Sexual availability cues were judged most effective flirtation tactic when employed by women in short-term mating contexts, while laughing or giggling at someone's jokes was judged an effective flirtation tactic for both sexes

Perceived Effectiveness of Flirtation Tactics: The Effects of sex, Mating Context and Individual Differences in US and Norwegian Samples. Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair et al. Evolutionary Psychology, March 25, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049221088011

Abstract: Flirting involves various signals communicated between individuals. To attract potential mates, men and women exhibit flirtatious behavior to get the attention of, and potentially elicit sexual or romantic interest from, a desired partner. In this first large, preregistered study of judgement of the effectiveness of flirtation tactics based on Sexual Strategies Theory, we considered the effects of flirter’s (actor) sex and mating contexts in addition to rater's (participant) sex across two cultures, Norway and the U.S. Culturally relevant covariates such as sociosexuality, extraversion, mate value, age, and religiosity were examined. Participants from Norway (N = 415, 56% women) and the US (N = 577, 69% women) responded to one of four different randomized questionnaires representing a factorial design considering either short-term versus long-term mating context and either female or male sex of actor. We found that sexual availability cues were judged more effective when employed by women in short-term mating contexts. Friendly contact, such as hugs or kissing on the cheek, was not. Cues to generosity and commitment were judged more effective when employed by men in long-term mating contexts. Humor was rated as more effective when used by men and in long-term contexts, and least effective when used by women in short term contexts. However, laughing or giggling at someone's jokes was an effective flirtation tactic for both sexes. Overall, predictions for culturally relevant covariates were not supported, but cultural differences were found in bodily displays, initial contact, and generosity. These findings dovetail neatly with findings from the self-promotion literature, and further support that flirtation is a universal mate signaling strategy.

Keywords: flirtation, sexual strategies theory, commitment, sexual availability, mate value, extraversion, sociosexuality, religiosity

Discussion

This large-scale study attempts to measure the perceived efficacy of flirtation tactics across two cultures using Sexual Strategies Theory (SST), and provides valuable insights into flirting based on sex, mating context, and culture. There was consensus across the sexes as to which flirtation tactics are most effective and in which mating context they are most effective. In addition, the most robust SST hypotheses are supported in this study, in both samples as well as the total sample, dovetailing neatly with the findings from the work on other mate acquisition tactics (Bendixen & Kennair, 2015; Schmitt & Buss, 1996), most recently in a Greek cultural context (Apostolou, Wang, & Gavriilidou, 2021). It also supports the established research on humor's role in attraction and mate value.

As was predicted (H1), flirtation tactics that included cues to sexual availability such as displaying the body, dressing sexy, and sexualized physical contact were judged as more effective when they are employed by women in a short-term mating context. Less sexual, friendly contact was not. The taxonomy of flirtation tactics has therefore become more finely differentiated with the post hoc analyses in this study, highlighting how different types of contact seeking behavior may be perceived as more or less friendly or sexual. It is important to note that H1 was formulated with more sexually laden physical contact behaviors in mind, and that the more the behaviors were in line with that reasoning the larger the sex difference was and thus the more the prediction was supported.

Additionally (H2–H4), flirtation tactics that included cues to generosity and commitment, like intimate conversation and spending time together, were judged as more effective when they were employed in a long-term mating context, specifically by men. In line with SST, both sex and mating context are relevant for flirtation tactics, especially these most robust predictions based on previous research. Overall, these data thus support work initiated by Schmitt and Buss (1996), creating consistency of findings on the effectiveness of different mate acquisition tactics within specific domains across time and culture.

The prediction that seeking attention and contact through comments, chats, and compliments would be more effective in a short-term context (H5) was not supported. However, these comments and compliments may be perceived, particularly by women, as a form of investment, just as intimate conversations were. Women did find these effective in a long-term context, just as they did intimate conversations. Verbal investment or committed attention, such as light conversations/chats, compliments, random comments, and texts, even if it is not prolonged or intimate, may signal continued (even if small) investment. Hess, Fannin, and Pollom (2007) identified three strategies men and women used for increasing closeness in romantic relationships; openness (willingness to share personal information, to seek out and share time together), attention (attending to and trying to remember the other's messages), and involvement (making the effort to be alone with the other). It is this effect that committed attention has on closeness that may be key to it being perceived as effective in long-term contexts.

The differences in humor (H6) were particularly interesting, even if they were expected. Humor production was rated as more effective when used by men and more effective in long-term contexts, and the least effective when used by women in short-term contexts. However, responding to humor through laughing or giggling (H7) was considered an equally effective flirtation tactic for both men and women. Laughing at someone's jokes, regardless of whom they are, is seen as effective flirting. In addition, there was no support for participant sex differences in perceptions of flirtation tactics (H8). Male participants did not find sexual availability tactics more effective than women.

Individual Differences

Overall, the predictions on individual differences, such as sociosexuality, extraversion, mate value, and religiosity, were not supported (H9–H12). More importantly, for the whole sample, the associations between these four variables and flirtation tactics were very small (see Table 5). Of these variables, sociosexuality showed the greatest effects. Yet, even then, the effect was small and it did not moderate the effects of other predictors. This is in line with Bendixen and Kennair (2015), who found significant associations with SOI and increased perceived effectiveness of sexual availability tactics on the one hand and reduced perceived effectiveness of signaling love and commitment tactics on the other. Further, Howell, Etchells, and Penton-Voak (2012) found that people high in sociosexuality, regardless of sex, perceived potential mates as more flirtatious. One would expect that those high in SOI would rate any number of tactics as more effective for flirting, and yet the strongest association was found in unrestricted participants rating generosity somewhat less effective. One issue here may be context. While Penke and Asendorpf (2008) studied flirting and SOI, they assumed this was with the goal of short-term mating, an assumption specifically acknowledged in a footnote in the study. In this study, flirting behaviors that were rated as more effective in long-term contexts in the sample as a whole were rated (albeit slightly) lower in effectiveness as SOI rose. If high SOI individuals do flirt with the express goal of short-term mating as Penke and Asendorpf (2008) assumed, their ratings would (and do) shift in this direction based on mating context. However, this still does not explain the lack of clear-cut differences in SOI ratings by mating context in the sample. Mating context may not have mattered for SOI ratings since short-term mating may be used to test for long-term mate potential (Schmitt & Buss, 1993). Overall, restricted as well as unrestricted individuals may be flirting to secure long-term mates. However, the individual factors may be primarily relevant for participants when they themselves are in a flirting situation.

Cultural Differences

It is important to note that some cultural differences were found in perceived flirting effectiveness. In particular, the US sample rated bodily displays and initial contact as more effective flirting techniques. The US participants also rated generosity as an effective strategy, but particularly male generosity in long-term mating contexts. While the U.S. and Norway may be expected to be similar, as they are both WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) samples (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010), they do meaningfully diverge on aspect relevant to the current topic; especially on gender equality, sexual liberalism (sociosexuality) and religiosity as found in this and in a comparable previous study (Bendixen et al., 2017). This may provide an interesting, albeit indirect insight; that some variation persists even in cultures meeting the restrictive criteria of WEIRD samples, and further investigation could identify specific cultural factors (like the items listed above) that trigger similar behavioral patterns in other cultures. However, these current research findings show that this cultural variation is overshadowed by consistent differences based on sex and mating context. Limitations and future research

Despite being a pre-registered study, the factorial design with participants being randomly assigned to one of four conditions, and having previous research to build upon, there are limitations involved in how specific such a plan for research is specified. In the current project we noticed that we should have been more detailed in how we defined specific groups of tactics: the factor analysis thus is post hoc and more specific than the preregistration. However, the preliminary analyses of the Norwegian results panned out in the American data. Thus, we have an internal replication; there were no interactions with nation. The universality and replicability of the current findings needs to be addressed in future studies, preferably employing non-WEIRD samples (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010). The current research included heterosexual participants only, which some might think is also a limitation. However, recent research with United States and Canadian participants indicates that sexual orientation does not predict flirting techniques (Clark, Oswald, & Pedersen, 2021).

Regarding the individual characteristics studied: SOI, mate value, extraversion, and religiosity, it appears that the hypothetical nature of the study plays a key role. Participants appear to be able to discern the effectiveness of a flirtation tactic regardless of their tendency or desire to engage in said tactic. While this seems like an obscure or insignificant observation, this is important for research in sexuality, especially in younger samples; a participant does not have to be actively engaging in a romantic or sexual behavior to recognize its effectiveness. In fact, by framing the study in this way, researchers can remove obstacles that are found in studying performed behaviors. For example, Penke and Asendorpf (2008) found that behaviors in high SOI individuals were limited by their relationship status and their partners’ sexual preferences. Those limitations were removed in this current experimental framework.

There are many diverse possible behaviors that may be included under the heading of flirtation tactics (Wade & Feldman, 2016). While some of these are verbal and others non-verbal, still others may be categorized according to different domains of content, such as generosity or sexual availability, as in this study. While the current work attempted to organize and categorize a varied cache of flirtation tactics, more work on the taxonomy of the many possible different flirtation tactics is warranted, building on the current factor analysis. In addition, the combination of these categories can be explored. Men and women often combine tactic categories to test and increase their effectiveness; men may combine generosity and intimate conversation to indicate multileveled investment, women may combine laughing at jokes and physical touch to indicate interest more effectively. These combinations warrant further study. Such combination might also include the added effect of a factor that seemed fundamental in the Norwegian dataset, but that, alas, was not included in the American study: Smiling and establishing eye contact. These and other more precise future predictions will be informed by better defined groups of tactics.

Social media use is not linked to greater belief in political misinformation

Social Media and Belief in Misinformation in Mexico: A Case of Maximal Panic, Minimal Effects? Sebastián Valenzuela, Carlos Muñiz, Marcelo Santos. The International Journal of Press/Politics, March 24, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221088988

Abstract: Contrary to popular narratives, it is not clear whether using social media for news increases belief in political misinformation. Several of the most methodologically sound studies find small to nonexistent effects. However, extant research is limited by focusing on few platforms (usually Facebook, Twitter or YouTube) and is heavily U.S. centered. This leaves open the possibility that other platforms, such as those that rely on visual communication (e.g., Instagram) or are tailored to strong-tie network communication (e.g., WhatsApp), are more influential. Furthermore, the few studies conducted in other countries suggest that social media use increases political misperceptions. Still, these works use cross-sectional designs, which are ill suited to dealing with omitted variable bias and temporal ordering of processes. Using a two-wave survey fielded in Mexico during the 2021 midterm elections (N = 596), we estimate the relationship between frequency of news exposure on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, and belief in political misinformation, while controlling for both time-invariant and time-dependent individual differences. In contrast to political discussion, information literacy and digital skills, none of the social platforms analyzed exhibits a significant association with misinformed beliefs. We also tested for possible indirect, moderated, and reciprocal relationships, but none of these analyses yielded a statistically significant result. We conclude that the study is consistent with the “minimal media effects” paradigm, which suggests that efforts to address misinformation need to go beyond social platforms.

Keywords: misinformation, misperceptions, social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Mexico, Elections‌, panel survey

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.