Meta-analysis: The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by only a small increase in loneliness

Ernst, M.eyt al. (2022). Loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review with meta-analysis. American Psychologist, May 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0001005

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and measures aimed at its mitigation, such as physical distancing, have been discussed as risk factors for loneliness, which increases the risk of premature mortality and mental and physical health conditions. To ascertain whether loneliness has increased since the start of the pandemic, this study aimed to narratively and statistically synthesize relevant high-quality primary studies. This systematic review with meta-analysis was registered at PROSPERO (ID CRD42021246771). Searched databases were PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library/Central Register of Controlled Trials/EMBASE/CINAHL, Web of Science, the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 database, supplemented by Google Scholar and citation searching (cutoff date of the systematic search December 5, 2021). Summary data from prospective research including loneliness assessments before and during the pandemic were extracted. Of 6,850 retrieved records, 34 studies (23 longitudinal, 9 pseudolongitudinal, 2 reporting both designs) on 215,026 participants were included. Risk of bias (RoB) was estimated using the risk of bias in non-randomised studies—of interventions (ROBINS-I) tool. Standardized mean differences (SMD, Hedges’ g) for continuous loneliness values and logOR for loneliness prevalence rates were calculated as pooled effect size estimators in random-effects meta-analyses. Pooling studies with longitudinal designs only (overall N = 45,734), loneliness scores (19 studies, SMD = 0.27 [95% confidence interval = 0.14–0.40], Z = 4.02, p < .001, I 2 = 98%) and prevalence rates (8 studies, logOR = 0.33 [0.04–0.62], Z = 2.25, p = .02, I 2 = 96%) increased relative to prepandemic times with small effect sizes. Results were robust with respect to studies’ overall RoB, pseudolongitudinal designs, timing of prepandemic assessments, and clinical populations. The heterogeneity of effects indicates a need to further investigate risk and protective factors as the pandemic progresses to inform targeted interventions.

Public Significance Statement: This synthesis of international research with a focus on longitudinal study designs shows small, but robust increases in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic across gender and age groups. As loneliness jeopardizes mental and physical health, these findings indicate that public health responses to the continuing pandemic should include monitoring of feelings of social connectedness and further research into risk and protective factors.

Keywords: COVID-19, loneliness, mental health, pandemic, social isolation

Discussion

The main aim of this study was to summarize the most recent high-quality evidence for changes in loneliness in association with the COVID-19 pandemic in a systematic and rigorous way. The statistical synthesis focused on longitudinal study designs. The robustness of the results was tested and predictors of change in loneliness were also explored. Based on the pooled effect sizes of 19 studies, an overall increase in loneliness since the start of the pandemic (SMD = 0.27 [0.14–0.40] for continuous measures) was found. This constitutes a small (Cohen, 1992; Ferguson, 2009) effect, which was also heterogeneous. An exploratory metaregression was modeled to statistically explain the observed variation.

The confidence in the finding that there has been an increase in loneliness—albeit small—during the pandemic is strengthened by the results of the sensitivity analyses, the inclusion of only high-quality and longitudinal research in the meta-analyses, the relatively large number of studies with a pooled sample of 45,734 participants, and the lack of any indication of publication bias.

A previous rapid review and meta-analysis (Prati & Mancini, 2021) reported small increases in mental distress (overall g = 0.17) based on longitudinal studies. It also included three studies concerning loneliness conducted in spring 2020 (Luchetti et al., 2020; Niedzwiedz et al., 2021; Tull et al., 2020), only one of which (Niedzwiedz et al., 2021) could be included in the main analyses of this review (another one (Luchetti et al., 2020) was included in a sensitivity analysis). Their synthesis showed no statistically significant change in loneliness (g = 0.12, p = .34). The present study expands on this rapid review by including more original studies from different countries with assessments later in the pandemic.

Another recent systematic review (Buecker & Horstmann, 2021), which did not synthesize its findings meta-analytically, reported based on 12 studies (three of which were included in this review (Bu et al., 2020; Heidinger & Richter, 2020; van Tilburg et al., 2020)) that most longitudinal investigations found increases in loneliness during the pandemic, which corresponds to the present findings. Studies showing decreasing loneliness had overwhelmingly relied on prepandemic assessments conducted shortly before the implementation of physical distancing, while those with comparison data from months or years before the pandemic had observed increased loneliness during the pandemic.

The present study extends previous knowledge on changes in loneliness during the pandemic; however, the observed increase needs to be interpreted with caution: On the one hand, loneliness can be considered a normal, nonpathological reaction to changing circumstances and many people experience it at some point in their lives. On the other hand, previous research has shown that particularly sustained or chronic loneliness jeopardizes mental and physical health (Cacioppo et al., 2015; National Academies of Science, Engineering, & Medicine, 2020), and the ongoing pandemic and associated restrictions could compromise lonely individuals’ efforts to reconnect with others (Qualter et al., 2015).

Furthermore, the overall pooled effect in this study was small and the effect sizes reported by the individual studies were heterogeneous. The numerical values of effect size indices often provide limited understanding of the real-world significance of those effects, as even statistically small effects can be of high importance (e.g., Meyer et al., 2001). Interestingly, the most rigorous analysis (the sensitivity analyses that included only longitudinal study designs and studies with moderate RoB) showed a larger pooled effect size than the main analyses. This mirrors findings of the metaregression, in which studies’ higher RoB was negatively associated with the observed effect sizes. Taken together, these results suggest that the pooled effect in the present study might underestimate effects in at-risk populations.

The heterogeneity of effects might stem from the diversity of study characteristics included in prior research (e.g., age groups, healthy and clinical populations, regions, study designs, and loneliness measures). However, the fact that the metaregression accounted for less than a third of observed variance suggests that other factors may influence the different trajectories of loneliness in the pandemic context. As some original studies failed to report on previously identified vulnerable groups (e.g., individuals living alone), these could not be tested as predictors. Hence, more high-quality studies that assess risk and protective factors are needed so that their relevance can be assessed across samples. This is an important step to inform targeted prevention efforts.

The metaregression identified age, clinical populations, and studies’ overall RoB as predictors of increases in loneliness, but only overall RoB had statistically significant effects. However, the analysis might have been underpowered as it was not possible to test all predictors of interest simultaneously. While neither of two other available reviews conducted a metaregression to explore characteristics associated with changes in loneliness (Buecker & Horstmann, 2021; Prati & Mancini, 2021), Prati and Mancini (2021) explored, using metaregression, predictors of increases in mental health symptoms during the pandemic. They found no effects of mean age, gender, or study design, either. More research is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying observed changes in loneliness. They could include response biases such as social desirability or the perceived de-stigmatization of loneliness: learning that loneliness is an experience shared by many during the pandemic might make it easier to acknowledge and disclose one’s social needs.

Another question that should be addressed is whether changes in loneliness are primarily driven by changes in perceived relationship quality or quantity, and if this differs according to individual characteristics or in subpopulations (e.g., age groups). As a consequence, efforts aimed at preventing or reducing loneliness could pursue different strategies. For example, individuals who are lonely because they are socially isolated and have few contacts might benefit from programs fostering exchange, ideally across different living contexts and between generations. Previous research has shown positive effects of interventions enhancing social support (such as buddy-care programs; Masi et al., 2011). Within the pandemic context, these types of interventions could be carried out digitally or within small “social-support-bubbles.” Others might not feel that they have too few contacts overall, but instead be dissatisfied with their close relationships. Research has shown that people in conflictual relationships feel lonelier than those who perceive their relationships as supportive (Hsieh & Hawkley, 2018; Selcuk & Ong, 2013). As the pandemic implicates a myriad of stressors affecting relationships, interventions could target the quality of partner relationships, parent–child relationships, or other configurations in which people live together, for example, through better communication (about feelings and worries, needs for support, etc.). Further approaches at the individual level might also focus on strategies to modify maladaptive social cognitions (which Masi et al. (2011) found to be the most effective). As individuals differ with respect to their ability to adapt to new situations, some might benefit from interventions aimed at changing attitudes and expectations regarding social contacts during a pandemic (e.g., regarding availability, spontaneity, and modality).

In general, prevention and intervention programs should address particularly vulnerable groups such as older individuals without internet access. Concerns have been raised about their lack of representation in large-scale, longitudinal investigations of loneliness (Dahlberg, 2021), so care must be taken to ensure that preventive measures address the needs and reach the breadth of the population instead of focusing on those who are most likely to be research participants. It should also be a research desideratum to include the most hard-to-reach members of the community.

Strengths and Limitations Including Constraints on Generality

The present study synthesized substantially more original reports than previous rapid and systematic reviews. The meta-analyses’ focus on longitudinal study designs is another strength. Besides peer-reviewed publications, this review included studies identified via other sources, for example, preprint servers (but no unpublished studies). In addition to longitudinal studies, pseudolongitudinal studies were included in the narrative synthesis and in the exploratory metaregression. However, the informative value of the metaregression was still hampered by the limited number of predictors that could be tested on the basis of the available studies (which also necessitated a stepwise procedure).

The lack of control samples unaffected by the pandemic weakens possible causal inference, making it more difficult to attribute the increase in loneliness to the pandemic. Furthermore, an alternative explanation for increases in loneliness in the population was recently provided by Buecker et al. (2021) who reported linear increases in emerging adults over the last decades. The discussion of underlying period and/or cohort effects included more flexible social (including romantic) relationships, use of communication technology, and occupational instability. At the same time, some of these trends resulting in individuals having many, but weak social ties may have particularly come into effect in the pandemic context.

RoB assessments revealed that most original reports had a serious RoB in at least one domain, for example, regarding the measurement of loneliness (including the use of untested single items or adaptations of questionnaires originally intended to measure other constructs). Although sensitivity analyses supported the results’ robustness with respect to studies’ overall RoB, the metaregression suggested that it could have led to an underestimation of the magnitude of changes in loneliness.

Further, some variables could only be included in the analyses in ways that reduced the complexity of original study designs/dynamic situations: First, the duration between loneliness assessments was often a range and not a concrete number of days/months. The present analyses used the respective midpoint of this range. For the duration of pandemic-related restrictions, the same procedure was employed. Restriction measures were coded based on official mandates, however, this might have been imprecise if measures differed between regions and/or if the assessment spanned a period in which these rules changed. There was also little information available regarding participants’ adherence to restrictions. Thus, in summary, the study design was not suited to determine effects of (specific) restrictions on loneliness. Furthermore, as the pandemic progressed differently around the world, we used regional cutoffs to distinguish whether study assessments had taken place before or during the pandemic, but individuals might also have been affected by restrictions outside their place of residence (e.g., travel bans). However, a sensitivity analysis confirmed the results’ robustness regarding findings of studies whose “prepandemic” assessment overlapped with the introduced cutoffs.

As included studies mainly derived from the U.S. and Europe, whereas South America, Asia/Oceania, and Africa were underrepresented, the present findings might not be generalizable to populations not conforming to the WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) stereotype (Henrich et al., 2010). Further, the original investigations might have omitted specific groups, such as immigrants not speaking the country’s official language, people with mental and/or physical disabilities, and those without regular internet access, if conducted online.

Unhappy people are more likely to choose unhappy lives & unhealthy people more likely to choose unhealthy ones: “better the devil you know, than the devil you don't”

“Better the devil you know”: Are stated preferences over health and happiness determined by how healthy and happy people are? Matthew D. Adler et al. Social Science & Medicine, May 10 2022, 115015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115015

Highlights

• Most people want to be both happy and healthy, but which matters most?

• We trade-off levels of happiness and physical health in the UK and the US.

• Choices are determined by respondents' own levels of happiness and health.

• Information about adaptation to physical health conditions matters too.

• The results have implications for policymakers seeking to satisfy those preferences.

Abstract_ Most people want to be both happy and healthy. But which matters most when there is a trade-off between them? This paper addresses this question by asking 4000 members of the UK and US public to make various choices between being happy or being physically healthy. The results suggest that these trade-offs are determined in substantial part by the respondent's own levels of happiness and health, with unhappy people more likely to choose unhappy lives and unhealthy people more likely to choose unhealthy ones: “better the devil you know, than the devil you don't”. Age also plays an important role; older people are more likely to choose being healthy over being happy. Information about adaptation to physical health conditions matters too, but less so than respondent characteristics. These results further our understanding of public preferences with important implications for policymakers concerned with satisfying those preferences.

Keywords: HealthSubjective well-beingHappinessPreferences

GDPR induced the exit of about a third of available apps in the Google Play Store from 2016 to 2019; and in the quarters following implementation, entry of new apps fell by half

GDPR and the Lost Generation of Innovative Apps. Rebecca Janßen, Reinhold Kesler, Michael E. Kummer & Joel Waldfogel. NBER Working Paper 30028. May 2022. DOI 10.3386/w30028

Using data on 4.1 million apps at the Google Play Store from 2016 to 2019, we document that GDPR induced the exit of about a third of available apps; and in the quarters following implementation, entry of new apps fell by half. We estimate a structural model of demand and entry in the app market. Comparing long-run equilibria with and without GDPR, we find that GDPR reduces consumer surplus and aggregate app usage by about a third. Whatever the privacy benefits of GDPR, they come at substantial costs in foregone innovation.

7 Conclusion

GDPR has had substantial effects on Google’s app market. In the year following its implementation, about a third of existing apps exited the market; and following GDPR’s enactment, the rate of app entry fell by more than half. Moreover, GDPR-diminished entry cohorts account for 41 percent less app usage than their pre-GDPR counterparts, indicating that the missing apps would have been valuable. Finally, apps entering after GDPR have higher average usage per app, suggesting increased development costs. We incorporate these patterns into a structural model of app demand and entry, and we find that GDPR reduces consumer surplus, app usage, and – if revenue per user did not change – developer revenue by about a quarter. 

We have two broad conclusions, one about innovation in general and the other about GDPR in particular. First, we conclude that GDPR, whatever its beneficial impacts on privacy protection, also produced the unintended consequence of slowing innovation. It is possible that privacy is valuable to consumers in ways that do not manifest themselves in usage choices. Indeed, this is the “privacy paradox” that others (Acquisti et al., 2016; Norberg et al., 2007) have documented: Citizens clamor for privacy protections in ways that belie their behavior as consumers. We are hesitant to draw policy conclusions about the advisability of GDPR from our results alone. A full evaluation of GDPR requires a tallying of the potential beneficial effects on privacy, along with its various unintended consequences such as increases in market concentration (Batikas et al., 2020; Johnson et al., 2020), undermining revenue models for content production (Lefrere et al., 2020), and – here – reducing beneficial innovation.

Second, we take our findings as additional evidence that when product quality is unpredictable, the ease of entry is an important determinant of the ex post value of the choice set to consumers. Factors reducing entry costs deliver large welfare benefits, while factors hindering entry – such as GDPR – can deliver substantial welfare losses.

It is assumed that right-wing ideology is linked to negativity bias (tendency to pay more attention & give more weight to negative versus positive stimuli); no consistent evidence for a relationship of negativity bias to ideology or reported personality

Negativity bias, personality and political ideology. Christopher D. Johnston & Gabriel J. Madson. Nature Human Behaviour, May 9 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01327-5

Abstract: Research suggests that right-wing ideology is associated with negativity bias: a tendency to pay more attention and give more weight to negative versus positive stimuli. This work typically relies on either self-reported traits related to negativity bias in large, often-representative, samples or physiological and behavioural indicators of negativity bias in small convenience samples. We extend this literature and examine the relationship of negativity bias to political ideology using five distinct behavioural measures of negativity bias in four national samples of US residents with a total analytical sample size of about 4,000 respondents. We also examine the association of these behavioural measures to four of the most common self-report measures of personality in the literature on ideology. Across a wide range of tests, we find no consistent evidence for a relationship of negativity bias to either ideology or self-reported personality.

People are not simply “born to be leaders” but that their personalities change considerably in preparation for a leadership role and due to leadership experience

Longitudinal bidirectional associations between personality and becoming a leader. Eva Asselmann, Elke Holst, Jule Specht. Journal of Personality, April 16 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12719

Abstract: Leaders differ in their personality from non-leaders. However, when do these differences emerge? Are leaders “born to be leaders” or does their personality change in preparation for a leadership role and due to leadership experience? Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we examined personality differences between leaders (N = 2,683 leaders, women: n = 967; 36.04%) and non-leaders (N = 33,663) as well as personality changes before and after becoming a leader. Already in the years before starting a leadership position, leaders-to-be were more extraverted, open, emotionally stable, conscientious, and willing to take risks, felt to have greater control, and trusted others more than non-leaders. Moreover, personality changed in emergent leaders: While approaching a leadership position, leaders-to-be (especially men) became gradually more extraverted, open, and willing to take risks and felt also to have more control over their life. After becoming a leader, they became less extraverted, less willing to take risks, and less conscientious but gained self-esteem. Our findings suggest that people are not simply “born to be leaders” but that their personalities change considerably in preparation for a leadership role and due to leadership experience. Some changes are transient, but others last for a long time.

Intimate partner violence is more common among couples where the woman earns more or is more educated than the man, and this is a rather finding universal across European Union countries

Status mismatch and self-reported intimate partner violence in the European Union: does the country’s context matter? Lynn van Vugt, Ioana Andreea. European Societies, May 6 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2022.2068184

Abstract: We explore whether status mismatch in education or income within couples is associated with self-reported intimate partner violence (IPV) and whether a country’s context relates to this. We used data collected by the ‘FRA Violence Against Women Survey’ in 2012, and we identified three dimensions of self-reported IPV: IPV via controlling behaviour, psychological IPV, and physical IPV. Based on logistic multilevel estimates of approximately 21,000 women in 27 European countries, we found that women, who were higher educated or earned more than their partners, were more likely to report all three types of IPV. We tested the impact of the societal context by looking at gender ideology, crime rates and the acceptance of domestic violence within a country. Our results suggest that only the level of crime directly impacts IPV, albeit only through controlling behaviour and psychological forms. Furthermore, none of the contextual characteristics moderate the relationship between status mismatch and IPV. Therefore, at least in our sample of European countries, the individual-level factors seem to weigh more than the societal context.

Keywords: Intimate partner violence against womenstatus mismatchcontextual factorsEuropean Union

Conclusion and discussion

In this study, we set out individual and contextual factors that relate to the levels of IPV in the EU. We used a novel dataset that collected information on self-reported IPV among women living in 27 EU countries. We identified three dimensions of IPV, i.e. IPV via controlling behaviour, psychological IPV and physical IPV. Based on logistic multilevel models, the following main conclusions were drawn.

First, we found that the relative resource theory was supported and that status mismatch does matter in explaining IPV. Women with a higher education level than their male partners were more likely to report IPV via controlling behaviour, psychological IPV and physical IPV than women who had the same or a lower education level than their male partners. The same holds for women who earned more than their male partners. Our findings were robust, and the corresponding effect sizes were moderate and slightly stronger for the educational mismatch than for the income mismatch. These results are in line with previous research from various countries (Atkinson et al. 2005; Weitzman 2014; Zhang and Breunig 2021), but add value by showing both the educational mismatch and income mismatch are relevant predictors, independent of each other. However, after including crime rates in the model, the relationship between income mismatch became not significant in relation to all three types of IPV, and education mismatch became insignificant in relation to self-reported psychological and physical IPV. Therefore, our results suggest that in countries with a stronger culture of violence, the relationship between status mismatch within the couple and IPV is suppressed.

Next, we showed that contextual factors matter in explaining self-reported IPV, although this is limited. Against our expectations, we found that in countries with higher crime rates, women were less likely to report IPV via controlling behaviour and psychological IPV than women living in countries with lower crime levels. We could think of different reasons: Firstly, a reason could be that for women living in countries with higher crime rates, violence is a legitimized way to manage social interaction within the family (McGloin et al. 2011; Ousey and Wilcox 2005). Women living in these countries could be more desensitized to violence because it occurs with a greater frequency in their daily lives and, therefore, will not interpret the controlling behaviour or psychological IPV from their partner as an experience of IPV. Secondly, another underlying mechanism for this could be for women in highly violent countries less acceptable to talk with other people about IPV, including the interviewer (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights [FRA] 2015). Thirdly, the measurement of crime rates itself could explain this finding. Previous research has shown that crime reporting differs across EU countries (Torrente et al. 2017), which could mean that the official statistics do not correctly reflect the level of crime within a country or the differences between the countries. With the data at hand, it is not possible to disentangle which of these arguments are behind our findings.

A more methodological conclusion regards the questions covering different aspects of IPV that were asked in the FRA survey. We found that not all items included in the questionnaire were meaningful in all countries, i.e. some questions referred to incidents that are so rare that in some countries, no variation in answers was recorded. Furthermore, after the equivalence tests were conducted, the final list of items that composed the three scales of IPV was limited compared to the initial list of items. This is not necessarily bad news, as it implies that it is possible to measure these dimensions of IPV with a limited number of questions. Additionally, we were able to establish that the three IPV scales exhibit cross-country equivalence, i.e. partial scalar invariance for psychological IPV and metric invariance for the other two. This is again good news, as it implies that these scales can be used within the set-up of regression analysis and will yield unbiased coefficients. We note, however, that the prevalence of cases of IPV was low, and this has implications for studies that more specifically want to identify and study its victims more in detail. This is also why we did not attempt to understand the intensity of IPV but focused on its prevalence.

This study has many limitations. First, self-reported violence had to be used, and the extent to which the reported IPV matches the actual experienced IPV is unknown (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights [FRA] 2015). However, even if we would have at our disposal statistics of reported IPV, one can argue that these figures are biased because many victims will not go to the police and file a complaint. This could be especially true for IPV via controlling behaviour and psychological IPV. Next, due to the low occurrence of IPV in the sample, we decided to examine IPV in the current relationship, without setting a time frame, for example, IPV occurring within the previous 12 months. Therefore, it could be possible that the education level of the woman was lower when the abuse occurred, but that the women had become more highly educated in the meanwhile (the same reasoning could follow for earnings). Furthermore, the IPV occurrence and the gravity of IPV manifestation could have common but also different precedents. Future research is warranted along these lines. In addition, future research should also examine the different relationships in which IPV occurs. In this investigation, heterosexual couples were investigated, and the questions regard situations in which the man abuses the woman. However, it is also recognized that bidirectional IPV exists or that women abuse their male partners (Dokkedahl and Elklit 2019) and IPV can also occur in lesbian and gay partnerships (e.g. see review: Rollè et al. 2018).

Our findings suggest that individual-level characteristics seem to be better predictors of IPV than the country’s context. However, we should consider that this could be related to the country sample in our analyses, i.e. European countries where IPV is largely not supported by the (formal or informal) institutions and with limited variation in the measures that we use to capture country-level characteristics. Possibly with a different country sample that includes societies where gender equality or the acceptance of domestic violence variables have more extreme values compared to the European countries, or using country-level averages and including the heterogeneity around those means (Ivert et al. 2020), our findings could be challenged.

The implications of our findings for the European level policy build on the conclusions regarding the importance that the individual-level factors, i.e. the education and income mismatch, still have for IPV. We propose that a substantial contribution to further decrease in IPV in Europe can be made in two ways: first by normalizing families where the women have higher income or education in the couple, and second by discouraging the use of violence as a legitimate way to manage social interaction within the family. How this can be achieved, is a question that we leave to behavioural change theorists and practitioners, as they could provide the understandings and the tools to support policy-makers in designing effective, focused interventions to achieve these goals.

Liberals drink more different brands of beer than conservatives

Political Ideology and Consumption. Rashmi Adaval and Robert S. Wyer Jr. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, May 2022. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/720513

Abstract: The influence of political ideology on individuals’ behavior and their endorsement of social policies is pervasive and its impact on their economic and social well-being is incontrovertible. The influence of political ideology is evident not only in how recent social events have been interpreted (e.g., the storming of the Capitol on January 6, the murder of George Floyd, etc.) but also in people’s everyday nonpolitical behavior (e.g., their choice and purchases of consumer goods and other consumption-related activity). The research reported in this special issue documents the effects of political ideology on reactions to variousconsumption-related experiences. Although no single theory of political ideology can easily account for the diversity of the phenomena reported in this special issue, an understanding of the different perspectives from which political ideology has been studied is helpful to understand these effects.

Much of the research on political ideology identifies people with different beliefs along on a liberalism-conservatism dimension. Although these end points are closely aligned with Democratic and Republican political parties, party identity is not always consistent with people’s beliefs on specific issues (Huddy, Mason and Aaroe 2015; Wyer et al. 1991). Yet, the current disposition of federal legislators to vote along party lines and the polarized attitudes of those who belong to these parties suggest that the schism emerges partly from deep-seated differences in ideological beliefs and thinking styles. Differences in conservative-liberal beliefs have been attributed to personality, evolution and genetics, all of which presumably affect the cognitive and physiological reactions of individuals to a variety of issues. In the following section, we provide a background of research that has been conducted from different perspectives. We then review the research reported in this volume in relation to these perspectives.

Individual differences in self-control markedly depended on genetic influence, which increased substantially in young adulthood

Genetics, Parenting, and Family Functioning – What Drives the Development of Self-Control from Adolescence to Adulthood? Ida M. Mueller,Frank M. Spinath,Malte Friese,Elisabeth Hahn. Journal of Personality, May 6 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12723

Abstract

Objective: Self-control is a meaningful predictor of crucial life outcomes. Knowingly, genes contribute substantially to differences in self-control, but behavioral genetic findings are often misinterpreted regarding environmental influences. Therefore, we reinvestigate the heritability of self-control as well as potential environmental influences, namely parenting and a chaotic home environment.

Method: We used cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the German twin family study TwinLife (N = 3,354 individuals), structured in a multicohort design in which 13-, 19-, and 25-year-old twins rated their self-control, parents’ behavior, and home environment.

Results: Results showed increasing mean levels and 1-year stabilities for self-control accompanied by substantial genetic influences, increasing particularly from ages 19 to 25 (53% to 76%). While chaotic home environments and negative parenting were phenotypically associated with lower self-control, twin difference models revealed that differences in these individually perceived “environments” directly predicted self-control differences (β = -.16 to -.28) within families when controlling for genetic and environmental similarities.

Conclusions: In addition to the genetic anchoring of self-control, results indicate that environmental factors such as negative family environments are meaningful and depend on individual perceptions within families. Interventions for enhancing self-control should therefore rely on individual perspectives rather than objective characteristics of home environments.

Induced state mindfulness reduced state guilt and weakened the link between a transgression and reparative behavior; loving kindness meditation led to significantly more prosocial reparation than focused-breathing meditation

Mindfulness meditation reduces guilt and prosocial reparation. Andrew C Hafenbrack, Matthew L LaPalme, Isabelle Solal. J Pers Soc Psychol, Dec 23 2021. doi: 10.1037/pspa0000298

Abstract: The present research investigates whether and how mindfulness meditation influences the guilt-driven tendency to repair harm caused to others. Through a series of eight experiments (N > 1,400), we demonstrate that state mindfulness cultivated via focused-breathing meditation can dampen the relationship between transgressions and the desire to engage in reparative prosocial behaviors. Experiment 1 showed that induced state mindfulness reduced state guilt. Experiments 2a-2c found that induced state mindfulness reduced the willingness to engage in reparative behaviors in normally guilt-inducing situations. Experiments 3a and 3b found that guilt mediated the negative effect of mindfulness meditation on prosocial reparation. Experiment 4 demonstrated that induced state mindfulness weakened the link between a transgression and reparative behavior, as well as documented the mediating role of guilt over and above other emotions. Finally, in Experiment 5, we found that loving kindness meditation led to significantly more prosocial reparation than focused-breathing meditation, mediated by increased other-focus and feelings of love. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. 

Supplemental Security Income: SSI removal increases the number of criminal charges by a statistically significant 20% over the next two decade; costs of enforcement/prison nearly eliminate savings

Does Welfare Prevent Crime? The Criminal Justice Outcomes of Youth Removed From SSI. Manasi Deshpande & Michael G. Mueller-Smith. NBER Working Paper 29800, Feb 2022. DOI 10.3386/w29800

We estimate the effect of losing Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits at age 18 on criminal justice and employment outcomes over the next two decades. To estimate this effect, we use a regression discontinuity design in the likelihood of being reviewed for SSI eligibility at age 18 created by the 1996 welfare reform law. We evaluate this natural experiment with Social Security Administration data linked to records from the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System. We find that SSI removal increases the number of criminal charges by a statistically significant 20% over the next two decades. The increase in charges is concentrated in offenses for which income generation is a primary motivation (60% increase), especially theft, burglary, fraud/forgery, and prostitution. The effect of SSI removal on criminal justice involvement persists more than two decades later, even as the effect of removal on contemporaneous SSI receipt diminishes. In response to SSI removal, youth are twice as likely to be charged with an illicit income-generating offense than they are to maintain steady employment at $15,000/year in the labor market. As a result of these charges, the annual likelihood of incarceration increases by a statistically significant 60% in the two decades following SSI removal. The costs to taxpayers of enforcement and incarceration from SSI removal are so high that they nearly eliminate the savings to taxpayers from reduced SSI benefits.

From 2020... Being interviewed by a woman increases men’s odds of expressing strong support for gender equality by 37% and women’s odds by 17%

Gender Attitudes in Africa: Liberal Egalitarianism Across 34 Countries   Arrow. Maria Charles. Social Forces, Volume 99, Issue 1, September 2020, Pages 86–125, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz132

Abstract: This study provides a first descriptive mapping of support for women’s equal rights in 34 African countries and assesses diverse theoretical explanations for variability in this support. Contrary to stereotypes of a homogeneously tradition-bound continent, African citizens report high levels of agreement with gender equality that are more easily understood with reference to global processes of ideational diffusion than to country-level differences in economic modernization or women’s public-sphere roles. Multivariate analyses suggest, however, that gender liberalism in Africa may be spreading through mechanisms not typically considered by world-society scholars: Support for equal rights is largely unrelated to countries’ formal ties to the world system, but it is stronger among persons who are more exposed to extra-local culture, including through internet and mobile phone usage, news access, and urban residency. Forces for gender liberalism are conditioned, moreover, by local religious cultures and gender structures.

People who are afraid to take sides in contentious issues often end up being caught between two stools, losing the trust of all parties involved

Silver, I., & Shaw, A. (2022). When and why “staying out of it” backfires in moral and political disagreements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. May 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001201

Abstract: People care where others around them stand on contentious moral and political issues. Yet when faced with the prospect of taking sides and the possibility of alienating observers with whom they might disagree, actors often try to “stay out of it”—communicating that they would rather not to take a side at all. We demonstrate that despite its intuitive appeal for reducing conflict, opting not to take sides over moralized issues can harm trust, even relative to siding against an observer’s viewpoint outright. Across eleven experiments (N = 4,383) using controlled scenarios, real press video clips, and incentivized economic games, we find that attempts to stay out of the fray are often interpreted as deceptive and untrustworthy. When actors choose not to take sides, observers often ascribe concealed opposition, an attribution of strategic deception which provokes distrust and undermines real-stakes cooperation and partner choice. We further demonstrate that this effect arises only when staying out of it seems strategic: Actors who seem to hold genuine middle-ground beliefs or who lack incentives for impression management are not distrusted for avoiding conflict. People are often asked to take sides in moral and political disagreement. Our findings outline a reputational risk awaiting those who opt not to do so. 

Author's Perspective

What is it about?

When asked for their opinions about hot-button issues like COVID-19 policy, gun control, or LGBTQ+ rights, people sometimes choose to "stay out of it" by expressing a preference not to take sides at all. This research explores how we react to people who try not to take sides. Results from eleven experiments suggest that "staying out of it" can backfire. Although people expect that opting not to take sides can help them avoid charged moral conflicts, staying out of it often provokes distrust and disdain, sometimes more so than disagreeing with one's audience outright.

Why is it important?

Recent years have seen an explosion of concern about political polarization and ideological conflict, critical threats to a well-functioning democratic system. Our work helps to fill in the picture of social forces that encourage people to take sides, and it highlights a reputational risk awaiting those who try not to do so.

Monozygotic female twins raised apart: In contrast with previous research, the twins' general intelligence and non-verbal reasoning scores showed some marked differences

Personality traits, mental abilities and other individual differences: Monozygotic female twins raised apart in South Korea and the United States. Nancy L.Segal, Yoon-MiHur. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 194, August 2022, 111643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111643

Abstract: Twins reared apart are rare, especially twins raised in different countries and cultures. This report documents the behavioral, physical, and medical similarities and differences of monozygotic female cotwins, raised separately by an adoptive family in the United States and the biological family in South Korea. Similarities were evident in personality, self-esteem, mental health, job satisfaction and medical life history, consistent with genetic influence found by the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart and related studies. An overall twin correlation across thirty-eight measures was r = 0.95, p < .001. In contrast with previous research, the twins' general intelligence and non-verbal reasoning scores showed some marked differences. Adding these cases to the psychological literature enhances understanding of genetic, cultural, and environmental influences on human development.

Keywords: TwinsAdoptionPersonalityCultureIntelligenceValues

Himba: Despite aspirational preferences, couples who are more closely matched in term of mate value reported greater relationship quality, measured through frequency of interactions, reported sexual histories, and partnership length

The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists. Sean Prall, Brooke Scelza. Science Advances, May 4 2022, Vol 8, Issue 18 • DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm5629

Abstract: Relative mate value has long been believed to be a critical component of mate choice in humans. However, most empirical work focuses on preferences rather than actual pair formation, and data connecting partner preferences, partnership formation, and relationship quality remain rare. Here, we estimate mate value using >12,000 ratings by opposite-sex, in-group members to understand both hypothetical partnership preferences and actualized relationship dynamics. When evaluating hypothetical partnerships, people generally prefer individuals whose mate value is higher than their own, indicating an aspirational matching strategy. However, mate value comparisons of individuals in marital and nonmarital relationships show a positive correlation, suggesting that individuals tend to pair up with similarly desirable individuals. Furthermore, despite aspirational preferences, couples who are more closely matched reported greater relationship quality, measured through frequency of interactions, reported sexual histories, and partnership length.

DISCUSSION

Real-world partner dynamics are notoriously difficult to study, as they require longitudinal data and an ability to evaluate the pool of prospective suitors people are drawing partners from. Here, by combining a novel rating system with ethnographic interviews in a largely endogamous population of Himba pastoralists, we can determine people’s position within the local mating market and use that to evaluate both their preferences and their realized partnerships. Using preference data, we test two competing hypotheses of partner preference to examine whether participants prefer more desirable partners or adhere to mating market predictions and prefer partners of similar desirability to themselves. Our data show that participants’ preferences corresponded most closely with an aspirational mate choice strategy, with individuals generally preferring partners who were more desirable than themselves. While these relationship preference ratings represent idealized preferences and not actual attempts at relationship formation, they correspond well with research from online dating markets (18), indicating that aspirational mate choice may not just be a feature of online dating markets or experimental paradigms but a more common feature of people’s preferences.

However, while Himba preference data conform most closely to an aspirational model, their relationship histories correspond best with the biological mating market approach. In both marital and nonmarital relationships, partners tend to be similar in relative mate value, exhibiting a moderate correlation. When examining reported sexual history data, similar dynamics are also found. Dyads of similar mate value are more likely to have reported a previous sexual relationship. In other words, while more desirable individuals are generally preferred by all, in the context of relationship formation, Himba men and women tend to pair up with similarly desirable partners. This may be a function of the most desirable members of the mating market exerting greatest choice in their partners, resulting in assortative mating.

Results from our relationship surveys help to explain the seemingly contradictory evidence for aspirational preferences and largely assortative partnerships. Well-matched dyads have longer-lasting relationships and report being in more frequent phone contact. In addition, participants who had partners of higher mate value were more likely to report that those partners had many additional partners. These findings suggest that mate value disparities result in relatively unstable relationships where the more desirable partner may be more likely to pursue other options on the mating market. This mirrors previous work showing that mate value disparities can result in lower relationship satisfaction (20). So while mismatched partnerships occur, they are less likely to be durable and long lasting, which could be contributing to the positive correlation in mate value between partners in extant dyads.

These results also highlight sex-specific adjustments in preference in response to local conditions. Sex ratio estimates in this population are remarkably female skewed (32). On the basis of mating market predictions, a female-biased sex ratio should result in high bargaining power for men, allowing them to be choosier in partner selection. This prediction is borne out in our model results, which indicate a stark sex difference in rater desirability on preference. Men, but not women, who have higher mate value are more discerning. However, this result should be considered alongside the other trend in our data, which shows that women in general are choosier than men. Women are much more likely than men to give potential partners the lowest possible desirability rating (Fig. 2). It may be that a female-biased sex ratio makes women less susceptible to intrapopulation market effects, where they are less likely to exert selective preferences due to market position, while still exhibiting more generalized partner discrimination. Conversely, men who are generally less choosy cross-culturally exhibit higher market value when scarce. These results highlight the importance of interactions between generalized sex-specific preferences and intrapopulation market effects.

As R. W. Emerson stated, “we aim above the mark to hit the mark.” Our data reflect just this type of strategy. When looking at preferences alone, Himba are shown to aspire toward partnerships with those of greater mate value than their own. These preferences indicate that Himba are well attuned to mating market dynamics and their place within them. However, the operationalization of those dynamics means that actual partnerships shake out into a mostly assortative pattern and further that assortative matches tend to be more stable. The combination of a biological market approach with the aspirational mate choice strategy fits well for Himba and may be more generally indicative of partnership dynamics in real-world contexts.

How anger works

How anger works. Daniel Sznycer, Aaron Sell, Alexandre Dumont. Evolution and Human Behavior, December 3 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.11.007

Abstract: Anger appears to be a neurocognitive adaptation designed to bargain for better treatment, and is primarily triggered by indications that another individual values the focal individual insufficiently. Once activated, anger orchestrates cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses geared to incentivize the target individual to place more weight on the welfare of the focal individual. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that anger works by matching in intensity the various outputs it controls to the magnitude of the current input—the precise degree to which the target appears to undervalue the focal individual. By magnitude-matching outputs to inputs, the anger system balances the competing demands of effectiveness and economy and avoids the dual errors of excessive diffidence and excessive belligerence in bargaining. To test this hypothesis, we measured the degree to which audiences devalue each of 39 negative traits in others, and how individuals would react, for each of those 39 traits, if someone slandered them as possessing those traits. We observed the hypothesized magnitude-matchings. The intensities of the anger feeling and of various motivations of anger (telling the offender to stop, insulting the offender, physically attacking the offender, stopping talking to the offender, and denying help to the offender) vary in proportion to: (i) one another, and (ii) the reputational cost that the slanderer imposes on the slandered (proxied by audience devaluation). These patterns of magnitude-matching were observed both within and between the United States and India. These quantitative findings echo laypeople's folk understanding of anger and suggest that there are cross-cultural regularities in the functional logic and content of anger.

Keywords: AngerEmotionWelfare Tradeoff RatioCultureEvolutionary Psychology

Wives became more jealous than husbands when their partner got a new platonic friend

Sucrese, A. M., Burley, E. E., Perilloux, C., Woods, S. J., & Bencal, Z. (2022). Just friends? Jealousy of extramarital friendships. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000296

Abstract: Past research in evolutionary psychology has proposed, and found evidence of, sex differences in the adaptive functions of jealousy. However, no research has focused specifically on the output of jealousy adaptations in the context of a spouse’s apparently platonic extramarital friendship. In the current preregistered study, we asked married individuals (N = 394 Amazon Mechanical Turk users) to read a scenario in which their spouse recently formed a new platonic friendship. We randomly assigned participants to one of four scenarios that varied the sex and attractiveness level of the friend and assessed how jealous the scenario would make participants and whether they attributed any felt jealousy to emotional or sexual concerns. In contrast to our predictions, women indicated more overall jealousy than men. Furthermore, both men and women were more likely to attribute their jealousy to sexual reasons when their spouse’s friend was the same sex as they are, representing a potential rival. We documented several other interactions related to emotional attributions of jealousy, further supporting the perspective that jealousy is nuanced and context dependent. Perhaps emotional jealousy functions as an adaptive solution to any situation that threatens diversion of a mate's resources and investment, not just diversion to a potential mate.

The memories that people would most like to erase from their minds were remarkably often related to the experience of shame

The memories that people would save or erase differ from their most positive and negative memories on function, emotion and correspondence with the life script. Anne S. Rasmussen, Cassandra G. Burton-Wood, Ryan Burnell &Maryanne Garry. Memory, May 5 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2022.2069821

Abstract: Autobiographical remembering is a dynamic process in which narrators construct their life story from single memories. What is included in or deleted from the life story depends on many factors. Here, we examined the functions, emotions and correspondence with the life script for the memories that people desire to save or erase from their past. We asked people to generate either the two memories they were most likely to save and erase or the two memories they regarded as their most positive and negative memories. Then everyone rated those memories on function, emotion and correspondence with the life script. Overall, we found save and erase memories corresponded less with the life script relative to most positive and most negative memories though they were similarly emotionally intense. Additionally, erase memories were more associated with shame and less with social functions than most negative memories, whereas most negative memories to a higher degree involved the death of significant others, albeit being similarly traumatic. These findings have important implications for theory about autobiographical memory, and possible clinical relevance.

Keywords: Autobiographical memoryfunctionemotionshametraumalife script

Letters To A Spanish Youngster CCLXIX

Letters To A Spanish Youngster CCLXIX

[...]

Your Honor Whose value would increase if compared with the world's jewels, and these would diminish in value*,/Su Señoría Cuyo valor se incrementaría si comparado fuese con las joyas del mundo, y estas disminuirían su valor,

My dear lord, please find some pleasure in these verses that Shelomoh ibn Gabirol wrote*:/Mi querido señor, por favor encuentre algo de placer en estos versos que Salomón ibn Gabirol escribió:

[Funeral hymn for his father/Endecha por su padre]

                                                      [de tu queja, los cielos se anublaron

                                                       [...]

                                                       [...] de tanto

                                                       padecer, me dejaron las angustias

                                                       endurecido [...]

                                                       [...] fue tu mal mi daño,

                                                       sobre mí fue gravoso y prolongado.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Si contigo las joyas de la tierra

                                                       compararan, entonces menguara

                                                       su valor como el tuyo ascendería.]

[His poetry /Su poesía encumbra a aquel a quien alaba]

                                                      [Señor de mi alma,

                                                       atentos estén su corazón y sus oídos

                                                       para entender mis fَórmulas,      mi canto y mis plegarias.]

[Affliction for his father's death/Aflicción por la muerte de su padre]

                                                      [¿Por qué anhela mi alma oír las voces

                                                       del espectral murmullo que proviene

                                                       de la dolencia de mi corazón

                                                       y el desfallecimiento de mi mano?

                                                       Se cansa y se fatiga hasta el extremo

                                                       de tanto padecer [...]

                                                       Le reprendí: Retorna, corazón,

                                                       no seas alocado.

                                                       [...]

                                                       ¿Cómo la perversión sigues amando?

                                                       Te apartas de la ciencia       volcándote hacia el mundo,

                                                       que es como un ensueño de visiones.

                                                       [...]

                                                       El hombre es un viajero       que marcha en la tiniebla;

                                                       [...]

                                                       La muerte se presenta       y se alarga la guadaría

                                                       y el cigoñal se quiebra sobre el pozo

                                                       de la desolación;

                                                       y los ojos del héroe        que confía en su arco

                                                       y se ufana en su cota

                                                       de yeso los recubre       y al sol los disemina.

                                                       Allí adonde se torna, allí delinque

                                                       y peca todo el día

                                                       contra justo y malvado,       contra rico y mendigo;

                                                       con exterminio corta       cual tejedor la vida

                                                       y en ella se enmaraña

                                                       como la imbricación de una loriga.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Tú que estás, alma mía,

                                                       ceñida de una angustia       que no ha de desprenderse,

                                                       abandona los cantos funerarios

                                                       y deja de plañir amargamente.

                                                       [...] fue toda delicia

                                                       desesperanza para nuestros ojos.

                                                       [...]

                                                       [...] pesado en oro]

In this poem, the author is not talking about science as we understand today, but religious knowledge.

[Accepting pain for his father's death/Dolor resignado por la muerte de su padre]

                                                      [Mi corazón se abate [...]

                                                       [...] de una angustia

                                                       para cuyo dolor no existe b'alsamo.

                                                       Al caer de la tarde

                                                       me envuelve de tal forma, que me torno

                                                       en trama de su urdimbre.

                                                       Más responde su llanto

                                                       cuanto más a mis ojos los conmino

                                                       para que de llorar no se consuman.

                                                       Lloro y sigo llorando, y cuantas veces

                                                       se me muere una lágrima en los ojos,

                                                       el dolor la reaviva.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Alma mía, no creas en el mundo[.]

                                                       [...] Después de esto,

                                                       aprende de la tierra,

                                                       que solamente para inmolar hombres

                                                       aguza sus saetas[.]

                                                       [...]

                                                       [Me acostumbraré] a ver el  mundo

                                                       como un árbol

                                                       y al hombre como el fruto desprendido.]

[Despises the world after his father's death/Desprecio por el mundo tras la muerte de su padre]

                                                      [Hermanos, dejadme solo,

                                                       que voy a amargarme en llanto;

                                                       ya no hay silencio

                                                       pues ha crecido la angustia.]

Fully grasping the degree in which Your soul was prized with the gods' favor, how much You were loved by the gold goddess, my benevolent master, Yours faithfully/Alcanzando plena consciencia del grado en que Su alma fue premiada con el favor de los dioses, cuando fue Vd. amado por la diosa dorada, mi dueño benevolente, Suyo fielmente

                 a. r. ante Su Señoría,

--

Notes

*  Adapted from Selected Poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol, translated by Peter Cole (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2001), & the Spanish version from Selomó ibn Gabirol—Poesía secular, by Elena Romero (Madrid: Alfaguara, 1978)

Humans have domesticated over 1000 plant, animal, fungal and bacterial species, some just for their good looks

What is domestication? Michael D. Purugganan. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, May 6 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.04.006

Highlights

. The study of domestication has seen enormous strides in recent years, but the concept of domestication has been unclear.

. The core nature of domestication is as the coevolution between domesticator and domesticate.

. Evolutionary and ecological studies with both human-associated domestication and non-human domesticators can help us understand the nature of this phenomenon.

Abstract: The nature of domestication is often misunderstood. Most definitions of the process are anthropocentric and center on human intentionality, which minimizes the role of unconscious selection and also excludes non-human domesticators. An overarching, biologically grounded definition of domestication is discussed, which emphasizes its core nature as a coevolutionary process that arises from a specialized mutualism, in which one species controls the fitness of another in order to gain resources and/or services. This inclusive definition encompasses both human-associated domestication of crop plants and livestock as well as other non-human domesticators, such as insects. It also calls into question the idea that humans are themselves domesticated, given that evolution of human traits did not arise through the control of fitness by another species.

Keywords: mutualismcoevolutionhuman domesticationinsect farmingperi-domesticatesweedscommensalsagricultural originsornamental species

Are humans domesticated?

The question of whether humans are domesticated has a long history and Darwin considered this question briefly in Descent of Man [65]. The idea of human domestication, especially the concept of ‘self-domestication’, has gained momentum in recent years based on the assertion of similarities in traits between humans and domesticate mammals, including evolution of smaller body sizes, shortening of the face and a reduction in tooth size, reduced sexual dimorphism, and a reduction in cranial capacity [66., 67., 68., 69.]. More importantly, these morphological changes are accompanied by a decrease in reactive aggression and increase in docility and prosociality [68,69]. Finally, the concept of self-domestication has been extended to include bonobos [70].

Invoking the term ‘self-domestication’ as applied to humans (and bonobos) is problematic. Darwin dismissed the idea of human domestication, as he understood that humans had not been subject to the control of its fitness, which is one of the critical hallmarks of domestication [65]. Moreover, the idea of self-domestication is untenable, since domestication as a biological concept is rooted in a mutualistic interaction with another species. Finally, defining domestication based on shared phenotypic similarities is also fraught with problems, given that such similarities could also arise outside the context of domestication [71,72].

While there are some trait similarities between H. sapiens and domesticate animals, in humans these do not appear to have evolved as a direct result of the mutualistic interaction with domesticate species. Such phenotypic similarities may arise from parallel/convergent evolution [71,72], possibly associated with secondary effects of the domestication process (for example, increased population density or sedentism) [68,69] but arguably do not directly spring from the human/crop, human/livestock, and human/pet mutualisms. Those who have remarked on these similarities need to explore other mechanisms to explain these evolutionary convergences.

Concluding remarks

Here, I have attempted to provide a broad but rigorous biologically centered definition of this unique phenomenon. In this overarching biological conception, domestication has the following critical elements. It is: (i) an evolutionary process, (ii) arising from mutualistic ecological interaction, (iii) involves constructing an environment where there is control of the fitness of one species by another, (iv) occurs so that the domesticator can garner resources and/or services from the domesticate, (v) leads to fitness benefits that accrue to both partners, and (vi) is agnostic to the interacting species. The pace of domestication is governed by the strength of the selection exerted by the domesticator (and the environment it provides) and the genetic and ecological characteristics of the target domesticate.

This definition has the advantage that it is grounded in evolutionary and ecological concepts, first recognized by Darwin [52,53] and later on championed by others [7,10,14., 15., 16., 17., 18., 19., 20., 21., 22., 23., 24., 25.]. Like any definition, it struggles for both inclusivity and exclusion and there may well be cases that present some ambiguity. Indeed, domestication has understandably come to mean many other things and undoubtedly its varied usage will continue. It is expected, however, that the biologically oriented view presented here can provide a more precise conceptualization of domestication, help sharpen discussion of cases as they arise, and focus attention on major issues surrounding fundamental aspects of this phenomenon (see Outstanding questions). With a comparative, evolutionary, and ecological framework [1,2,10,16,19,26,27,73], there is an opportunity to understand the nature of this coevolution and the dynamics of this unique mutualism.

Outstanding questions

What are the ecological and evolutionary pathways that lead to domestication?

To what extent do the partner species rely on the mutualism for their survival and reproduction?

Does every individual domesticated organism have to impart a fitness benefit to the domesticator?

How do we determine whether a species is domesticated?

In human-associated domestication and subsequent diversification, what are the relative roles of conscious versus unconscious selection?

How do we understand domestication and selection for aesthetic traits?

The economic costs of crime in North America attributable to people with psychopathic personality disorder

Gatner, D. T., Douglas, K. S., Almond, M. F. E., Hart, S. D., & Kropp, P. R. (2022). How much does that cost? Examining the economic costs of crime in North America attributable to people with psychopathic personality disorder. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Advance online publication. May 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000575

Abstract: Cost of illness research has established that mental disorders lead to significant social burden and massive financial costs. A significant gap exists for the economic burden of many personality disorders, including psychopathic personality disorder (PPD). In the current study, we used a top-down prevalence-based cost of illness approach to estimate bounded crime cost estimates of PPD in the United States and Canada. Three key model parameters (PPD prevalence, relative offending rate of individuals with PPD, and national costs of crime for each country) were informed by existing literature. Sensitivity analyses and Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to provide bounded and central tendency estimates of crime costs, respectively. The estimated PPD-related costs of crime ranged from $245.50 billion to $1,591.57 billion (simulated means = $512.83 to $964.23 billion) in the United States and $12.14 billion to $53.00 billion (simulated means = $25.33 to $32.10 billion) in Canada. These results suggest that PPD may be associated with a substantial economic burden as a result of crime in North America. Recommendations are discussed regarding the burden–treatment discrepancy for PPD, as the development of future effective treatment for the disorder may decrease its costly burden on health and justice systems.

Antibody patents are being struck down left and right, victims of the Federal Circuit’s recent shift to strengthen two doctrinal areas of patent law—enablement and the written description requirement

Lemley, Mark A. and Sherkow, Jacob S., The Antibody Paradox (February 11, 2022). Yale Law Journal, Forthcoming, SSRN http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4032912

Abstract

Antibodies constitute a staggering $145 billion annual market—an amount projected to almost double by 2026. Consequently, patents covering antibodies are among the most valuable in the patent system. But antibody patents are being struck down left and right, victims of the Federal Circuit’s recent shift to strengthen two doctrinal areas of patent law—enablement and the written description requirement. For each, the Federal Circuit has heightened requirements that patentees disclose or teach how to make and use the “full scope” of their inventions.

There are good reasons to be skeptical of the Federal Circuit’s attack on genus claims in chemistry generally. But it seems to be a particular problem for antibodies. Applying the Federal Circuit’s reinvigorated written description and enablement requirements to antibodies and their chemical structure fits poorly with the science underlying the molecules themselves. Immune receptor production—a semi-random and galactically expansive process—produces antibodies that are startingly different in both structure and function. There is no way to genus claims to antibodies that satisfy the court’s current tests. The science simply doesn’t allow it. At the same time, this change in the Federal Circuit’s jurisprudence is a legitimate reaction to some of the problems with the long-standing (and long-permitted) practice of claiming antibodies in functional terms. Functional claiming can lead to overbroad patents that stifle future innovation, as it has done in the software industries. Perhaps the Federal Circuit is wary of a similar result in biotechnology.

Fortunately, we think there is a middle ground—a new (or, really, quite old) form of patent claim drafting that gives inventors effective control over true substitutes without giving them the power to block real improvements: means-plus-function claims and infringement by the equivalents. Those doctrines limit patentees to claiming only the specific structural features of antibodies they both possessed and described, but also entitle them to assert their patents against antibodies with equivalent functions but different structural characteristics. If the economics of intellectual property center on balancing a need for protection beyond the literal invention and allowing improvements, this seems a step in the right—or, at least doctrinally permissible and economically sensible—direction.

Whether patentees go for such a solution remains to be seen. Recent empirical evidence on antibody claims has yet to document such a shift. Patent attorneys may need to get over their historical reluctance in writing their claims in such a fashion. Our solution won’t give patentees everything they want. But they just might find it gives them what they need.

Special forces commandos have discernible personality profiles, with low neuroticism, more conscientiousness, and markedly less openness to experience

Huijzer, R., Jeronimus, B. F., Reehoorn, A., Blaauw, F. J., Baatenburg de Jong, M., de Jonge, P., & den Hartigh, R. J. R. (2022). Personality traits of special forces operators: Comparing commandos, candidates, and controls. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, May 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000296

Abstract: Dutch special forces operators, also known as commandos, perform in mentally and physically tough environments. An important question for recruitment and selection of commandos is whether they have particular personality traits. To answer this question, we first examined differences in personality traits between 110 experienced Dutch male commandos and a control sample of 275 men in the same age range. Second, we measured the personality traits at the start of the special forces selection program and compared the scores of candidates who later graduated (n = 53) or dropped out (n = 138). Multilevel Bayesian models and t tests revealed that commandos were less neurotic (d = −0.58), more conscientious (d = 0.45), and markedly less open to experiences (d = −1.13) than the matched civilian group. Furthermore, there was a tendency for graduates to be less neurotic (d = −0.27) and more conscientious (d = 0.24) than dropouts. For selection, personality traits do not appear discriminative enough for graduation success and other factors need to be accounted for as well, such as other psychological constructs and physical performance. On the other hand, these results provide interesting clues for using personality traits to recruit people for the special forces program.

Author's Perspective - Comparing the Personality of Commandos, Civilians and Recruits

What is it about? Special forces operators perform in mentally and physically tough environments. For instance, they need to complete high-stakes missions, such as saving a hostage, successfully even when dehydrated or sleep deprived. As a consequence, the special forces training is very challenging and the great majority of recruits drop out during the selection period. In order to find out which types of people become successful commandos, we examined whether (a) Dutch commandos differ in their personality traits from a matched group of “normal” Dutch men, and (b) recruits who graduate from the selection program differ in their personality traits from the dropouts. Differences between commandos the matched group of Dutch men, and between the recruits were indeed found. Amongst others, commandos and successful recruits were relatively less neurotic and more conscientious.

Why is it important? Why are some people able to become a commando, whereas others are not? Does it have to do with personality whether one can become a commando? Such questions are crucial to recruit and select special forces operators. In our study, we investigated the personality of commandos, a matched group of Dutch men, and recruits, and found that personality traits do make a difference between these groups. Having a clearer picture of the personality traits that matter allows for a better targeted recruitment and selection of special forces operators.