The Psychology of Lying and Deception Detection: People are more likely to believe information that is consistent with their own beliefs or consistent with the beliefs held by those in their social circle

Truth-Default Theory and the Psychology of Lying and Deception Detection. Timothy R. Levine. Current Opinion in Psychology, June 3 2022, 101380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101380

Highlights

• Truth-default theory posits that honesty is the starting place for human communication, and highlights people’s vulnerability to false and misleading information.

• Truth-default theory explains differences in deception detection outcomes across lab and everyday life situations.

• People are more likely to believe information that is consistent with their own beliefs, consistent with the beliefs held by those in their social circle, and that is ubiquitous in their communication environment.

Abstract: Truth-default theory offers an account of human deceptive communication where people are honest unless they have a motive to deceive and people passively believe others unless suspicion and doubt are actively triggered. The theory is argued to account for wide swings in vulnerability to deception in different types of situations in and out of the lab. Three moderators are advanced to account for differential vulnerability to political misinformation and disinformation. Own belief congruity, social congruence, and message repetition are argued to combine to affect the probability that implausible and refutable false information is accepted as true.

Keywords: MisinformationDisinformationConfirmation BiasSocial ProofLies

The current state of the data could not support beliefs that sexualized game content influences either players' mental well-being or sexist attitudes and behaviors

Does sexualization in video games cause harm in players? A meta-analytic examination. Christopher J. Ferguson et al. Computers in Human Behavior, June 2 2022, 107341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107341

Highlights

• Whether sexualization in video games causes negative outcomes is a matter of concern.

• Meta-analysis examined sexualization effects on misogynistic and mental health outcomes.

• Exposure to sexualization in games was not found to be associated with negative outcomes.

• Better quality studies were less able to find evidence for effects.

Abstract: Whether video games with sexualized content do or do not relate to mental health and body image problems in players, and/or sexualization and hostility toward women, is an issue of broad public interest. However, evidence from empirical studies has generally been mixed. To examine this issue, we explored the degree to which sexualization in games was related to both well-being/body dissatisfaction and sexism/misogyny among players in two separate meta-analyses. Results revealed that sexualization in games was neither related to well-being/body dissatisfaction (r = 0.082, k = 10, n = 2,010, p = .066) nor sexism/misogyny (r = 0.040, k = 15, n = 15,938, p = .070). Better designed studies, and those that showed less evidence for researcher expectancy effects (for sexism/misogyny outcomes), tended to find less evidence for effects. As appears commonly in other realms of media effects, the evidence is weak that sexualized games influence player attitudes and behavior.

Keywords: Video gamesSexualizationMental healthSexism

Under some conditions fact checking can increase fake news

Bayesian Persuasion with Lie Detection. Florian Ederer, Weicheng Min. May 2022. https://florianederer.github.io/lies.pdf

Abstract: How does lie detection constrain the potential for one person to persuade another to change her action? We consider a model of Bayesian persuasion in which the Receiver can detect lies with positive probability. We show that the Sender lies more when the lie detection probability increases. As long as this probability is sufficiently small, the Sender’s and the Receiver’s equilibrium payoffs are unaffected by the presence of lie detection because the Sender simply compensates by lying more. However, when the lie detection probability is sufficiently high, the Sender’s equilibrium payoff decreases and the Receiver’s equilibrium payoff increases with the lie detection probability.

The more a society is dedicated to the value of equality and the more choices it offers for individual self-determination, the higher its rates of functional mental illness

The West’s Struggle for Mental Health: Rates of functional mental illness are high in open societies and low in authoritarian ones. Liah Greenfeld. Wall Street Journal, Jun 2 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wests-struggle-for-mental-health-illness-uvalde-shooting-depression-anxiety-religion-meaning-authoritarian-11654034338

The more a society is dedicated to the value of equality and the more choices it offers for individual self-determination, the higher its rates of functional mental illness. These rates increase in parallel with the increase in the available occupational, geographical, religious, gender and lifestyle-related choices. This explains why, since the 1970s, the U.S. leads the world as the country most affected by functional mental illness, though other prosperous liberal democracies aren’t far behind. Before the 1970s, first place belonged to the U.K., which lost that ranking together with its empire and the dramatic contraction in the number of choices the nation offered its members as a result. In contrast, rates of functional mental illness in societies that are insecure, poor, inegalitarian or authoritarian are remarkably low. For decades, the World Psychiatric Association has pondered the “perennial puzzle” of the relative immunity to such illnesses in Southeast Asian countries.

Equality inevitably makes self-definition a matter of one’s own choice, and the formation of personal identity—necessary for mental health—becomes personal responsibility, a burden some people can’t shoulder. A relatively high rate of functional mental illness, expressing itself centrally in dissatisfaction with self and, therefore, social maladjustment, thus must be expected in democracies. But while high rates of mental illness are an old problem, the soaring rates of the recent decades aren’t explained by equality alone. They are related, in addition, to what happened to Western values, especially in the U.S., since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The disappearance of the West’s common opponent rendered individual identities in the West more confusing and dissatisfying. Having lost sight of what they, as a society, were against, millions of Westerners lost the sense of what they represented, rejecting common reference points, such as personal responsibility, which previously constituted the core of the self in the West. Virtues and vices, Soviet-style, came to be seen as characteristics of groups, significant social groupings were defined genetically, all personal discomfort was attributed to society, and the burden of responsibility was shifted off individual shoulders.

This change transformed the understanding of justice from one based on individual actions to one based on collective, biologically determined dispositions. It encouraged social maladjustment because people believing themselves decent were naturally uncomfortable in a society that wasn’t decent. And at the same time it trapped huge numbers within vicious, yet inescapable genetically determined identities. While solving the problem for some, this change in values accelerated the increase in rates of mental illness.

Does Wisdom Even Exist in the Real World? We typically do not find many highly wise participants in representative studies

The Wisdom Researchers and the Elephant: An Integrative Model of Wise Behavior. Judith Glück, Nic M. Weststrate. Personality and Social Psychology Review, June 2, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683221094650

Abstract: This article proposes an integrative model of wise behavior in real life. While current research findings depend considerably on how wisdom is conceptualized and measured, there are strong conceptual commonalities across psychological wisdom models. The proposed model integrates the components of several existing models into a dynamic framework explaining wise behavior. The article first specifies which real-life situations require wisdom and discusses characteristics of wise behavior. The core proposition of the model is that in challenging real-life situations, noncognitive wisdom components (an exploratory orientation, concern for others, and emotion regulation) moderate the effect of cognitive components (knowledge, metacognitive capacities, and self-reflection) on wise behavior. The model can explain the situation specificity of wisdom and the commonalities and differences between personal and general wisdom. Empirically, it accounts for the considerable variation in correlations among wisdom measures and between wisdom measures and other variables. The model has implications for the design of wisdom-fostering interventions and new wisdom measures.

Keywords: wisdom, wise behavior, wisdom measurement, wisdom development, wisdom trait, wisdom state

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Does Wisdom Even Exist in the Real World?

Psychological accounts of wisdom have a tendency to sound lofty and unrealistic—it seems like ideally wise individuals never get angry or depressed, care deeply even about their enemies (if they have any enemies at all) and are able to find perfect solutions to problems of infinite complexity (see Ardelt et al., 2019; Baltes & Kunzmann, 2004). People’s beliefs about wisdom exemplars such as Solomon or Gandhi may have little to do with who those individuals actually were (Grossmann & Kross, 2014). Such ideals are unlikely to be attainable by any human being. The word “wise” may indeed be a label that people tend to reserve for extraordinary individuals. We believe that one of the functions of models like the current one is to explain how rare behavior can arise from a constellation of cognitive and noncognitive qualities that are each continuous and that can co-develop into a broader quality that is more than the sum of its parts. The rarity of high levels of wisdom is, of course, also a challenge to empirical research. We typically do not find many highly wise participants in representative studies [...]

Poor Prospects, Not Inequality, Motivate Political Violence

Poor Prospects, Not Inequality, Motivate Political Violence. Henrikas Bartusevicius, Florian van Leeuwen. Journal of Conflict Resolution, May 30, 2022.  https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221074647

Abstract: Despite extensive scholarly interest in the association between economic inequality and political violence, the micro-level mechanisms through which the former influences the latter are not well understood. Drawing on pioneering theories of political violence, social psychological research on relative deprivation, and prospect theory from behavioral economics, we examine individual-level processes that underpin the relationship between inequality and political violence. We present two arguments: despite being a key explanatory variable in existing research, perceived lower economic status vis-vis other individuals (an indicator of relative deprivation) is unlikely to motivate people to participate in violence; by contrast, although virtually unexplored, a projected decrease in one's own economic status (prospective decremental deprivation) is likely to motivate violence. Multilevel analyses of probability samples from many African countries provide evidence to support these claims. Based on this, we posit that focusing on changes in living conditions, rather than the status quo, is key for understanding political violence.

Keywords: civil conflict, political violence, economic inequality, relative deprivation, decremental deprivation, social psychology, prospect theory, individual-level analysis

Women are at increased risk for social anxiety not because of their high femininity but because of their low masculinity

Cultural and gender differences in social anxiety: The mediating role of self-construals and gender role identification. Kristen E. Zentner, Hajin Lee, Bryce S. Dueck & Takahiko Masuda. Current Psychology, May 28 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-022-03116-9

Abstract: The current paper investigated underlying mechanisms that produce culture and gender differences in social anxiety. European-Canadian (n = 99; 47% female) and Asian-Canadian (n = 94; 54% female) undergraduate students completed questionnaires measuring levels of independence, interdependence, masculinity, femininity, and social anxiety. Asian Canadians reported a similar level of social anxiety to European Canadians, and females reported higher social anxiety than males. Mediational analyses revealed that levels of independence, interdependence, and masculinity mediated the association between culture and social anxiety, whereas levels of masculinity mediated the association between gender and social anxiety. Cultural differences in social anxiety are explained by the extent to which individuals define themselves as independent and interdependent, while gender differences in social anxiety are explained by the extent to which individuals identify themselves with a masculine gender role. Our findings suggest the orthogonal impact of culture and gender on individuals’ social anxiety. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.

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women are at increased risk for social anxiety not because of their high femininity but because of their low masculinity

Paternity Uncertainty and Parent–Offspring Conflict Explain Restrictions on Female Premarital Sex across Societies

Paternity Uncertainty and Parent–Offspring Conflict Explain Restrictions on Female Premarital Sex across Societies. Gabriel Šaffa, Pavel Duda & Jan Zrzavý. Human Nature, May 28 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12110-022-09426-y

Abstract: Although norms of premarital sex vary cross-culturally, the sexuality of adolescent girls has been consistently more restricted than that of adolescent boys. Three major theories that attempt to explain restrictions on female premarital sex (FPS) concern male, female, and parental control. These competing theories have not been tested against each other cross-culturally. In this study, we do this using a sample of 128 nonindustrial societies and socioecological predictors capturing extramarital sex, paternal care, female status, sex ratio, parental control over a daughter’s mate choice, residence, and marriage transactions, while also controlling for phylogenetic non-independence across societies. We found that multiple parties benefit from restrictions on FPS. Specifically, FPS is more restricted in societies intolerant of extramarital sex and where men transfer property to their children (male control), as well as where marriages are arranged by parents (parental control). Both paternity uncertainty (partitioned among marital fidelity and paternal investment) and parent–offspring conflict (prompting parents to control their daughter’s sexuality) were identified as possible mechanisms of FPS restrictions. The evidence for female control is ambiguous, mainly because it can be equally well interpreted as both male control and parental control, and because fathers, rather than mothers, are often the primary decision makers about a daughter’s mate choice. Our results also emphasize the importance of social roles, rather than stereotyped sex roles, as a more useful approach to understanding the evolution of FPS restrictions.

Why Deaths of Despair Are Increasing in the US and Not Other Industrial Nations—Insights From Neuroscience and Anthropology

Why Deaths of Despair Are Increasing in the US and Not Other Industrial Nations—Insights From Neuroscience and Anthropology. Peter Sterling, Michael L. Platt. JAMA Psychiatry. 2022;79(4):368-374. February 2, 2022, doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.4209

Abstract: The US National Academy of Sciences reports rising mortality for US adults, most steeply for White adults with a secondary education or less. The rise is largely attributable to deaths of despair (suicide and poisoning by alcohol and drugs) with strong contributions from the cardiovascular effects of rising obesity. Although the report does acknowledge a crisis, it proposes mild measures to manage it, such as strengthening programs to support recovery, prevent relapse, increase resilience, and perform more research toward clinically useful definitions of despair. The US National Academy of Sciences report notes that mortality is decreasing in a control group of 16 wealthy nations (including countries in Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan), but it does not ask what protects those nations from despair. It has been observed that human beings are constrained by evolutionary strategy (ie, huge brain, prolonged physical and emotional dependence, education beyond adolescence for professional skills, and extended adult learning) to require communal support at all stages of the life cycle. Without support, difficulties accumulate until there seems to be no way forward. The 16 wealthy nations provide communal assistance at every stage, thus facilitating diverse paths forward and protecting individuals and families from despair. The US could solve its health crisis by adopting the best practices of the 16-nation control group.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which forbids US firms from paying bribes to foreign public officials, increases the size of illegal markets

Bribe-Switching. Bologna Pavlik, Jamie and Desierto, Desiree, Bribe-Switching. May 2022. SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4074383

Abstract: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits US firms from paying bribes to foreign public officials. We show that FCPA enforcement has no positive effect on the GDP per capita of the countries of these officials but, rather, increases their countries shadow economy. When public officials take bribes both from legal and illegal markets, corruption enforcement in legal markets induces them to make up for lost rents by taking more bribes from illegal markets. In equilibrium, they enforce less against illegal producers, thereby increasing the size of illegal markets.  We find that one case of FCPA enforcement alone increases the shadow economy by as much as 0.25 percentage points (pp), homicide rates by 0.02 pp, and trade misinvoicing by 0.5 pp.

Keywords: corruption, bribery, shadow economy, illegal markets

The empirical evidence contradicted the idea that attraction occurs when people’s personalities match

Humberg, Sarah, Tanja M. Gerlach, Theresa Franke-Prasse, Katharina Geukes, and Mitja Back. 2022. “Is (actual or Perceptual) Personality Similarity Associated with Attraction in Initial Romantic Encounters? A Dyadic Response Surface Analysis.” PsyArXiv. May 30. doi:10.31234/osf.io/vcp85

Abstract: A central assumption in lay and psychological theories is that people are attracted to potential mates who are similar to themselves in personality traits. However, the empirical findings on this idea have been inconclusive. Only a few studies have considered real-life dating contexts, and the statistical approaches they applied have sometimes spuriously identified similarity effects. In our study, 397 heterosexual singles (aged 18-28) participated in real speed-dates (Ndates = 940). Using dyadic response surface analysis, we investigated effects of actual similarity (similarity between self-reported personality trait levels) and perceptual similarity (similarity between an actor’s personality and his/her perception of the partner’s personality) concerning the Big Five traits. Neither type of similarity was related to initial romantic attraction. That is, the empirical evidence contradicted the idea that attraction occurs when people’s personalities match. We conclude that understanding initial attraction requires a deeper understanding of interpersonal dynamics in first encounters.

Find little evidence that American Twitter is as politicized as it is made out to be, with politics & hard news outlets constituting a small subset of these opinion leaders; ordinary Americans are significantly more likely to follow nonpolitical opinion leaders

The Political Landscape of the U.S. Twitterverse. Subhayan Mukerjee, Kokil Jaidka & Yphtach Lelkes. Political Communication, May 31 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2022.2075061

Prior research suggests that Twitter users in the United States are more politically engaged and more partisan than the American citizenry, who are generally characterized by low levels of political knowledge and disinterest in political affairs. This study seeks to understand this disconnect by conducting an observational analysis of the most popular accounts on American Twitter. We identify opinion leaders by drawing random samples of ordinary American Twitter users and observing whom they follow. We estimate the ideological leaning and political relevance of these opinion leaders and crowdsource estimates of perceived ideology. We find little evidence that American Twitter is as politicized as it is made out to be, with politics and hard news outlets constituting a small subset of these opinion leaders. Ordinary Americans are significantly more likely to follow nonpolitical opinion leaders on Twitter than political opinion leaders. We find no evidence of polarization among these opinion leaders either. While a few political professional categories are more polarized than others, the overall polarization dissipates when we factor in the rate at which the opinion leaders tweet: a large number of vocal nonpartisan opinion leaders drowns out the partisan voices on the platform. Our results suggest that the degree to which Twitter is political has likely been overstated in the past. Our findings have implications about how we use Twitter and social media, in general, to represent public opinion in the United States.

Keywords: Twittersocial mediapoliticizationpolarizationecho-chambers

Check also other literature with references: Politically partisan left-right online news echo chambers are real, but only a minority of approximately 5% of internet news users inhabit them; the continued popularity of mainstream outlets often preclude the formation of large partisan echo chambers

Effects of adversity on wisdom: Little evidence of positive change in wise-reasoning over the course of a year

From 2021... None the wiser: Year-long longitudinal study on effects of adversity on wisdom. Anna Dorfman et al. European Journal of Personality, May 17, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070211014057

Abstract: Research on consequences of adversity appears inconclusive. Adversity can be detriment to mental health, promoting maladaptive patterns of thoughts. At the same time, posttraumatic growth studies suggest that overcoming major adversity facilitates growth in wisdom-related patterns of thoughts. We address this puzzle by examining how distinct types of adversity impact wisdom over time and how individual differences in self-distanced (rather than self-immersed) reflection on adversity relate to different wisdom trajectories. In a four-wave prospective year-long study, participants (N = 499) recalled and reflected every three months on the most significant recent adverse event in their life. They reported how much they engaged in wise reasoning—intellectual humility, open-mindedness to diverse perspectives and change, search for compromises and resolution—as well as self-distancing during reflections. Independent raters identified seven distinct adversity types (e.g. social conflict, economic hardship, major trauma) in open-ended descriptions. Growth curve analyses revealed little evidence of positive change in wise-reasoning over the course of a year, and some evidence of negative change for health-related adversity. Although self-distancing was associated with stability in wisdom, self-immersing was associated with negative change in wisdom in reflections on social conflicts over time. We discuss implications these results have for adversity, change vs. resilience in character strengths, and self-distancing.

Keywords: adversity, wisdom, character strengths, self-distancing, resilience

Discussion

In the present research, we used a year-long longitudinal study to examine how different ways people reflect on their adversity—self-distancing vs. self-immersing—prospectively inform changes in wisdom. In addition, we explored the relationship between different forms of adversity and prospective changes in wisdom.

Self-distanced vs. self-immersed reflection on adversity

To address the first question, we examined how inter- and intra-individual differences in self-distancing are associated with wisdom trajectories following adversity. We suggested that greater self-distancing in reflection an adverse experience may facilitate resilience and possibly even growth in wisdom over time. Overall, we found that inter-individual differences in self-distancing did not significantly qualify the trajectory of wisdom. In other words, people who on average self-distance more than others do not show different wisdom for adversities involving social conflicts trajectories. In contrast, intra-individual differences in self-distancing did qualify the trajectory of wisdom. Specifically, participants who reported self-distancing less from social conflicts than their general level subsequently showed a negative trajectory of wisdom. Participants who reported self-distancing more from adversity than their general level sustained wisdom over the same period. Together, these findings suggest that maintaining or developing a self-distanced perspective on social conflicts is associated with sustaining wisdom over time. Self-distancing may be related to mechanisms such as meaning-making and deliberative rumination. This idea is in line with recent research on memory updating during clinical interventions. A recent study found that shifting perspectives from self-immersion to self-distancing when working through stressful past experiences helped to create new meaning for these experiences (Romano et al., 2020).

Our results extend recent evidence from a pre–post experimental field study that examined effects of self-distanced reflection training for wisdom (Grossmann, Dorfman, Oakes, et al., 2021). When examining responses on the same scale as used in the present longitudinal study (Grossmann, Dorfman, Oakes, et al., 2021, Study 1 supplement), participants who trained in self-distancing sustained a comparable degree of self-reported wisdom from before-to-after the self-distancing intervention. In contrast, control participants who did not train in self-distanced reflection showed a decline in wisdom. These findings further qualify a set of theoretical models about wisdom development, which suggest that individual differences competences similar to self-distancing can promote growth in wisdom over time (e.g. Glück et al., 2019). Although these models so far have chiefly focused on inter-individual competences, it is possible that intra-individual change in competences is the driving force behind wisdom maintenance and development.

It is noteworthy that the effects of self-distancing on wisdom trajectory were particularly pronounced for social conflicts. Social conflicts often involve disagreements of parties pursuing different interests. Consequently, it is possible that social conflicts are both more likely to call for wisdom (Grossmann, 2017; Grossmann, Dorfman, et al., 2020). They are also more frequent compared to more singular events such as a major health scare. Thus, social conflicts may produce enough variance in responses to detect growth/decline trajectories. At the same time, the current operationalization of wisdom builds on measures designed specifically for the context of social disagreements and conflicts (Brienza et al., 2018). Consequently, future work may benefit from metrics specifically designed for contexts capturing nuances of medical or economic adversities.

These longitudinal findings also extend the existing literature of self-distancing (Kross & Ayduk, 2017), highlighting the distinction between inter-individual, “trait-like” differences in self-distancing and intra-individual variability from this trait-like level. Further understanding of self-distancing effects will benefit from additional longitudinal studies over longer time frames and across a broader range of psychological processes such as emotion regulation and relational maintenance strategies.

Another insight regarding self-distancing relates to the trajectory of self-distancing for different types of adversity. We found a similar self-distancing trajectory across many different types of adversity, suggesting that the way people engage in self-distancing was largely robust across adversity type (but see minor exceptions in the supplement).

Are all types of adversities alike?

In our exploratory analyses, we classified different types of adversity participants reported experiencing during the year. While some participants reported experiencing the same type of events several times, we observed considerable inter- and intra-individual variability in the types of adversity participants reported. Ratings of subjective event characteristics (i.e. construal of the event) shed further light on differences between adversity types. In particular, social conflicts, economic hardships, and health issues were perceived as more challenging than daily hassles, academic/work setbacks, and even traumas. Also, social conflicts, others’ health problems, and major traumas elicited more negative affect than other types of adversity. Finally, others’ health problems were perceived as less predictable than all other adversity types reported in the study.

Though construal of an event as less predictable may signal uncertainty and low locus of control (Affleck, Tennen, Pfeiffer, et al., 1987), it may also signal greater recognition flexibility that is needed in the situation, which is central to the wisdom construct (Grossmann, 2017). Indeed, participants reported greater wisdom in reflection on adversity involving others’ health problems as compared to other types of adversity. More wisdom in reflections about other-focused adversity than self-focused adversities also corresponded with existing experimental evidence in the wisdom literature, which suggests that people exhibit greater wisdom when reflecting on others’ (vs. their own) problems (Grossmann & Kross, 2014). The insight that different types of adverse events may be associated with different outcomes depending on people’s subjective appraisals of the event (Beck, 2002; Folkman & Lazarus, 1985; Yih et al., 2019) may be especially critical for posttraumatic growth research. We note this because the posttraumatic growth research so far has either chiefly focused on one type of adversity (major trauma) or has not differentiated between adversity types in the first place (e.g. Engels et al., 2019; cf. Infurna & Luthar, 2016; Jayawickreme et al., 2021; Luhmann & Eid, 2009).

Focusing on wisdom, we observed no evidence for posttraumatic growth for any type of adversity participants reported. For major trauma, economic and work-related challenges, and daily hassles, participants reported a high degree of rank-order stability in wisdom, with no change in trajectories over a period of a year. In contrast, for adversity involving health issues, we observed a negative linear trajectory in wisdom over time. It is possible that people who are dealing with personal health problems are more self-focused. As a result, they may report wisdom-related meta-cognitions such as perspectivism less than people who reflect on other types of adversity. Together, these longitudinal observations of the ways people work through different types of adversity suggest potentially distinct trajectories of wisdom over time, casting doubt on the idea of general growth in wisdom after experiencing adversity.

The overall trajectory of wisdom in the face of adversity may be best characterized as reflecting resilience—i.e. the maintenance of stable levels of psychological (and physical) functioning in the face of adversity (Luthar et al., 2000). The assumption that wisdom stability is a sign of resilience dovetails with other emerging longitudinal studies on trajectories of character strengths following adversity. Like the present results, these studies document resilience rather than positive changes (e.g. Chopik et al., 2020; Davis et al., 2019).

Change in character over time: Nuances matter

This research contributes to the emerging study of change and resilience in specific character strengths and virtues (Lamade et al., 2020), responding to calls to integrate prospective research on specific character strengths into the resilience and growth research (Infurna & Jayawickreme, 2019; Letzring et al., 2005). Enriching previous research on resilience and growth, which has primarily examined general changes in well-being (Jayawickreme & Blackie, 2016), the current investigation provides a detailed and nuanced picture of wisdom trajectories. Specifically, sustained wisdom-related resilience in response to adversity may depend on type of adversity and how individuals reflect on this adversity. Such fine-grained studies have been largely missing from the literature (Denissen et al., 2019; Infurna & Jayawickreme, 2019; Jayawickreme & Blackie, 2014). The resilience in wisdom observed in the current study is also noteworthy given that resilience may not be as commonplace as previously believed (Bonanno et al., 2002; Infurna & Luthar, 2018; Infurna et al., 2017). Recent studies show that for a significant number of people, adverse life events bring negative change in character strengths and self-esteem (Bleidorn et al., 2021; Chopik et al., 2020). For example, examining U.S. soldiers pre- and post-deployment, Chopik et al. (2020) found that 40% of soldiers experienced negative changes in character strengths post-deployment. The rest of the sample remained stable post-deployment. If resilience in general is not commonplace, and change is often negative, maintaining wisdom—a unique strength—in the face of adversity may be at least as important as experiencing “growth” in wisdom, because a likely alternative is a decrease in this character strength.

Why did we fail to observe positive changes in wisdom over time in response to adverse events? First, one year may not be enough time to observe meaningful changes in character, especially changes in wisdom, as most changes may happen more gradually over longer periods (e.g. McAdams & Olson, 2010). Second, significant changes in wisdom may be driven by non-normative life events (Chopik et al., 2019). In our sample, participants considered the events they reported as relatively common and not particularly likely to transform their worldview (the event characteristics of different adversity types are presented in supplemental analysis 2.d. and Figure S1 in the Supplemental Materials). Future longitudinal research that tracks people for more than one year can help answer some of these questions. Such studies can help to determine whether wisdom trajectories and the effects of self-distancing differ for lower base-rate adverse events (e.g. a life-threatening assault) or unexpected circumstances (e.g. prolonged social isolation during a pandemic).

Focusing on wisdom expands the discussion of posttraumatic growth and character change beyond personality traits. The narrative identity approach to posttraumatic change examines changes in how people construe and “narrate” their lives following traumatic life events (McAdams, 1996; Pals & McAdams, 2004). Likewise, wisdom can be understood through the ways people approach and reflect on adverse experiences (Weststrate & Glück, 2017; Weststrate et al., 2018; also see Staudinger & Glück, 2011, for a review). In contrast to the changes that people report when describing their “life stories” after a major adverse event (Pals, 2006), our findings suggest that growth in wisdom—reflected in specific meta-cognitions and moral aspirations of the CWM—does not typically change much at all. These findings challenge the folk belief that people can grow stronger and become “wiser” following adverse events they experience in their lives. Rather, the findings emphasize the importance of self-distanced reflection on adverse events in helping to prevent stagnation and decline in wisdom.

While our study focused on wisdom-related responses to concrete events using items concerning moral aspirations and meta-cognition, other conceptualizations and measures may show different trajectories following adversity. In particular, it is possible that more abstract characterizations of wisdom, using context-free metrics, or self-reports of one’s narrative identity may produce results more in line with common lay theories about growth from adversity (e.g. Glück et al., 2019). It is also possible that more nuanced measures, which build on common ways people of different socio-economic and sub-cultural groups express their intellectual humility, open-mindedness, or perspective-taking, could show greater variability in wisdom-related meta-cognitions over time. Future research could examine prospective changes in wisdom as an autobiographical narrative (e.g. Glück et al., 2005), personality characteristic (Staudinger et al., 2005), and personality resource (Glück et al., 2019), as well as consider employing a multi-method approach relying on simultaneous assessment of wisdom across different operationalizations (e.g. Baltes & Staudinger, 2000; Jeste et al., 2010; Webster, 2003).

Despite the substantial diversity of our study sample in age and socio-economic background, most participants were White, with less than a quarter of participants from other ethnic groups, limiting the generalizability of the insights to other populations. Moreover, the study was solely based on participants from English-speaking North America, raising questions about whether these effects would generalize to other cultures. Future research must focus on exploring and understanding the types and appraisals of adverse events that are experienced by culturally diverse groups. Indeed, wisdom trajectories could be different for different cultural and ethnic groups, who may also differ in their propensity to engage in self-distanced reflections (Grossmann & Kross, 2010).

COVID-19: Those who have had an infection and recovered appear slightly happier than others

The comeback effect: How happy are people who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection? Micael Dahlen et al. International Journal of Wellbeing, Vol. 12 No. 2 (2022). May 2022. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v12i2.2019

Abstract: There is already a large body of research on the dramatic negative effects of COVID-19 on peoples’ mental and physical health. Millions of people have died, and the pandemic has negatively influenced the lives of billions of people. Luckily however, the vast majorty of people infected with the virus, recovers. The happiness and wellbeing of these people have not been extensively studied. In the current paper, we ask the question: Are people who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection happier than those who have not been infected at all? Building on previous research on hedonic adaptation and counterfactual thinking, we hypothesize, and find, that those who have had an infection appear slightly happier than others.  The study relies on two surveys conducted in Sweden during the pandemic in 2020 (n=1029) and 2021 (n=1788).

The physical attractiveness of interaction partners is rated higher after a getting-acquainted interaction

Ratings of the physical attractiveness of an interaction partner after a getting-acquainted interaction. Susan Sprecher, Elaine Hatfield. Personal Relationships. May 20 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12422

Statement of Relevance: Physical attractiveness plays a critical role in interpersonal interaction. It can be particularly important in initial interactions because it is the most salient characteristic in the get-acquainted process. How people judge the physical attractiveness of a conversation partner after a getting-acquainted interaction may be affected by a number of factors, including perceiver characteristics (e.g., relationship status) and the context of the interaction (e.g., mode of communication). This research provided analyses of data collected from several prior social interaction studies in which data were obtained from young adults on how they rated their getting-acquainted partner's physical attractiveness. These ratings were compared to other benchmarks (e.g., experimenter ratings) and were examined for their associations with perceiver and contextual variables.

Abstract: This study examined college students' judgments of the physical attractiveness of an interaction partner after a getting-acquainted interaction, including in comparison with other benchmarks (e.g., an experimenter rating, a self-rating). With data combined from several past laboratory studies, we found that participants (particularly women who were interacting with another woman) overall rated their interaction partner after a brief interaction to be more attractive than three benchmarks: (1) how the partners were judged by more neutral experimenters who had less interaction with them; (2) how the partners rated themselves; and (3) the participants' own self-ratings of physical attractiveness. Evidence was found for a prediction derived from interaction appearance theory – ratings of the quality (enjoyment) of the interaction were positively associated with ratings of the partner's physical attractiveness. We also explored whether participants' ratings of the physical attractiveness of their interaction partner were affected by factors about the participant (own physical attractiveness, relationship status) and about the context of their communication (modality, type of get-acquainted task). Despite prior work suggesting that physical attractiveness ratings of others are malleable depending on a host of other factors, personal and contextual variables considered in this study were generally not associated with how the participants rated the physical attractiveness of their interaction partner.

This provocation argues that up to 50% of the articles that are now being published in many interdisciplinary sustainability and transitions journals may be categorized as "scholarly bullshit"

Bullshit in the Sustainability and Transitions Literature: a Provocation. Julian Kirchherr. Circular Economy and Sustainability, May 20 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43615-022-00175-9

Abstract: Research on sustainability and transitions is burgeoning. Some of this research is helping to solve humankind’s most pressing problems. However, as this provocation argues, up to 50% of the articles that are now being published in many interdisciplinary sustainability and transitions journals may be categorized as “scholarly bullshit.” These are articles that typically engage with the latest sustainability and transitions buzzword (e.g., circular economy), while contributing little to none to the scholarly body of knowledge on the topic. A typology of “scholarly bullshit” is proposed which includes the following archetypes: boring question scholarship, literature review of literature reviews, recycled research, master thesis madness, and activist rants. Since “scholarly bullshit” articles engage with the latest academic buzzwords, they also tend to accumulate significant citations and are thus welcomed by many journal editors. Citations matter most in the metric-driven logic of the academic system, and this type of scholarship, sadly, is thus unlikely to decrease in the coming years.

On the Root Causes of Scholarly Bullshit

There appears to be a lot of scholarly bullshit out there. A previous version of this manuscript stated that at least 50% of the articles published in sustainability and transitions journals may be categorized as scholarly bullshit. This figure has also been noted in the introduction. Two reviewers of this work asked how this figure has been developed. The author of this provocation has selected ca. 100 articles published recently on CE in well-known journals such as Journal of Cleaner Production, Ecological Economics, and Sustainability. The author could instantly categorize at least 50% of these articles in one of the five archetypes proposed in Table 1 and thus suggests that perhaps up to 50% of the articles that are now being published in many interdisciplinary sustainability and transitions journals could be categorized as “scholarly bullshit.” Admittedly, and at the risk of turning this provocation into a parody, the author notes that further work ought to be undertaken to strengthen this initial estimate. After all, ca. 100 articles are not representative of the vast scholarly CE literature and any set of articles ought to be coded by at least two scholars to ensure reliability.

The author also maintains that many scholars appear to agree that too much inferior quality is published in many sustainability and transitions journals. For instance, one of the reviewers of this paper noted in their review: “Interesting, provocative article […]. The author […] touches a topic that is […] a reality. I must say that I don't disagree with the general comment about the load and quality of papers published.” Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of one of the most respected sustainability and transitions journal wrote to the author regarding an earlier version of this manuscript upon submission to their journal: “I may meet resistance from my co-editors, but I will defend your paper. This needs to be said.” (Sadly, the co-editors sacked the paper, and it then took a while until this provocation found a home in a respected peer-reviewed journal.)

Additionally, it appears that an increasing number of academicians in the field would agree that the share of scholarly bullshit is unlikely to decrease in the coming years. After all, if one searches journals such as Journal of Cleaner Production and Ecological Economics, one finds that articles containing the latest buzzwords, such as “circular economy,” are among the most cited pieces. Publishing such works has caused the impact factors of many journals to skyrocket. Accordingly, there is a certain fear among the editors of these journals that they will miss the next highly cited article. At the same time, the sheer volume and growth of this sustainability and transitions buzzword scholarship guarantees that almost any article on the topic will garner at least a modest number of citations.

This all also drives more and more authors into publishing on the very latest buzzword, e.g., “circular economy,” which creates a perpetuum mobile respectively vicious circle (depending on your perspective) regarding publications on such topics. Given this dynamic, the author of this work contends that, at this point, it is very difficult not to get a piece entailing the latest sustainability and transitions buzzword published in an at least relatively known peer-reviewed journal. All contributors (journal editors, authors) know they may be producing scholarly bullshit; however, publishing such works is advantageous for everyone involved in this contemporary academic system.

These scholarly bullshit publications, in turn, as also noted by a reviewer of this paper, are driven, from a roots cause perspective, by the need for tenure respectively the aim to secure promotion and funding. Those who seek this are usually required to demonstrate recognition of their work in the scholarly community which is operationalized by having published many highly cited works on a topic that is en vogue. People need permanent jobs and the desire to acquire funding and promotions is also understandable. It may thus not be fair to blame all academicians out there for churning out scholarly bullshit. Rather, the focus may be turned to the elites that have designed an academic system that mistakes publishing many highly cited papers for the advancement of science. In other words: the academic system is so focused on quantitative targets that it may have forgotten what these targets were supposed to measure.

Replacing this system with one that eventually produces less scholarly bullshit is no trivial task. Those running this system have proven significant staying power. However, some scholars in the field of sustainability and transitions literature and beyond still appear to/may be able to care about more than their h-index. The next time these scholars embark on a piece of research, they should ask themselves: “Is this me now merely adding to the pile of scholarly bullshit? Or am I contributing to the advancement of knowledge in my field?” And even those scholars who are driven by the metrics of the academic system may find that true contributions could gather the most recognition in the end.

People judge facial attractiveness more accurately for female faces while giving more accurate wealth judgments for male faces

Gender Biases in the Accuracy of Facial Judgments: Facial Attractiveness and Perceived Socioeconomic Status. Yue Qi and Jia Ying. Front. Psychol., May 31 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.884888

Product: Many studies demonstrate that people form their first impression of a stranger based on facial appearance, and these impressions influence their subsequent decisions and behaviors. However, much less research has examined the factors that moderate the accuracy of first impressions based on a photo of face. The present study included three experiments to explore gender differences in the accuracy of impressions based on faces. The results showed that people judge facial attractiveness more accurately for female faces than for male faces while giving more accurate wealth judgments for male faces than for female faces. Interestingly, although we did not find a significant correlation between confidence ratings and the accuracy of wealth rating, we recognized a significant moderate correlation between confidence ratings and the accuracy of attractiveness ratings when female participants rated male faces. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to reveal gender biases in the accuracy of impression judgments based on facial appearance. These findings imply a significant influence of traditional gender roles on accurate facial judgments.

General Discussion

The present study showed that people give more accurate judgments of the facial attractiveness of female faces than of male faces and give more accurate wealth judgments for male faces than for female faces. To our knowledge, the current research is the first to show gender biases in the accuracy of impressions formed from faces. This indicates an important role of facial gender in shaping accurate first impressions.

The differences in judgment accuracy of male and female faces may be caused by differences in traditional gender roles. From an evolutionary perspective, these gender biases have been linked to the production and survival of offspring. A man’s reproductive potential is related more to his (economic) resources. In contrast, a woman’s reproductive potential is associated more closely with her health, which may be related to physical attractiveness (Luxen and Van De Vijver, 2006). Thus, females might be more familiar with others’ evaluations of their own facial attractiveness and thus achieve a higher level of consistency on self-other agreement. These results are also consistent with previous findings that facial gender is a salient facial cue in face processing and has an effect on other types of information (e.g., expression) processing (Liu et al., 2017). Moreover, Maner et al. (2003) found that both male and female observers selectively focus on physically attractive female targets according to the targets’ facial photos, suggesting that people care more about female facial attractiveness than male facial attractiveness. The more attention that is paid to female facial attractiveness, the more accurate the judgments that can be made based on facial appearance.

In contrast to the findings about female faces in Studies 1 and 2, Study 3 revealed that people tend to rate perceived socioeconomic status (SES) more accurately for male faces than for female faces. In mate selection, SES is of great significance to males since females are more attentive to resources that can be invested in themselves and their offspring (Wang et al., 2018). Thus, on the one hand, males will expend more effort to increase their SES and recognize SES differences between themselves and competitors so that they can attract potential mates. On the other hand, females will seek as much evidence as possible to confirm their judgment of males’ SES to help them “make a good choice”. Moreover, because the number of male billionaires is larger than that of females all over the world (Wai, 2014; Forbes, 2022) and there is more media news or information related to wealthy males than to wealthy females, people may learn more useful cues to help them rate males’ SES, even using only faces. Therefore, people’s gender stereotypes are enhanced when SES is highly correlated with males in society. Similar gender bias is also found in research on how masculine facial cues play a key role in competence impressions (Oh et al., 2019). When people evaluate traits or personalities, the more evidence they accumulate and the more information they have observed and mastered, the higher the accuracy of their judgments and evaluations will be (Watson et al., 2000; Biesanz et al., 2007). These findings provide cross-validation of our hypothesis that people may pay more attention to the characteristics that are consistent with gender roles (e.g., the attractiveness of women, the socioeconomic status of men), thus accumulating more evidence that helps them make more accurate judgments.

The current findings regarding gender bias show the great social influences on gender differences. The higher accuracy of judgments of the facial attractiveness of female faces and of the wealth of male faces indicates that people can make relatively accurate judgments about these factors based only on faces. More importantly, it suggests that when the characteristics are consistent with gender stereotypes and are emphasized by society, people assign more attention to the characteristics of the gender. As a result, by accumulating more experience and evidence, people can make more accurate judgments. On the positive side, people can quickly establish a relatively accurate impression of some characteristics that fit gender stereotypes to benefit their daily life interactions. However, the restricted accuracy of impressions based on face photos should receive more research attention. On the negative side, people put little effort into learning about characteristics that conflict with gender stereotypes, which might aggravate gender stereotypes across society. In addition, in Studies 2 and 3, we found that males rated characteristics that conflict with gender stereotypes more accurately than females did, which suggests that males might be affected less by gender stereotypes. This finding could be further examined in future research.

The analysis of confidence ratings implies that although the participants were able to make relatively accurate judgments, they may have struggled to be aware of their judgment accuracy. Participants might not realize whether they have extracted useful information from faces to help them make judgments. In addition, it is possible that they might not be sure of the gap between their own standards and external standards while giving their ratings. However, in Study 2, the significant moderate correlation between confidence ratings and rating accuracy when female participants rated male faces is interesting and is in line with research showing that females exhibit higher levels of interpersonal sensitivity than males (Chan et al., 2010). Despite female participants’ higher accuracy when rating female faces, they had a clearer awareness when rating male faces. When rating male faces, even though male participants rated them more accurately, they failed to recognize their rating accuracy. However, we did not find a similar result in Study 3. Overall, these results show that although gender bias exists in terms of judgment accuracy, people do not have a relatively clear awareness of their rating behaviors and the gender bias of their judgments. This means that during the rating process, people might have underlying evaluation references that they are unaware of, which could be explored more thoroughly in the future.

Republicans abhor 'critical race theory' more than 'cancel culture'

The new culture wars: Why critical race theory matters more than cancel culture. Eric Kaufmann. Social Science Quarterly, May 27 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13156

Abstract

Background: A set of ‘New Culture Wars’ over questions of majority identity protection and free speech have become important in American politics, but have not received attention from empirical political science

Objective: Compare the relative size of partisan differences on issues of ‘Cancel Culture’ and ‘Critical Race Theory’.

Method: Logistic regression models using attitudes toward real-world Cancel Culture and Critical Race Theory examples to predict partisanship.

Results: Data show that Republican voters are no more likely to fear career consequences or dismissal for speech than Democrats. Republicans are also more opposed to teaching critical perspectives on race and history in schools than they are to employees being fired for dissenting speech within organizations. Strong white identifiers are both more opposed to diversity training which emphasizes white racism and less opposed to firing people for disputed cases of racist or sexist speech.

Conclusion: Due to the distinctive moral foundations of conservative voters, this paper argues that perceived attacks on white and American identity are a more powerful source of grievance for Republican voters than concerns over freedom of expression. It is hypothesized that the conservative moral foundation of group loyalty helps to explain these findings.

"Gold rush" counties have higher entrepreneurship rates from 1910, when records began, until the present as well as a higher prevalence of entrepreneurial traits in the populace

Stuetzer, Michael and Brodeur, Abel and Brodeur, Abel and Obschonka, Martin and Audretsch, David B. and Rentfrow, Jason and Potter, Jeff and Gosling, Samuel, A Golden Opportunity: The Gold Rush, Entrepreneurship and Culture. IZA Discussion Paper No. 14894, May 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4114397

Abstract: We study the origins of entrepreneurship (culture) in the United States. For the analysis we make use of a quasi-natural experiment - the gold rush in the second part of the 19th century. We argue that the presence of gold attracted individuals with entrepreneurial personality traits. Due to a genetic founder effect and the formation of an entrepreneurship culture, we expect gold rush counties to have higher entrepreneurship rates. The analysis shows that gold rush counties indeed have higher entrepreneurship rates from 1910, when records began, until the present as well as a higher prevalence of entrepreneurial traits in the populace.

Keywords: gold rush, entrepreneurship, culture

JEL Classification: L26, R12, N5, N9

Participants were no more or less likely to report romantic interest in potential partners who matched vs mismatched their ideals; ideal partner preference-matching effects were extremely small and typically no different from zero

Predicting romantic interest during early relationship development: A preregistered investigation using machine learning. Paul W Eastwick et al. European Journal of Personality, May 28, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221085877

Abstract: There are massive literatures on initial attraction and established relationships. But few studies capture early relationship development: the interstitial period in which people experience rising and falling romantic interest for partners who could—but often do not—become sexual or dating partners. In this study, 208 single participants reported on 1,065 potential romantic partners across 7,179 data points over 7 months. In stage 1, we used random forests (a type of machine learning) to estimate how well different classes of variables (e.g., individual differences vs. target-specific constructs) predicted participants’ romantic interest in these potential partners. We also tested (and found only modest support for) the perceiver × target moderation account of compatibility: the meta-theoretical perspective that some types of perceivers experience greater romantic interest for some types of targets. In stage 2, we used multilevel modeling to depict predictors retained by the random-forests models; robust (positive) main effects emerged for many variables, including sociosexuality, sex drive, perceptions of the partner’s positive attributes (e.g., attractive and exciting), attachment features (e.g., proximity seeking), and perceived interest. Finally, we found no support for ideal partner preference-matching effects on romantic interest. The discussion highlights the need for new models to explain the origin of romantic compatibility.

Keywords: attraction, romantic relationships, hookups, compatiblity, random forests

A third of respondents reported remembering a fabricated or factually altered political event, especially if it was unflattering to the political opponent

Filling in the Gaps: False Memories and Partisan Bias. Miles T. Armaly, Adam M. Enders. Political Psychology, May 27 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12841

Abstract: While cognitive psychologists have learned a great deal about people's propensity for constructing and acting on false memories, the connection between false memories and politics remains understudied. If partisan bias guides the adoption of beliefs and colors one's interpretation of new events and information, so too might it prove powerful enough to fabricate memories of political circumstances. Across two studies, we first distinguish false memories from false beliefs and expressive responses; false political memories appear to be genuine and subject to partisan bias. We also examine the political and psychological correlates of false memories. Nearly a third of respondents reported remembering a fabricated or factually altered political event, with many going so far as to convey the circumstances under which they “heard about” the event. False-memory recall is correlated with the strength of partisan attachments, interest in politics, and participation, as well as narcissism, conspiratorial thinking, and cognitive ability.