Why is cognitive ability associated with psychological distress and wellbeing? Exploring psychological, biological, and social mechanisms

Why is cognitive ability associated with psychological distress and wellbeing? Exploring psychological, biological, and social mechanisms. Markus Jokela. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 192, July 2022, 111592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111592

Highlights

• Multiple mechanisms may explain why cognitive ability is related to better mental health.

• Socioeconomic status, engagement in pleasant daily activities, and adaptive coping styles were most important.

• Biomarkers and social relationships did not account for the associations of cognitive ability.

Abstract: This study examined whether associations between cognitive ability and mental health (depression, anxiety, and psychological wellbeing) could be accounted for by different categories of risk factors: socioeconomic status, engagement in pleasant activities, coping/appraisal, social relationships, biological risk factors (inflammation, cortisol, heart-rate variability), and reaction time. Participants were from the Midlife in the United States study (n = 1744; mean age = 54, range 25 to 84). Adjusting for social relationships, biological risk factors, or reaction time had almost no influence on the association between cognitive ability and mental health. Adjusting for engagement in pleasant activities attenuated the associations with depression and anxiety by one-fourth; adjusting for coping/appraisal by one-third; and adjusting for socioeconomic status by one-fifth. These attenuations were larger for the associations with positive affect and life satisfaction. These findings suggest that the association between cognitive ability and mental health may be partly explained by cognitive-behavioral mechanisms and the protective influence of socioeconomic status.

Keywords: IntelligenceDepressionAnxietyMechanismWellbeingMIDUS

4. Discussion

Cognitive ability Among the variables included in this analysis, cognitive-behavioral factors and socioeconomic status were the most plausible mechanisms explaining why cognitive ability is related to lower levels of depression and anxiety, and with higher positive affect and life satisfaction. Biological factors, social relationships, and reaction time did not help to explain the associations.

The magnitude of the associations with symptoms of depression and anxiety ranged between standardized β = −0.12 to β = −0.19. These are not large associations with the conventional metrics of psychology. However, these standardized coefficients of cognitive ability were larger than the standardized coefficients of education, household income, CRP, and IL-6, and they were about the same as for the number of friends (see Supplementary Table 4). These are well-established sociodemographic and biological risk factors for depression and anxiety, so cognitive ability can be considered at least on par with other common risk factors for poor mental health. Given that mental health is determined by multiple biological, psychological, and social factors, one would not expect any single variable to overshadow all the other risk factors.

Some limitations need to be noted. First, all the psychosocial factors were self-reported, so their correlations with mental health outcomes might have been inflated by common informant bias. Second, the study design was observational, so the results can only suggest domains of overlap with the risk factors but not demonstrate causal pathways. The study design was longitudinal in that the mental health outcomes were assessed ~2 years after cognitive assessment and the psychosocial risk factors, so reverse causation or concurrent assessment may not have been as problematic as they would have been in a cross-sectional study design; the analysis did not, however, include adjustments for baseline mental health. In addition, the time lag was different for the covariates assessed in the main survey (few months before assessment of cognitive ability) than for covariates assessed in the biomarker survey (about two years after assessment of cognitive ability), which might have influenced their relative contributions. Third, the different categories of risk factors (e.g., social relationships vs. biological risk factors) were assessed with different types and numbers of indicators, which needs to be kept in mind when interpreting their relative contributions. Fourth, the current study focused on specific covariate categories but did not include a measure of “general fitness factor” that has been suggested to represent an individual's genetic quality, which might help to explain the physical health associations of intelligence (Arden et al., 2009). Finally, this study considered only linear associations of cognitive ability; there have been suggestions that very high cognitive ability might also be related to poorer health, manic symptoms in particular (Gale et al., 2013), but the overall evidence for curvilinear associations is very limited (Brown et al., 2021).

Cognitive-behavioral approach is one of the most influential frameworks in understanding mental health problems (Beck & Haigh, 2014). It emphasizes the interplay between thoughts, behaviors, and emotions, and focuses on modifying people's thoughts and behavioral patterns. For example, the method of behavioral activation is based on finding ways to engage in activities that the person enjoys, thereby providing positive reinforcement (Mazzucchelli et al., 2010). This is directly related to the Pleasant Events Schedule used in the present study, which showed that individuals with higher cognitive ability engaged in more pleasant activities, including laughing, sleeping well, being with other people, having discussions, and working out. They also derived less pleasure from some activities, such as shopping, praying or meditating, and taking a relaxing bath. The associations with pleasant social activities are in contrast to some earlier findings suggesting that individuals with higher intelligence would not enjoy the company of others as much as those with lower intelligence (Li & Kanazawa, 2016). The current results suggest that higher cognitive ability is related to more active engagement with a broad range of pleasant activities, though not all activities (Fig. 1). Pleasant activities associated with cognitive ability could account for one-fifth of its associations with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Problem-focused coping tackles difficult circumstances by looking for ways to actively solve and modify those circumstances. Emotion-focused coping, by contrast, turns the person's attention to the emotional reactions triggered by the difficult circumstances, which is often not adaptive. Cognitive-behavioral perspective emphasizes the flexibility of appraisals, that is, the possibility of interpreting a given situation from multiple perspectives, which gives more flexibility for the individual to respond. Higher cognitive ability was related to more adaptive coping styles (i.e., higher problem-focused and lower emotion-focused style), which helped to account for one-third of its associations with symptoms of depression and anxiety. This could be due to the better problem-solving skills associated with cognitive ability. However, cognitive ability was not related to the other four self-reported scales that assessed how individuals adjust their behavior when encountering obstacles, and how well they are able to modify and control their thoughts and emotions.

Social relationships are important predictors of many mental health problems, with lack of friends and interpersonal conflicts being a major source of distress (Wang et al., 2018). Except for receiving more support from friends, cognitive ability was unrelated to received support and strain from others, and the number of friends. Social relationships were therefore not relevant for the association between cognitive ability and mental health. Of the biological factors included in this study, cognitive ability was related to lower inflammation, but the biological factors were also not important for the association between cognitive ability and mental health. Similarly, some theories of intelligence suggest that the lower-level information processing might be the crucial factor underlying cognitive abilities, and reaction time has been suggested as one mechanism that might explain why higher cognitive ability predicts longevity (Deary & Der, 2005). However, reaction time did not help to explain why cognitive ability was related to better mental health.

Socioeconomic status may promote better mental health by presenting more resources and helping to buffer against life stressors. As previously reported by other studies (Ali et al., 2013; Cheng & Furnham, 2014), adjusting for socioeconomic status attenuated the association of cognitive ability with symptoms of depression and anxiety, but it accounted only for one-fifth of the association, which suggests that socioeconomic status may not be the main, or even major, factor in explaining the mental health associations of cognitive ability.

In addition to symptoms of depression and anxiety, cognitive ability was also related to higher psychological wellbeing, as measured by positive affect and life satisfaction. These associations were related mostly to the same covariates as depression and anxiety, but these covariates were more influential in explaining the associations with psychological wellbeing: coping styles, pleasant activities, and socioeconomic status each accounted for ~50% of the associations of cognitive ability. When adjusted for all the covariates together, cognitive ability was no longer independently associated with positive affect or life satisfaction. This implies that the covariates identified in this study were more important mechanisms for psychological wellbeing than for depression and anxiety.

Country-specific estimates of unintended pregnancy and abortion incidence: a global comparative analysis of levels in 2015–2019

Country-specific estimates of unintended pregnancy and abortion incidence: a global comparative analysis of levels in 2015–2019. Marc Bearak et al. BMJ Global Health, Vol 7, Iss 3. Mar 2022. https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e007151

Abstract

Introduction: Internationally comparable estimates of unintended pregnancy and abortion incidence can illuminate disparities in sexual and reproductive health and autonomy. Country-specific estimates are essential to enable international comparison, and to inform country-level policy and programming.

Methods We developed a Bayesian model which jointly estimated unintended pregnancy and abortion rates using information on contraceptive needs and use, contraceptive method mix, birth rates, the proportions of births from unintended pregnancies and abortion incidence data. Main outcomes were the estimated rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion for 150 countries and territories, reported for the 5-year period 2015–2019, as annual averages per 1000 women aged 15–49 years.

Results Estimated unintended pregnancy rates ranged from 11 (80% uncertainty interval: 9 to 13) in Montenegro to 145 (131 to 159) in Uganda per 1000 women aged 15–49 years. Between-country heterogeneity was substantial in all Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) regions, but was greatest in sub-Saharan Africa. Estimated abortion rates ranged from 5 (5 to 6) in Singapore to 80 (55 to 113) in Georgia. Variation between country estimates was similar in all SDG regions except for Europe and Northern America, where estimated abortion rates were generally lower.

Conclusion The estimates reflect variation in the degree to unintended pregnancy and abortion that are experienced in countries throughout the world. This evidence highlights the importance of investing in access to contraception and comprehensive abortion care, including in regions which may have lower rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion, respectively, as countries may differ substantially from regional averages.

Data availability statement: Data are available in a public, open access repository. All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplemental information.

Women who divorce face greater burdens because of decreased income and almost sole caring for children; why, then, do these women initiate divorce more and fare better psychologically after a divorce than men?

Why women choose divorce: An evolutionary perspective. Gillian Parker et al. Current Opinion in Psychology, Volume 43, February 2022, Pages 300-306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.07.020

Abstract: In Western dual-educated, male-female marriages, women who divorce face greater burdens because of decreased income and primary or sole responsibility for caring for children than men who divorce. Why, then, do these women initiate divorce more and fare better psychologically after a divorce than men? Here, we articulate an evolutionary mismatch perspective, informed by key findings in relationship science. We argue that mismatches between women's evolved preferences and configurations of modern marriage often clash, producing dissatisfaction. Women's unprecedented career ascendance also affords women ever more freedom to leave. We discuss pressures from social expectations for men and women that contribute to or compound these vulnerabilities. We conclude with key questions for future research, which can contribute to strategies for mitigating relationship dissatisfaction and the profound loss and pain that results from divorce.

Keywords: DivorceEvolutionary mismatchesGender rolesUnpaid laborMate preferences

Introduction

When people choose to get married, typically they do so with the intention of staying together forever — ‘till death do us part.’ Nevertheless, roughly half of marriages in the US end in divorce [1]. This is costly to all involved, particularly to women.

Post-divorce, within Western heterosexual couples, women experience a significant decrease in income compared to men [2,3], and their risk of falling below the poverty line skyrockets [4].1 In contrast, Western men's income decreases modestly [2,3] or increases [4]. Women often take sole or primary custody of children [5] and are less likely to remarry [6,7]. Therefore, divorce involves a compound burden for many women, juggling both paid labor and most of the unpaid childcare work with fewer resources than are typically available to divorced men. Despite these costs, women are more likely to initiate divorce [8,9] and report greater life satisfaction post-divorce [10,11] than men. This represents a paradox of contemporary, Western divorce. Given the greater costliness of marital dissolution for women, why are women more often its initiators and psychological beneficiaries?

Provisional answers exist in literature showing that physical abuse [12], financial problems [13,14], infertility [15], infidelity [15,16], and personality conflicts [17] contribute to divorce. Although it is important to understand relationship-level variables that can cause relationships to erode, which is typical in the literature, it can obscure the fact that divorce typically does not occur because a relationship falls apart; instead, it typically occurs because one partner decides to leave [18,9]. In addressing why women initiate divorce from men, we need to understand individual-level factors that differ between men and women.

Here, we use insights from evolutionary and relationship science to examine this paradox of woman-initiated divorce. We propose that women's unprecedented professional ascendance has created mismatches between women's evolved preferences and modern marriage. Although women's professional success has helped emancipate them politically and economically from men, it also makes women and men less interdependent, changing the benefits of marriage and the costs of dissolution. This perspective leads to new research questions. We posit that answering these questions will help to identify means of improving relationships by minimizing gaps created by mismatches.

Women in the workplace: a new feature of the modern world

Ancestrally, pregnancy and childcare are likely to have kept women close to home. This created a dependency for women on a partner's provisioning (e.g. food, shelter, other resources). All of our female ancestors were mothers, and motherhood was virtually guaranteed to sexually active women. Motherhood and dependence on men, for our female ancestors, were not choices that women had to make. Instead, they were simply a part of life.

Today, things are different. Women can control their fertility, plan families, and achieve professional goals. Women earn 57.3% of bachelor's degrees, 60.1% of master's degrees, and 53.5% of doctoral degrees [19] and makeup 51.5% of the paid workforce [20]. When women have the opportunity to support themselves and not depend on men, many take that path.

Women's participation in the paid workforce benefits individual and collective well-being. Women's earnings are linked with greater life satisfaction [21,22] and better health [23]. Having women as part of an economic talent pool also increases company earnings and shapes innovation [24]. However, women's workforce participation has also created a dramatic shift in their relationships with men. For millennia, women were dependent on men's provisioning for survival and reproduction, and now they are not.

Here, we seek to detail how mismatches and other rapid social changes can contribute to women's decisions to divorce. We are not arguing for a shift back to traditional gender roles — instead, we see opportunities to modify relationships in ways that can be helpful in reducing relationship conflict and promoting relationship harmony. We view this article as a starting point for understanding new sources of marital discord and considering possible solutions beneficial to women and men.

Symbolic quantitative cognition in wild zebrafish

Symbolic quantitative cognition in wild zebrafish (Danio rerio). Nawaf Abdul Majeed, Dhairrya Singh, Akshita Baiju Gopal, Tanya Battiwala, Ninaad Kulshreshtha, Rahulraj Mishra, Shagun Sabharwal, Madhusmita Behera, Manisha Sahu, Ameya Menon, Lalchhanhimi Bungsut, Amiya Walia, Raksha Saraf, Susan Mathew, Ashumi Shah, Suhaavi Kochhar, Nivedita Salar, Sushmita Thakuri, Yashant Sharma, Nishtha Rampuria, Anubhab Bhattacharjee, Niharika Wagh, Sahana Hegde, Indira Bulhan, Gurasheesh Singh,  Bittu Kaveri Rajaraman. bioRxiv, Mar 19 2022. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.17.484678

Abstract: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) constitute an excellent model system to investigate the neural and genetic basis of quantitative cognition because of the single neuron resolution of calcium imaging of awake, behaving fish. While nonsymbolic numerical cognition has been investigated across many taxa, symbolic numerical cognition has not been investigated among fish. We developed a novel quantitative symbolic test for zebrafish using an operant conditioning paradigm in which the number of horizontal lines zebrafish approached in a 2-alternative forced choice task predicted the number of food reward pellets they would receive. Zebrafish did not at the population level learn a preference for the 2-line stimulus predictive of receiving 2 food pellets. However, they performed significantly above chance in a nonsymbolic discrimination task with the same apparatus, in which the 2-line stimulus was associated with the same reward but the choice of the 1-line stimulus was not rewarded. We also explored the explanatory value of alternative spatial learning hypotheses such as a Win-Stay, Lose-Shift (WSLS) strategy at the individual level for fish in navigating these spatially randomised tasks. The implications of this for symbolic versus nonsymbolic quantitative cognition in this model system are discussed relative to reward type and stimulus modality.

Association between mutations constrained in our distant past and modern human behaviours suggest traits associated with mate choice are the same today as they were thousands of generations ago... or not!

Constrained human genes under scrutiny. A higher number of damaging variations in certain genes is associated with an increased likelihood that a man will be childless. A geneticist and an anthropologist discuss what can — and can’t — be learnt from this finding. Loic Yengo & Heidi Colleran. Nature, Mar 23 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00693-4

In brief:

• Some genes are constrained, which means that damaging variants of them are removed from the population by natural selection.

• Writing in Nature, Gardner et al.1 investigated the processes underlying this evolutionary process in humans.

• They report that having a high overall amount of damaging genetic variation in constrained genes is associated with childlessness in men.

• The association is linked to only 1% of the chance of childlessness between individuals, but to larger effects over many generations in a population.

• The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that having a greater burden of damaging genetic variation might affect a man’s ability to find a mating partner.

Narcissism and psychopathy were positively linked with higher sexual motivation, self-esteem, and assertiveness, & negatively related to anxiety & fear; in the end, they have more fun

Evidence for the superordinate predictive ability of trait psychopathy: The Dark Triad and quality of sexual life. Benedikt Steininger, Jakob Pietschnig. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 193, July 2022, 111620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111620

Abstract: Novel evidence indicates that quality of sexual life is linked to the Dark Triad personality traits. However, results of Dark Triad research have often remained unreplicated, thus questioning the validity of observed effects. Here, we conceptually replicate and extend previous findings on the links of the Dark Triad to the quality of sexual life (i.e., sexual self-concept and generalized sexual satisfaction components) in a large, community-based sample (N = 896, 72% women, mean age = 28.1 years). Participants completed online self-assessments of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and the quality of their sexual lives. Regression analyses showed that all dark traits were positively associated with higher sexual preoccupation, but narcissism and psychopathy were positively linked with higher sexual motivation, self-esteem, and assertiveness, yet negatively related to anxiety and fear. Higher Machiavellianism scores were linked to more negative emotions and lower sexual motivation, self-esteem, assertiveness, and satisfaction. While aversive personality traits were predictive of sexual self-concept and satisfaction, the superordinate predictive value of trait psychopathy raises concerns about the validity of the conceptualization of the Dark Triad as three overlapping, yet sufficiently distinct personality traits. We show that psychopathy appears to be the most important aversive personality trait driving quality of sexual life.

Keywords: Dark TriadNarcissismMachiavellianismPsychopathyQuality of sexual lifeSexual self-conceptReplication

4. Discussion

In the present study, we demonstrate non-trivial influences of dark personality traits on sexual self-concept, sexual satisfaction, and overall quality of sexual life. Excessive thinking about sex (i.e., sexual preoccupation) was positively linked to all dark traits. Effects were small to medium-sized and tended to be most pronounced for subclinical psychopathy. When inspecting the associative pattern by means of multiple regressions, only psychopathy meaningfully predicted being excessively preoccupied with sexual thoughts. This finding is consistent with previous research linking aspects of antisocial behavior, practices, as well as impulsivity to an increased preoccupation with sexuality (Lee & Forbey, 2010).

The motivation to be sexually active was linked to all dark traits (excepting Machiavellianism which only yielded effects for men). Therefore, while it seems conceivable that psychopathy and narcissism increase the desire for sexual interaction, Machiavellianism may not. This idea is consistent with previous research linking narcissism and psychopathy to an increased sex drive, which does not apply to Machiavellianism once the other dark traits are controlled for (Baughman et al., 2014). However, in our study only psychopathy was meaningfully and positively associated with the motivation to be sexually active when the other Dark Triad traits were simultaneously investigated.

Narcissism and psychopathy were both positively related to cognitive dimensions of SSC (i.e., sexual self-esteem and assertiveness), while Machiavellianism was not. In the multiple regression models, a negative relationship between Machiavellianism and sexual self-esteem, as well as assertiveness, could be observed in women. It thus appears that while narcissism and psychopathy may increase one's enjoyment of sexuality and the confidence to express one's sexual desires, Machiavellianism tends to have the opposite result in women, thereby possibly being obstructive to a satisfactory quality of sexual life. The same pattern was observed previously between Dark Triad traits and assertiveness (Petrides et al., 2011). This may mean that higher general assertiveness in those high in narcissism and psychopathy may also accompany higher sexual assertiveness, thereby contributing to an improved quality of sexual life.

Sexual anxiety and fear were negatively linked to narcissism and psychopathy, while they were positively associated with Machiavellianism in women and the overall sample. It seems plausible that those high in psychopathy are less prone to experience negative emotions related to their sexual lives, because of an inherent lack of fear and anxiety (e.g., Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996). Previous research demonstrated negative relationships between extraverted and antagonistic narcissism with fear (Sauls & Zeigler-Hill, 2020). It therefore appears that the tendentially carefree nature of those high in narcissism also extends into their sex lives. Contrarily, the increased amount of sexual anxiety and fear pertaining to those high in Machiavellianism is consistent with the previously discussed lower levels of sexual self-esteem and assertiveness, and suggests that for individuals high in Machiavellianism, sexual activity may be a source of stress and discomfort.

Narcissism in women as well as psychopathy in men and women was associated with a larger number of sexual partners. This finding conforms to recent evidence linking both psychopathy and narcissism to an increased number of sexual partners (Borráz-León & Rantala, 2021). In the multiple regression models, only psychopathy positively predicted the number of partners. Our observation of narcissism being virtually unrelated to the number of sexual partners in women and negatively associated with the number of sexual partners in men contrasts prior accounts of narcissism being moderately (and positively) correlated with sociosexuality in this group (Sevi, 2019). The positive association between psychopathy and number of lifetime sexual partners fits well to extant research linking psychopathy to higher sociosexuality (Burtăverde et al., 2021; Sevi, 2019).

In terms of the generalized satisfaction with sexual life, there was a trivial negative relationship with Machiavellianism in women and the overall sample, while it was positively, but weakly correlated with Psychopathy in men. When these traits were entered simultaneously in regression models, Machiavellianism meaningfully predicted sexual satisfaction negatively but psychopathy positively.

Here, narcissism and psychopathy were characterized by higher sexual preoccupation, sexual motivation, sexual self-esteem, sexual assertiveness, and, in turn, lower levels of sexual anxiety and fear. Additionally, those high in psychopathy indicated a greater number of lifetime sexual partners and a higher generalized satisfaction with their sexual lives. This may mean that people who are high in psychopathy and narcissism approach their sexuality with more self-confidence and positive feelings than others, while the personality traits can also to some extent be protective against negative emotions related to one's sexual life.

Regarding narcissism, these results fit well with previous findings linking narcissism to higher life satisfaction, positive affect, self-esteem, and subjective well-being (Aghababaei & Błachnio, 2015; Womick et al., 2019). The pattern appears to be less clear when it comes to psychopathy, which has been shown to be negatively linked to life satisfaction and flourishing (Van Groningen et al., 2021).

Conversely, those high in Machiavellianism, reported lower sexual self-esteem, sexual assertiveness, and satisfaction with their sexual lives. Machiavellianism was associated with higher levels of sexual anxiety and fear. In contrast to narcissism and psychopathy, Machiavellianism appears to be linked to increased negative emotions regarding the sexual aspects of life, which suggests a lower quality of sexual life. These findings corroborate previous findings linking Machiavellianism to various negative (sexuality-related) outcomes, like decreased relationship satisfaction (Brewer & Abell, 2017), engaging in sexual activity out of insecurity (Brewer & Abell, 2015), and lower subjective well-being as well as meaning in life (Womick et al., 2019).

However, inspecting the unique predictive value of the Dark Triad traits by means of multiple regressions, as has been argued in previous research (Furnham et al., 2013), raises another concern. In doing so, we found that trait psychopathy tended to be the most – and in some cases only – meaningful predictor of various subscales of SSC and the quality of sexual life. For example, when accounting for the shared variance between the Dark Triad, psychopathy remained the only meaningful predictor of sexual preoccupation, sexual motivation, and the number of lifetime sexual partners (unexpectedly excepting narcissism).

When comparing zero-order correlations with their respective multiple regression weights, the loss of predictive power of the narcissism construct in favor of psychopathy seems especially noteworthy, because it hints at the conceptual volatility of the conceptualization of the Dark Triad as three overlapping, yet sufficiently distinct traits, as initially proposed (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). For example, it has been often noted that neither narcissism nor Machiavellianism meaningfully predict outcome variables of interest, like malevolent behavior, once controlling for trait psychopathy (Muris et al., 2017). Furthermore, a single Dark Core – as opposed to a Dark Triad – has repeatedly been demonstrated to represent a better fitting conceptualization of the dark personality, with the Dark Core being predominantly driven by the psychopathy facets callousness and manipulation (e.g., Bertl et al., 2017), thereby once more hinting at the superordinate position of the psychopathy construct within the Dark Triad.

4.1. Limitations

Some limitations of the present study need to be acknowledged. On the one hand, we excluded participants who identified as homosexual and asexual, which limits the generalizability of our findings. However, these inclusion criteria were adopted to allow meaningful comparisons with the so far only available prior study about this topic (Pilch & Smolorz, 2019).

On the other hand, participants filled-in their self-reports online which necessarily entails the well-known drawbacks of online-administered questionnaires (e.g., no controlled environments, no possibility to check participant attention). However, this approach ultimately allowed us to recruit a comparatively large number of participants beyond mere student samples.

Finally, because we aimed at increasing comparability with the extant Dark Triad literature, we exclusively relied on the SRP-III as a measure of psychopathy. Considering the superordinate predictive ability of trait psychopathy regarding the quality of sexual life, future researchers may wish to compare different models and conceptualizations to increase our understanding of this link.

4.2. Conclusion

Here we show that Dark Triad traits are associated with increased sexual preoccupation. Participants scoring higher in narcissism and psychopathy are characterized by an overall better quality of sexual life, while individuals scoring high on Machiavellianism tend to report more negative sexuality-related outcomes, showing a lower quality of their sexual experience. Notwithstanding, when controlling for the shared variance between the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy appears to be the most potent predictor of SSC and quality of sexual life, ultimately questioning the incremental validity of the Dark Triad framework. Thus, psychopathy appears to be the most important aversive personality trait driving quality of sexual life.

Indigenous communities in Mexico are better able to escape predatory criminal rule when they are allowed to carve a space of autonomy through the institution of "usos y costumbres," without regular police, judiciary & multiparty elections

Magaloni, Beatriz and Gosztonyi, Kristóf and Thompson, Sarah, State-Evading Solutions to Violence: Organized Crime and Governance in Indigenous Mexico (January 12, 2022). SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4007565

Abstract: The monopoly of violence in the hands of the state is conceived as the principal vehicle to generate order. A problem with this vision is that parts of the state and its law enforcement apparatus often become extensions of criminality rather than solutions to it. We argue that one solution to this dilemma is to "opt out from the state." Using a multi-method strategy combining extensive qualitative research, quasi-experimental statistical analyses, and survey data, the paper demonstrates that indigenous communities in Mexico are better able to escape predatory criminal rule when they are legally allowed to carve a space of autonomy from the state through the institution of "usos y costumbres." We demonstrate that these municipalities are more immune to violence than similar localities where regular police forces and local judiciaries are in charge of law enforcement and where mayors are elected through multiparty elections rather than customary practices.

Keywords: Conflict, indigenous autonomy, violence, crime, state building, Latin America

Does losing money truly hurt? The shared neural bases of monetary loss and pain

Does losing money truly hurt? The shared neural bases of monetary loss and pain. Huixin Tan,Qin Duan,Yihan Liu,Xinyu Qiao,Siyang Luo. Human Brain Mapping, March 22 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25840

Abstract: Both monetary loss and pain have been studied for decades, but evidence supporting the relationship between them is still lacking. We conducted a meta-analysis to explore the overlapping brain regions between monetary loss and pain, including physical pain and social pain. Regardless of the type of pain experienced, activation of the anterior insula was a shared neural representation of monetary loss and pain. The network representation pattern of monetary loss was more similar to that of social pain than that of physical pain. In conclusion, our research provided evidence of the common neural correlates of monetary loss and pain.

4 DISCUSSION

Current research has shown that monetary loss shares common neural bases with pain. We found that monetary loss and pain, whether physical pain or social pain, engaged overlapping neural regions. Although monetary loss and physical pain coactivated the right AI and dorsal anterior cingulate, monetary loss and social pain coactivated the left AI, inferior occipital gyrus, and lingual gyrus. Furthermore, the neural representation of monetary loss was more similar to social pain than to physical pain. All these results provided persuasive evidence of common neural correlates of monetary loss and pain.

Regardless of the type of pain experienced, activation of the AI was a shared neural representation of monetary loss and pain. The AI is a multifunctional brain region that is involved in various cognitive, perceptual, and socio-affective processes (Clos, Rottschy, Laird, Fox, & Eickhoff, 2014; Kurth, Zilles, Fox, Laird, & Eickhoff, 2010). In particular, activation of the insula plays an important role in affective processing (Koelsch, Cheung, Jentschke, & Haynes, 2021). Therefore, coactivation of the AI might reflect that monetary loss and pain engaged an overlapping neural module of affective processing. Moreover, monetary loss and physical pain coactivated the right AI, whereas monetary loss and social pain coactivated the left AI. This result was consistent with previous findings that the AI was right-lateralized in connectivity with the postcentral gyrus and superior parietal lobule, which were part of the physical pain network (Kann, Zhang, Manza, Leung, & Li, 2016), whereas the left AI was part of memory and socioemotional networks (Clos et al., 2014), and the activation of the left AI was associated with maintaining the feelings of others in working memory (Smith et al., 2017).

The comparison of activation patterns used three algorithms and consistently showed that the monetary loss network was more similar to the social pain network than to the physical pain network. For individuals, money is not only a physical stimulus but also has rich emotional and social meanings to people, since money can arouse positive or negative emotions (Tang, 1992; Yu, Huang, Mao, & Luo, 2022), elicit individuals’ internal motivation (Lea & Webley, 2006), reduce the harm caused by low self-esteem (Zhang, 2009) and change the norms of interpersonal relationships (Vohs et al., 2008; Zaleskiewicz & Gasiorowska, 2016). Moreover, this result provided neural evidence of the social resource theory of money, in which money was regarded as a type of social resource, similar to social relationships, which might elicit pain and a sense of security (Zhou et al., 2009; Zhou & Gao, 2008).

We admitted that our research had several limitations. For one thing, results of similar analyses may be due to higher similarities in sensory system between monetary loss and social pain compared to physical pain. The reason was that the sensory system of physical pain was the somatomotor system while the sensory system of both monetary loss and social pain was the visual system. However, we excluded this possibility by replicating the similarity analyses without including the somatomotor and visual networks. We got similar results to the previous ones (Figures S3 and S4), suggesting that the neural representation of monetary loss shared more similarities with that of social pain beyond the level of sensory system. For another thing, our research investigated the shared neural bases underlying monetary loss and pain by exploring whether processing these two events involved overlapping neural regions while ignoring the possibility of the involvement of overlapping functional connectivities. Previous studies have reported that the processing of social stimuli and monetary stimuli recruits overlapping functional connectivities by investigating the relationship between social reward and monetary reward (Gu et al., 2019). However, we remained unclear whether the processing of monetary loss and social pain also involved overlapping functional connectivities. Future studies could use meta-analytic connectivity modeling to investigate the neural correlates of monetary loss and social pain from the perspective of functional connectivity.

Determined yet Dehumanized: People Higher in Self-control Are Seen as More Robotic

Lapka, Samantha, Franki Y. H. Kung, Justin P. Brienza, and Abigail Scholer. 2022. “Determined yet Dehumanized: People Higher in Self-control Are Seen as More Robotic.” PsyArXiv. March 23. doi:10.31234/osf.io/sp8aj

Abstract: Desire is part of human nature, and being vulnerable to desire is part of what differentiates humans from machines. However, individuals with high self-control—who demonstrate impressive resistance to their desires—may appear to lack such human vulnerability. We propose that people perceived as high in self-control tend to be dehumanized as more robotic, relating to potentially negative social consequences. Across 6 studies (N = 2,007), people perceived those higher in self-control as more robotic. Additionally, we found some evidence that this robotic-dehumanization was related to less interest in spending time with the high self-control person. This outcome was reliably linked to lower warmth perceptions which correlated with greater robotic-dehumanization. Together, our results offer new insights into the social dynamics of exhibiting high self-control.

Over the whole range of IQ, intelligence appears to have a small protective effect against every psychopathological condition considered

Shevchenko, Victoria, Ghislaine Labouret, Franck Ramus, and Hugo Peyre. 2022. “Predictive Capacity of IQ and Its Constituents for Psychopathology: A Study of the EDEN Cohort.” PsyArXiv. March 23. doi:10.31234/osf.io/nrf3y

Abstract: The objective of this study was to provide a more complete description of the potential relations between intelligence and psychopathology, over the entire IQ range. We relied on a longitudinal study named EDEN which provides data for a large cohort of children who were subject to regular follow-ups since birth. Firstly, we tested correlations between IQ indices and psychopathology. Secondly, we performed a correlation analysis between verbal/performance IQ discrepancy and psychopathology. Psychopathology was defined in terms of three conditions: internalizing disorder, conduct disorder and social problems. We hypothesized a presence of a relation between cognitive ability and the aforementioned conditions, but we refrained from putting forward a hypothesis on the sign of this relation given the variability of the existing literature. The results of the present study constitute weak evidence in favour of the alternative hypothesis.

Chimpanzees are very interested in their conspecifics' skulls, but what goes on in the chimpanzee's mind when they encounter those skulls remains unanswerable

Staring death in the face: chimpanzees' attention towards conspecific skulls and the implications of a face module guiding their behaviour. André Gonçalves, Yuko Hattori and Ikuma Adachi. Royal Society Open Science, March 2022. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210349

Abstract: Chimpanzees exhibit a variety of behaviours surrounding their dead, although much less is known about how they respond towards conspecific skeletons. We tested chimpanzees' visual attention to images of conspecific and non-conspecific stimuli (cat/chimp/dog/rat), shown simultaneously in four corners of a screen in distinct orientations (frontal/diagonal/lateral) of either one of three types (faces/skulls/skull-shaped stones). Additionally, we compared their visual attention towards chimpanzee-only stimuli (faces/skulls/skull-shaped stones). Lastly, we tested their attention towards specific regions of chimpanzee skulls. We theorized that chimpanzee skulls retaining face-like features would be perceived similarly to chimpanzee faces and thus be subjected to similar biases. Overall, supporting our hypotheses, the chimpanzees preferred conspecific-related stimuli. The results showed that chimpanzees attended: (i) significantly longer towards conspecific skulls than other species skulls (particularly in forward-facing and to a lesser extent diagonal orientations); (ii) significantly longer towards conspecific faces than other species faces at forward-facing and diagonal orientations; (iii) longer towards chimpanzee faces compared with chimpanzee skulls and skull-shaped stones, and (iv) attended significantly longer to the teeth, similar to findings for elephants. We suggest that chimpanzee skulls retain relevant, face-like features that arguably activate a domain-specific face module in chimpanzees' brains, guiding their attention.

5. Conclusion and future directions

We began this study with the central assumption that chimpanzee skulls are perceived like degraded chimpanzee faces and that they would likewise be subjected to the same biases. We proposed three working hypotheses: H1a, chimpanzees look longer at conspecific stimuli versus non-conspecific stimuli (conspecific stimuli > non-conspecific stimuli); H1b, chimpanzees look longer at frontal/diagonal conspecific stimuli versus laterally presented conspecific stimuli (frontal ≈ diagonal > lateral); H2, within conspecific stimuli, chimpanzees look longer at chimpanzee faces followed by skulls and stones (face > skull > stone) and H3, just as elephants direct their attention towards elephant tusks, likewise chimpanzees look longer at conspecific teeth versus other facial regions (teeth > eye ≈ nose). Overall, we found support for all three hypotheses. For H1a, chimpanzees exhibited significantly longer looking durations towards conspecific relative to non-conspecific stimuli when types were pooled (see electronic supplementary material, Data). They also looked significantly longer across most types (skull and face) and orientations (frontal and diagonal) except for stone stimuli (looking durations were relatively longer toward frontal chimpanzee stones, but the difference was only significant when compared for dog stones) reinforcing the ‘degraded face assumption'. For H1b, chimpanzees showed significantly longer looking durations for frontal/diagonal conspecific stimuli in comparison with laterally presented conspecific stimuli, again showing similar biases to previous facial research experiments. For H2, with the chimpanzee-only stimuli, the chimpanzees did look significantly longer at the chimpanzee faces compared with chimpanzee skulls and chimpanzee-shaped stones, but this dropped below significance when comparing the chimpanzee skull with the chimpanzee-shaped stone, although the direction of difference fitted our prediction further supporting the ‘degraded face assumption'. For H3, in the chimpanzee skull regions, our prediction that chimpanzees would look predominantly at the teeth compared with other areas was also upheld. They looked significantly longer at the teeth versus the eye socket and the nasal regions of the skull.

The combined results show support for our hypotheses and do suggest a connection between a domain-specific module in the chimpanzee brain directing their attention towards face-like stimuli. This face module evolved and develops within the context of face-to-face interactions (the likely reason all frontal conditions in our experiment, the chimpanzee stimuli received longer looking patterns overall). The skull contains relevant, albeit impoverished face-like features. This relationship is, of course, not incidental, as skulls support faces, but the attention towards skulls appears to be best explained as a by-product of a module originally evolved for decoding facial expressions. Perhaps notably, unlike wild chimpanzees, our captive subjects never interacted with conspecific skeletons. This suggests that, apart from learned associations, similar interest exhibited by their wild counterparts towards conspecific skulls might also be explained by the same recognition mechanism. To further decode the phylogeny of this face–skull relationship, future studies could compare naive human infants' performance in a similar task (1–3-year-olds familiar with human faces, but with no experience of human skulls). Another research avenue would be to replicate McComb et al.’s [12] experiment in the laboratory with the aid of a three-dimensional printer (skulls controlled for size and colour). Finally, neuroimaging studies could further address the precise connection between skull and face stimuli in the brain. The question put forth by Christophe Boesch, at the beginning of our paper, pondering what goes on in the chimpanzee's mind when they encounter conspecific skulls remains unanswerable. In the light of this study, our tentative answer must also, in the end, be phrased as a question: strange, yet familiar?

Do males know? Evidence-driven rainmaking of male bonobos to meet the fertile window of females

Do males know? Evidence-driven rainmaking of male bonobos to meet the fertile window of females. Heungjin Ryu, Chie Hashimoto, David A. Hill, Keiko Mouri, Keiko Shimizu, Takeshi Furuichi. bioRxiv, Mar 14 2022. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.13.483391

Abstract : Female bonobos exhibit prolonged receptivity. One suggested function of the prolonged receptivity is to lower male mating competition. However, it is questionable whether easier access to receptive females can reduce male-male competition, given the exclusive nature of male reproductive success. We tested whether males could determine a fertile phase of females. We found that ovulation probability predicted male mating effort. High-ranking males copulated with the female with higher fertility, and male-male agonistic interactions increased when there were fertile females in the party. When there were multiple females with maximal swelling, males concentrated their mating effort on a female with an older infant whose maximal swelling started earlier, and they continued mating efforts until detumescence (rainmaking). These findings suggest that male bonobos distinguish between fertile and non- fertile phases of females and that having more receptive females in the party does not reduce male-male competition for fertile females. Teaser males use the rainmaker’s rule to meet the periovulatory phase of the female bonobo for better reproductive success.

6- to 11-year old Han children: The youngest children showed a default tendency of honesty and there was an overall age-related shift toward a default tendency of dishonesty

The developmental origins of a default moral response: A shift from honesty to dishonesty. Liyang Sai, Siyuan Shang, Changzhi Zhao, Xinchen Liu, Yuanyuan Jiang, Brian J. Compton, Genyue Fu, Gail D. Heyman. Child Development, March 21 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13755

Abstract: People are sometimes tempted to lie for their own benefit if it would not harm others. For adults, dishonesty is the default response in these circumstances. The developmental origins of this phenomenon were investigated between 2019 and 2021 among 6- to 11-year-old Han Chinese children from China (N = 548, 49% female). Children had an opportunity to win prizes in a behavioral economics game (Experiment 1) or a temptation resistance game adapted from developmental psychology (Experiment 2). In each experiment, the youngest children showed a default tendency of honesty and there was an overall age-related shift toward a default tendency of dishonesty. These findings provide direct evidence of developmental change in the automatic and controlled processes that underlie moral behavior.

Are humans ever truly altruistic? Or are all actions, however noble, ultimately motivated by self-interest?

Belief in Altruistic Motives Predicts Prosocial Actions and Inferences. Ryan W. Carlson, Jamil Zaki. Psychological Reports, May 26, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941211013529

Abstract: Are humans ever truly altruistic? Or are all actions, however noble, ultimately motivated by self-interest? Psychologists and philosophers have long grappled with this question, but few have considered laypeople’s beliefs about the nature of prosocial motives. Here we examine these beliefs and their social correlates across two experiments (N = 445). We find that people tend to believe humans can be, and frequently are, altruistically motivated—echoing prior work. Moreover, people who more strongly believe in altruistic motives act more prosocially themselves—for instance, sacrificing greater amounts of money and time to help others—a relationship that holds even when controlling for trait empathy. People who believe in altruistic motives also judge other prosocial agents to be more genuinely kind, especially when agents’ motives are ambiguous. Lastly, people independently show a self-serving bias—believing their own motives for prosociality are more often altruistic than others’. Overall, this work suggests that believing in altruistic motives predicts the extent to which people both see altruism and act prosocially, possibly reflecting the self-fulfilling nature of such lay theories.

Keywords: Altruism, self-interest, lay theories, prosocial behavior, social cognition

Socioeconomics and Erotic Inequity: A Theoretical Overview and Narrative Review of Associations Between Poverty, Socioeconomic Conditions, and Sexual Wellbeing

Socioeconomics and Erotic Inequity: A Theoretical Overview and Narrative Review of Associations Between Poverty, Socioeconomic Conditions, and Sexual Wellbeing. Jenny A. Higgins,Madison Lands,Mfonobong Ufot &Sara I. McClelland. The Journal of Sex Research, Mar 18 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2044990

Abstract: Sexual health includes positive aspects of sexuality and the possibility of having pleasurable sexual experiences. However, few researchers examine how socioeconomic conditions shape sexual wellbeing. This paper presents the concept of “erotic equity,” which refers to how social and structural systems enable, or fail to enable, positive aspects of sexuality. In part one, we use this concept to consider potential pathways through which socioeconomic conditions, especially poverty, may shape sexuality. Part two builds from this theoretical framework to review the empirical literature that documents associations between socioeconomics and sexual wellbeing. This narrative review process located 47 studies from more than 22 countries. Forty-four studies indicated that individuals who reported more constrained socioeconomic conditions, primarily along the lines of income, education, and occupation, also reported poorer indicators of sexual wellbeing, especially satisfaction and overall functioning. Most studies used unidimensional measures of socioeconomic status, treating them as individual-level control variables; few documented socioeconomics as structural pathways through which erotic inequities may arise. Based on these limitations, in part three we make calls for the integration of socioeconomic conditions into sexuality researchers’ paradigms of multi-level influences on sexuality.

Discussion and Recommendations

Strong but Contextually Limited Associations Between Socioeconomic Conditions and Sexual Wellbeing

In this paper, we established theoretical and conceptual pathways through which socioeconomic conditions, including poverty, may shape people’s experience of their sexual wellbeing. We then built upon this foundation to closely examine the empirical literature documenting economics and sexual wellbeing. In this narrative review of empirical research, we found overwhelmingly that poorer economic conditions were positively associated with lower levels of sexual wellbeing. By drawing out secondary or buried findings within these studies, we helped establish an evidence base for relationships between economics and erotic inequity. In sum, connections between economic conditions and sexual wellbeing are not just a likely hypothesis but an empirically documented phenomenon at the individual level. Moreover, these relationships were consistent across high and low-income countries, although studies did not allow for much relative comparison across cultural settings. However, these findings were usually stripped of the contexts, both material and nonmaterial, in which poverty causes these relationships.

Indeed, we encountered a critical discrepancy between our conceptual framework and the literature included in the empirical review. Exceedingly few of the 47 articles documented or commented on socioeconomic status as a series of structures through which these inequities arise. The articles largely treated socioeconomic status as a single-domain (e.g., income), individual-level independent variable. They also tended to use unidimensional, often Western-developed indicators of sexual wellbeing, such as FSFI scores.1 We encourage future researchers to take more complex, multi-domain approaches to measuring sexual wellbeing and the economic conditions that impact it. Along similar lines, while dozens of articles in this review report on associations between socioeconomic and sexuality measures, few considered or documented the pathways through which these disparities originated and developed. Nor did most research document the local contexts from which their findings emerged. These absences leave us with few tools for how to address inequities or how to measure, assess, and document relationships between poverty and sexual wellbeing that account for the complexities above. These absences may also perpetuate the notion that sexual experiences are cultural or personal, not structural (see McClelland, 2010 for discussion).

An Agenda for Future Research on Poverty and Erotic Inequity

To at least some extent, more qualitative and mixed-methods research could assist with understanding these pathways. For example, Muhanguzi’s (2015) focus groups with women living in poverty in Uganda documented their reports of heavy workload and fatigue and their own understanding of how these conditions undermined sexual wellbeing and importantly, offer ideas for intervention beyond the woman herself. This study also documented ways in which poor women had sexual agency within the constraints of poverty, highlighting positive aspects of these women’s sexual experiences versus portraying them in a solely negative light. While less directly about poverty, McDaid et al. (2019) used in-depth interviews to shed light on how economically deprived Scottish men and women come to equate sexual health merely with STI and pregnancy prevention versus positive aspects of sexual wellbeing (McDaid et al., 2019). They illustrated starkly different gendered pathways through which men and women develop expectations regarding sexual respect and freedom from violence. Such qualitative studies can help locate findings in the local cultural contexts in which sexual experiences, both physical and psychological, unfold.

High-quality longitudinal studies could also shed light on how sexual inequities develop and evolve over time. For example, in an article included in this review, Cheng and colleagues (2014) analyzed several waves of data among young 6,416 young women in the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. These data suggest that socioeconomics can shape sexual wellbeing during adolescence, but also that sexual wellbeing at younger ages may influence later-life income and education, highlighting the potential for bidirectional and multidirectional relationships over the life course.

While most articles in this review understandably focused on individual level measures, sexuality is a dyadic, familial, and social process. Those studies that did measure partner and family-level variables often found associations with sexual wellbeing, underscoring the importance of intimate relationships and family environments in shaping sexual trajectories. One of the few ecological studies (Cranney, 2017) linked population-level sexual satisfaction average scores to economic development and per capita income.

Along similar lines, we would suggest more studies of how communities, nations, and even histories of colonization shape relationships between socioeconomic and sexual wellbeing. For example, research on sexual wellbeing could be improved by integrating more anthropological approaches to examine the contexts of poverty and economic conditions in which people live their lives, including their sexual lives. Structural and institutional-level ideas could balance the enormous focus in sexuality research on behavior-based, identity-based, and individual-level research. Inspiring examples of the former can be found in the social science literature regarding power, culture, structure, and HIV/AIDS (Dworkin & Ehrhardt, 2007; Farmer et al., 1993; Gómez & Marín, 1996; Pulerwitz et al., 2002). For example, anthropologist public health scholars have examined how systems of globalization, oppression, law, homophobia, and sexism are far more useful in understanding and addressing HIV/AIDS transmission than sociodemographic indicators alone (Farmer et al., 2019; Hirsch et al., 2002; Parker, 2001). Further, comparative scholarship across multiple geographic settings could help highlight some of the sociocultural and structural factors at play in driving erotic inequities. Sexual wellbeing is a neglected but important part of public health, and there is value in documenting the socioeconomic policies of nation states in relation to all aspects of wellbeing, including sexual wellbeing.

Future research would also benefit greatly from more intersectional approaches. We as sexuality researchers must consider socioeconomic status in relationship to race and ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, nation, and other inequities with strong influences on sexual bodies. In an example of one potential intersection, social privilege and power operate in such a way that people from privileged groups (e.g., white, straight, cisgender, male U.S. citizens) receive higher income on average than members of structurally oppressed groups. We chose deliberately to examine one axis of inequality here given its absence in prior research, but multilevel studies will be important. At the same time, we caution that interaction terms alone will not accurately capture the lived experiences of communities who experience multiple oppressions, as explored fully in the scholarship of Lisa Bowleg and others (Bowleg, 2008).

Finally and relatedly, like any sexuality research, this field of study must both include and focus on more diverse samples in terms of gender identity, sexual identity, and racial identity. The literature we included in our narrative review overwhelmingly drew from white, cisgender, heterosexual populations. This sample homogeneity perpetuates invisibility of, and injustice to, structurally disadvantaged people and communities. It also significantly limited the scope of what we might learn about pathways to sexual wellbeing – a limitation highlighted in other reviews (Boydell et al., 2021). Trans and gender-diverse people, people of color, and queer people often face heightened rates of discrimination and as a result, economic vulnerability (Carpenter et al., 2020). Initiatives must focus on institutional violence based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and race, including violence in schools, juvenile homes and prisons, and seek ways to make these institutions more accountable.

Limitations

A primary limitation of any methodical review of the literature is that we may have missed articles using our search terms, even with attempts to reach out to colleagues in the sexuality field for additional titles not captured through our systematic search process. Fortunately, the narrative review approach does not demand the same degree of exactitude as a meta-analysis, but rather is designed to provide a more conceptual overview of the literature on an emerging topic. Given the overwhelming consistency of our findings (e.g., more than 90% of articles documenting the same direction of association), we have confidence in the more general conclusions we drew from our analyses, despite the likelihood of at least some overlooked publications. As we described above, another limitation of this paper is the disjuncture between the theoretical pathways in part one and the narrative review results in part two. Synthesizing these two very different bodies of literature was challenging. Despite this, we humbly remain committed to our overall project of both theoretically and empirically building the concept of erotic equity and its connections with socioeconomic conditions, especially poverty.

Neural Representations of the Committed Romantic Partner

Neural Representations of the Committed Romantic Partner in the Nucleus Accumbens. Ryuhei Ueda, Nobuhito Abe. Psychological Science, November 25, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211021854

Abstract: Having an intimate romantic relationship is an important aspect of life. Dopamine-rich reward regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), have been identified as neural correlates for both emotional bonding with the partner and interest in unfamiliar attractive nonpartners. Here, we aimed to disentangle the overlapping functions of the NAcc using multivoxel pattern analysis, which can decode the cognitive processes encoded in particular neural activity. During functional MRI scanning, 46 romantically involved men performed the social-incentive-delay task, in which a successful response resulted in the presentation of a dynamic and positive facial expression from their partner and unfamiliar women. Multivoxel pattern analysis revealed that the spatial patterns of NAcc activity could successfully discriminate between romantic partners and unfamiliar women during the period in which participants anticipated the target presentation. We speculate that neural activity patterns within the NAcc represent the relationship partner, which might be a key neural mechanism for committed romantic relationships.

Keywords: functional MRI, reward, romantic love, social cognition, value

A more physically attractive target reduces participants' intentions to use a condom by increasing their desire for sex via lowering their perceptions of risk

A Preliminary Investigation Into Women’s Sexual Risk-taking That Could Lead to Unintended Pregnancy. Sylis Claire A. Nicolas & Lisa L. M. Welling. Evolutionary Psychological Science, Mar 21 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-022-00319-y

Abstract: A great deal of research has focused on women’s attention to the physical and behavioral cues of potential romantic partners. Comparatively little work has investigated how these cues influence women’s sexual risk-taking. The current study investigated the relationship between women’s perceptions of various factors associated with their partner’s genetic or investment quality, and women’s risky sexual behaviors (i.e., behaviors that could lead to unintended pregnancy). This work also investigated the influence of estimated menstrual cycle phase using a between-subject design. Analyses failed to reveal menstrual cycle effects, but women reported a greater tendency to engage in risky sexual behaviors when they had more physically attractive partners and when they use sexual inducements as a mate retention strategy. Also, conception-risking behaviors occurred most often when the woman reported being more socially dominant and she reported being less upset by a potential pregnancy. Moreover, the self-reported likelihood that women would carry an unintended pregnancy to term with their partner was predicted by feeling less upset by a potential pregnancy, taking fewer social risks, religiosity, and by more favorable ratings of their partners’ masculinity. These results are discussed in line with evolutionary theory surrounding mate choice.

People generally assume that they will be better persons 5 to 8 years from now

Oyserman, Daphna, and Eric Horowitz. 2022. “Future Self to Current Action: Integrated Review and Identity-based Motivation Synthesis.” PsyArXiv. March 20. doi:10.31234/osf.io/24wvd

Abstract: We comprehensively reviewed and organized the literature examining the relationship between future selves and current action. We distinguish studies focused on possible selves, self-gap, and self-continuity, which focus on different aspects of the future self, make distinct predictions and provide conflicting results. We use the dynamic construction, action-readiness, and procedural-readiness components of identity-based motivation (IBM) theory to make sense of these findings. In doing so, we shift focus from what future me is—positive or negative, close or distant, continuous or discontinuous with current me—to what future me does. We make three predictions regarding when people maintain present-focused action and when they switch to future-focused action. People maintain present-focused action if (1) future me is not on the mind or feels irrelevant to current choices or (2) they understand difficulties taking future-focused action as low value or low odds of success. (3) In contrast, they shift to future-focused action if future me feels relevant to current choices and difficulties taking future-focused action seem to imply the value of doing so.