also show this avenging behavior...

Monkeys vs Dogs: Over 200 puppies dropped to their deaths by vengeful simians. Pritha Paul. MEAWW Dec 18 2021. https://meaww.com/horrifying-monkey-vs-dog-war-over-200-puppies-dropped-to-their-deaths-by-angry-simians

After a few dogs killed an infant monkey a month ago, the angry monkeys have been snatching up pups to drop them from a height to their grisly deaths

A blood-thirsty gang of monkeys are waging a war with dogs in a small village in India. The village's canine population is being terrorized by the group of primates after a few dogs killed an infant monkey.

The monkeys' "revenge" saw around 250 dogs being dragged and dropped from the tops of buildings and trees. Not a single dog has survived the purge by the raging primates. All of this has been going down in Maharashtra’s Beed district, about 300 miles east of Mumbai, in the nearby Lavool village. The killing began a month ago after a few dogs killed a monkey's baby, the villagers told News 18. The moment a dog is spotted, the simians snatch up the pups, drag them somewhere high to drop them to their deaths. 

Video captured by the outlet showed a tiny dog in the clutches of a primate near the edge of a building. Residents contacted forest department officials to catch the monkeys after all of the dogs were killed in the village. But in Lavool, which has a population of about 5,000, the officials weren’t able to catch a single monkey, when they tried, the outlet reported. Some have even been attacked. 

When all else failed, the villagers took it upon themselves to take action and tried to tackle the monkey problem. However, the simians then turned their sights on the people as they tried to rescue the dogs. As a result, some have been injured after falling from buildings while trying to save the dogs, the outlet said. The monkeys still haven’t stopped and are now targeting small children en route to school, the outlet said. 

According to Stephanie Poindexter, an assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo whose research focuses on primate behavioral ecology, monkeys can take revenge. "We've seen that when an individual is attacked in some way, the likelihood of them attacking someone related to their aggressor is higher," Poindexter told Gizmodo. "Typically there's a preference for attacking a third-party associated with the original aggressor, as opposed to the actual aggressor... for the most part, these acts of 'revenge' take place shortly after the attack." Poindexter also explained that hyenas also have been known to seek revenge by hurting the aggressor's relatives instead of the actual aggressor.

Other instances of monkey rage

This is not the only instance of monkeys taking revenge. A wild monkey captured a puppy and held it hostage at the top of a tree for three days in Malaysia. The macaque reportedly kidnapped the puppy when it was two weeks old. 

Some locals have also complained about the monkeys raiding their pantries, snatching clothes, and going through fridges. The increasing number of complaints led to Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Parks begin mass cullings of thousands of macaques a year.