For both women and men, higher education predicted a high masturbation frequency and sexual dissatisfaction

A Seemingly Paradoxical Relationship Between Masturbation Frequency and Sexual Satisfaction. Nantje Fischer & Bente Træen. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Jul 5 2022. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-022-02305-8

Abstract: Despite many benefits related to masturbation, we know surprisingly little about how solo sex is associated with sexual satisfaction. Using questionnaire data from a probability-based sample of 4,160 Norwegians aged 18–89 years, we explored subgroups of women and men that differed in their masturbation–sexual satisfaction typology and examined whether sociodemographic, psychological, and sexual behavioral characteristics were associated with distinct masturbation–satisfaction patterns. A cluster analysis revealed four similar groupings for women and men, reflecting sex lives characterized by high masturbation/sexual satisfaction, low masturbation/sexual satisfaction, high masturbation/sexual dissatisfaction, or low masturbation/sexual dissatisfaction. While being younger, higher pornography consumption, and sexual variety were primarily associated with increased masturbation frequency, sexual distress and a negative body and genital self-image were more clearly associated with sexual dissatisfaction. Predicting different masturbation–satisfaction groupings also revealed some gender-specific findings in the use of pornography, and in the association between masturbation and intercourse frequency, which suggested a complementary pattern for women and a compensatory pattern for men. Our findings emphasize that the linkage between masturbation and sexual satisfaction warrants closer focus.

Discussion

Previous studies have focused on linear relationships between sexual satisfaction and masturbation frequency, without considering the possibility that women and men might vary in their masturbation–sexual satisfaction relationships. The clustering in this study revealed four groupings, with men’s and women’s sex life being characterized by either HmS, LmS, HmD, or LmD. Further, we assessed whether sociodemographic, psychological, and sexual behavioral factors predicted distinct masturbation–satisfaction patterns.

Two interesting patterns emerged. Psychological factors (sexual distress, body image and genital self-image) were more clearly related to sexual dissatisfaction, while age and sexual behavioral factors (pornography use, sexual experience and desires) were mainly linked to masturbation frequency. A possible reason for the fragmented findings may reflect that masturbatory behavior only partly contributes to a person’s overall sex life satisfaction. For example, Philippsohn and Hartmann (2009) found that masturbation was considerably less central in explaining women’s overall sexual satisfaction than sexual intercourse activity. Moreover, qualitative data from focus groups with 50 heterosexual men reveal that, compared to partnered sexual activities, masturbation was not fully integrated into men’s sense of being sexual (Janssen et al., 2008). These studies indicate that, although overlapping, sexual satisfaction from solitary and partnered sexuality might be different. Similarly, qualitative data from focus groups with 73 queer and heterosexual women showed that solitary and partnered sexual pleasure were largely distinct constructs, with only some overlap (Goldey et al., 2016). Future studies should therefore consider defining and measuring solitary and partnered sex life satisfaction as distinct concepts.

A Compensatory or Complementary Pattern?

Women with higher sexual intercourse frequency were more likely to report high masturbation and satisfaction (HmS) than any other group (LmS, HmD, LmD). Also, more sexual experimentation among women was associated with more masturbation and satisfaction (HmS), compared to participants with LmS. Both findings support a complementary pattern for women, as it implies that frequent solo sex enhances partnered sex and is more widespread among adults with a sexualized personality pattern (e.g., increased sexual experimentation and desires) (Das et al., 2009).

Similar as in women, we found that men with higher intercourse frequency were more likely to be sexually satisfied (HmS), than those belonging to a sexually dissatisfied cluster (HmD or LmD). This is a finding that corresponds to previous studies that have found a positive relationship between partnered sex and sexual satisfaction (Brody & Costa, 2009; Byers & Rehman, 2014; Schoenfeld et al., 2017). However, when comparing men with high sexual satisfaction (HmS versus LmS), those with more partnered sex were more likely to report no or low masturbation (LmS). This finding supports a compensatory pattern in men, as it suggests that masturbation is regarded as unnecessary if one has highly satisfying and frequent sex with a partner (Regnerus et al., 2017). The gendered finding, revealing a compensatory pattern among men and a complementary pattern among women, is consistent with prior work supporting gender-specific models (Carvalheira & Leal, 2013; Fischer et al., 2022; Gerressu et al., 2008; Regnerus et al., 2017).

Pornography Use Predict HmS

Another notable finding was that both women and men with frequent pornography use were more likely to report high masturbation and sexual satisfaction (HmS) than those belonging to a cluster characterized by no or low masturbation (LmS or LmD). This finding is similar to previous studies that have found a positive relationship between pornography use and masturbation (Baćak & Štulhofer, 2011; Carvalheira et al., 2015; Richters et al., 2014) and emphasizes that pornography functions as an aid for masturbation (Prause, 2019).

Apart from this, we found a link between pornography use, high masturbation, and sexual satisfaction in men (but not in women). When comparing men characterized by relatively high masturbation frequency (HmD vs. HmS), those with greater pornography use were more likely to report being sexually dissatisfied (HmD). This finding is consistent with a recent meta-analysis (Wright et al., 2017), which documented a negative association between men’s pornography use and sexual satisfaction, but no overall or global association between women’s pornography consumption and sexual satisfaction.

Evaluative Factors Associated with Specific Masturbation-Satisfaction Typologies

Among both genders, a more negative body image was associated with being sexually dissatisfied (HmD in women and men; LmD in women), compared to participants in the reference cluster (HmS). This is consistent with previous evidence, implicating important links between body image and sexual satisfaction (Træen et al., 2016; Woertman & van den Brink, 2012). Interestingly, genital self-image was only linked to male cluster’s. In particular, a negative genital self-image was associated with being sexually dissatisfied (HmD and LmD), compared to the reference cluster (HmS). These findings echo those of a recent study, which revealed that when accounting for all body attitudes (body fat, genitals, muscularity, and height), only negative attitudes toward one’s own genitals were significantly associated with sexual dissatisfaction in men (van den Brink et al., 2018). The fact that men’s genitalia play an important role in defining masculinity in terms of appearance (e.g., penis size) and performance (e.g., erection) might explain the influences of men’s genital self-image on their sexual satisfaction.

Another central finding of the present study was that women and men who experienced distressing sexual problems were more likely to be dissatisfied with their sex life (HmD and LmD), compared to the reference cluster (HmS). This is in line with previous research indicating that sexual distress and sexual satisfaction are closely related (Stephenson & Meston, 2010).

Links Between Sociodemographic Factors and Masturbation-Satisfaction Typologies

Some sociodemographic factors predicted specific masturbation-satisfaction typologies. Interestingly, although accounting for sexual intercourse frequency, relationship status remained an important predictor of high masturbation frequency and sexual satisfaction. Specifically, those who were married/cohabitant or in a registered partnership were less likely to report high masturbation and satisfaction than falling into a cluster characterized by LmS, HmD, LmD. This resembles findings of a recent large-scale study, which documented a negative association between being partnered and recent masturbation (Regnerus et al., 2017). As Regnerus et al. controlled for sexual frequency and sexual contentment, this was a surprising finding, providing “evidence that the effect of partnered status is not simply the effect of stable access to sex” (p. 2117).

For both women and men, higher education predicted a high masturbation frequency and sexual dissatisfaction (HmD). This finding dovetails with previous findings documenting a positive relationship between higher education and more masturbation (Gerressu et al., 2008; Kaminsky-Bayer, 2020; Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2003; Richters et al., 2014). However, previous research also seems to indicate that education does not play a major role in sexual satisfaction (Byers & Rehman, 2014). It is thus unclear why higher education was related to less sexual satisfaction among those who frequently masturbate. Finally, consistent with prior studies on age-related decreases in masturbation activity (Fischer et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2016; Schick et al., 2010a, 2010b), older age was related with a sex life characterized by low masturbation (LmS in women and men; LmD in men).

Implications

The clusters characterized by no or low masturbation frequency and sexual satisfaction (HmS) were the largest clusters in both genders. This is interesting and may changes supposing the sexual scripts toward masturbation become more pronounced and positive in the future. The smallest clusters were those that included individuals dissatisfied with their sex life (HmD and LmD). To create a more masturbation-friendly society, future sexual health initiatives should focus on promoting masturbation and positive attitudes toward masturbation (Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2003).

Study Limitations

Several limitations should be addressed. First, the item used to assess masturbation frequency lacked an explicit definition and contextualization of the term masturbation. As the measure does not solely refer to masturbation in unpartnered situations, it is possible that participants used varied definitions when responding to the question. Accordingly, we cannot rule out that some also referred to masturbation during sexual intercourse. However, recent evidence indicates that the common script for sexual self-pleasure incorporates solo rather than partnered masturbation (Kirschbaum & Pederson, 2018). Specifically, the absence of a partner and having an orgasm seem to be central aspects of labeling a sexual act as masturbation. Second, although the use of single-item indicators is standard practice and indicates good convergent validity with sexual satisfaction scales (Mark et al., 2014; Štulhofer et al., 2010), the psychometric properties of multiple-item scales are preferable. However, because many individuals seem to fill out online questionnaires on their mobile phones (in this study 51%), we had to prioritize single items to minimize response fatigue. Third, no information about attitudes toward masturbation and feelings associated with sexual self-pleasure was collected. Thus, third-variable problems cannot be ruled out. Assessing negative and positive perceptions of masturbation would have allowed for more differentiated clustering. Another limitation pertains the presumption of binary gender/sex in some questions. Also, because the results from this study are based on cross-sectional data, it is not feasible to draw any causal conclusions. Further, the possibility of social desirability bias and volunteer bias may affect our findings and limit the generalizability of the study findings (Boughner, 2010). A final limitation pertains to the low response rate. In the past decades, scientific research has experienced a steady decrease in participation rates (Galea & Tracy, 2007). This applies also to Norwegian surveys, where response rates have been declining from 63% in 1987, to 48% in 1992, 38% in 1997, 34% in 2002, and 23% in 2008 (Træen & Stigum, 2010). One reason for much higher refusal rates nowadays may be the growing number of instances people are asked to participate in studies (Galea & Tracy, 2007). Because this survey was carried out during the COVID-19-related lockdown, which was imposed on 12 March in Norway, it is possible that some Web Panel members were less receptive to participate in a study on sexual behavior. Moreover, it is uncertain how the COVID-19-related restrictions may have influenced our findings. Another explanation for the low response rate may pertain to the length of the questionnaire. According to Kantar, response rates for surveys drawn from the Gallup Panel vary between 46 and 51%. An estimated timeframe of 15–20 min for our survey was probably too long, especially because 51% of the respondents were answering on their mobile devices.

Openness to experience, extraversion and neuroticism correlated with a higher frequency of sexual dreams; agreeableness showed a negative relationship

Personality correlates of the self-rated frequency of erotic dreams. Anja S. Göritz. International Journal of Dream Research, Vol 15, No 1 (April 2022). https://doi.org/10.11588/ijodr.2022.1.86903

Abstract: Erotic dreams have been of interest for researchers and the public alike. Although, the gender difference in the frequency of erotic dreams is well documented with men reporting erotic dreams more often than women, studying other factors, for example, personality traits, in relationship with erotic dreaming is scarce. Overall, 1711 participant estimated the percentage of erotic dreams with regard to all their remembered dreams and also completed a Big Five Personality inventory. The findings indicate that four of the Big Five personality factors were related to the frequency of erotic dreams; although the effects sizes of these associations were small. As expected, openness to experience correlated with a higher frequency of sexual dreams, as this personality trait is related to more frequent positive sexual cognitions and pornography consumption. Whereas extraversion and neuroticism were also positively related to erotic dream frequency, agreeableness showed a negative relationship. These kinds of studies help to understand how waking life sexuality affect erotic dreams, and in more general terms, how waking life is reflected in dreams.

Toward a Deeper Understanding of Prolific Lying: The more that people lied, the more they believed that others lied as well

Toward a Deeper Understanding of Prolific Lying: Building a Profile of Situation-Level and Individual-Level Characteristics. David M. Markowitz. Communication Research, July 4, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502221097041

Abstract: Prior work suggests those who lie prolifically tend to be younger and self-identify as male compared to those who engage in everyday lying, but little research has developed an understanding of prolific lying beyond demographics. Study 1 (N = 775) replicated the prior demographic effects and assessed prolific lying through situation-level (e.g., opportunistic cheating) and individual-level characteristics (e.g., dispositional traits, general communication patterns) for white and big lies. For these two lie types, prolific lying associated with more opportunistic cheating, the use of fewer adjectives, and being high on psychopathy compared to everyday lying. Study 2 (N = 1,022) replicated these results and observed a deception consensus effect reported in other studies: the more that people deceived, the more they believed that others deceived as well. This piece develops a deeper theoretical understanding of prolific lying for white and big lies, combining evidence of situational, dispositional, and communication characteristics.

Keywords: lying, deception, prolific lying, automated text analysis, Dark Triad, deception consensus effect

The Effect of Labor Market Liberalization on Political Behavior and Free Market Norms: The kibbutz liberalization in the 1990s

The Effect of Labor Market Liberalization on Political Behavior and Free Market Norms. Ran Abramitzky, Netanel Ben-Porath, Shahar Lahad, Victor Lavy & Michal Palgi. NBER Working Paper 30186, Jun 2022. DOI 10.3386/w30186

Abstract: We study the effects of labor market liberalization on political behavior and attitudes towards free-market capitalism and socialism, exploiting a reform whereby the Israeli socialist communities called kibbutzim shifted from equal sharing to market-based wages. Our identification strategy relies on this reform's sharp and staggered implementation in different kibbutzim. We first examine changes in behavior associated with this labor market liberalization and document that the reform led to a shift in electoral voting patterns, resulting in decreased support for left-wing political parties and increased support for the center and right parties in national elections. Using annual survey data on attitudes over 25 years, we show that the reform led to increased support for free-market policies such as full privatization and differential wages. Moreover, it decreased support for socialist policies such as the joint ownership of production means. Yet, the reform increased support for the safety net to support weak members through mutual guarantee. These effects appear to be driven by an increase in living standards and work ethics that resulted from the reform. We conclude that introducing market-based wages led to a shift in attitudes towards a market economy with compassion, revealing a change in members’ support from their traditional democratic socialist model to a social democratic model.

Political Conservatives and Political Liberals Have Similar Views about the Goodness of Human Nature

Political Conservatives and Political Liberals Have Similar Views about the Goodness of Human Nature. Eric Schwitzgebel with Nika Chegenizadeh. Monday, July 04, 2022. schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2022/07/political-conservatives-and-political.html

Back in 2007, I hypothesized that political liberals would tend to have more positive views about the goodness of human nature than political conservatives. My thinking was grounded in a particular conception of what it is to say that "human nature is good". Drawing on Mengzi and Rousseau (and informed especially by P.J. Ivanhoe's reading of Mengzi), I argued that those who say human nature is good have a different conception of moral development than do those who say it is bad.

[...]

Those who say human nature is bad have, in contrast, an outward-in model of moral development. On this view, what is universal to humans is self-interest. Morality is an artificial social construction. Any quiet voice of conscience we might have is the result of cultural learning. People regularly commit evil and feel perfectly fine about it. Moral development proceeds by being instructed to follow norms that at first feel alien and unpleasant -- being required to share your toys, for example. Eventually you can learn to conform whole-heartedly to socially constructed moral norms, but this is more a matter of coming to value what society values than building on any innate attraction to moral goodness.

Thus, a liberal style of caregiving, which emphasizes children exploring their own values, fits nicely with the view that human nature is good, while a conservative style of caregiving, which emphasizes conformity to externally imposed rules, fits nicely with the view that human nature is bad.

Data: Schwitzgebel, Eric. 2022. “Do Political Liberals Have More Optimistic Views about the Goodness of Human Nature?” OSF. June 27. osf.io/ys6nj

Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries

Chang, L., Lu, H. J., Lansford, J. E., Skinner, A. T., Bornstein, M. H., Steinberg, L., Dodge, K. A., Chen, B. B., Tian, Q., Bacchini, D., Deater-Deckard, K., Pastorelli, C., Alampay, L. P., Sorbring, E., Al-Hassan, S. M., Oburu, P., Malone, P. S., Di Giunta, L., Tirado, L. M. U., & Tapanya, S. (2019). Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries. Developmental Psychology, 55(4), 890–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000655

Abstract: Safety is essential for life. To survive, humans and other animals have developed sets of psychological and physiological adaptations known as life history (LH) tradeoff strategies in response to various safety constraints. Evolutionarily selected LH strategies in turn regulate development and behavior to optimize survival under prevailing safety conditions. The present study tested LH hypotheses concerning safety based on a 6-year longitudinal sample of 1,245 adolescents and their parents from 9 countries. The results revealed that, invariant across countries, environmental harshness, and unpredictability (lack of safety) was negatively associated with slow LH behavioral profile, measured 2 years later, and slow LH behavioral profile was negatively and positively associated with externalizing behavior and academic performance, respectively, as measured an additional 2 years later. These results support the evolutionary conception that human development responds to environmental safety cues through LH regulation of social and learning behaviors.

Keywords: fast and slow life history strategy; environmental harshness; unpredictability; externalizing; academic performance; child and adolescent development

It seems impulsivity doesn't evolve in response to childhood environmental harshness

Can impulsivity evolve in response to childhood environmental harshness? Atsushi Kometani, Yohsuke Ohtsubo. Evolutionary Human Sciences, Volume 4, May 24 2022, e21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2022.22

Abstract: Previous studies have suggested that human impulsivity is an adaptive response to childhood environmental harshness: individuals from families of low socioeconomic status (SES) tend to be more impulsive. However, no studies have tested the evolvability of this reaction norm. This study examined whether (a) impulsivity is associated with higher fitness among individuals from low SES families, while (b) it is associated with lower fitness among individuals from high SES families. We assessed three indices of impulsivity (temporal discounting, risk taking and fast/slow life history strategy), childhood SES and five proxy indices of fitness (number of children, lifelong singlehood, annual household income, subjective SES and life satisfaction) of 692 middle-aged participants (40–45 years old). None of the results supported the evolvability of the impulsivity reaction norm, although low childhood SES was associated with lower fitness on every proxy measure. Impulsivity (operationalised as the fast life history strategy) was associated with lower fitness regardless of childhood SES.

Discussion

We examined the evolvability of the impulsivity reaction norm. Although the results confirmed the basic presumption that childhood economic harshness adversely influenced participants’ later fitness, none of the other results supported the impulsivity reaction norm's evolvability: when operationalised as risk-taking tendency, impulsivity was associated with higher fitness among individuals with high, but not low, childhood SES (this pattern, however, was not replicated in our subsequent unpublished study including only male participants). When operationalised by Mini-K score, it was associated with lower fitness regardless of childhood SES.

The present study failed to replicate the results of previous studies (Griskevicius et al., Reference Griskevicius, Ackerman, Cantú, Delton, Robertson, Simpson and Tybur2013). In particular, childhood SES was not significantly associated with either risk taking or temporal discounting. Given the robust association between childhood SES and BCD (Pepper & Nettle, Reference Pepper and Nettle2017), the present study's operationalisation of impulsivity might have provided inadequate indices of impulsivity. For example, one could argue that the temporal discounting and risk-taking tasks should have been incentivised (but see Amir et al., Reference Amir, Jordan and Rand2018, which reported no systematic differences between incentivised and non-incentivised risk-taking tasks). Mishra et al. (Reference Mishra, Barclay and Sparks2017) recently proposed a model of risk-taking (relative state model) that distinguishes two types of risk-taking behaviours, need-based and ability-based risk-taking; the former is motivated by poor environments, while the latter is motivated by superior abilities (i.e. the prospect of successful risk-taking). In future studies, it is worthwhile not only to incentivise risk-taking tasks but also to distinguish subtypes of risk-taking and impulsivity based on such a nuanced model.

One limitation is that we assessed fitness in a modern, industrialised society that is largely different from the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA). For example, if low SES conditions in contemporary Japan are still more benign compared with harsh conditions in EEA, the present study may not be a fair test of the hypothesised phenotypic plasticity. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that childhood SES was in fact positively associated with every measure of fitness in this study. Moreover, careful analyses revealed some comparability of the modern and ancestral environments (i.e. positive association between wealth and the number of children in both modern and ancestral environments; Nettle & Pollet, Reference Nettle and Pollet2008). Nevertheless, this particular result does not necessarily imply that the comparability between the modern and ancestral environments extends to other aspects. For example, one could argue that impulsivity is an effective strategy for disadvantaged individuals only in EEA but not in the modern environment. Since there is a wide range of differences between the modern environment and EEA, or the so-called evolutionary mismatch problem (Li et al., Reference Li, van Vugt and Colarelli2018), it is informative to replicate this study in populations that maintain traditional lifestyles.

We admit that this study does not disprove the evolvability of human reaction norms as a whole. This study only tested the evolvability of impulsivity in response to childhood economic harshness. There are other independent and dependent variables that have attracted researchers’ attention in the context of life history theory in psychology. For example, timing of puberty and parental strategies are oft-studied life history traits (i.e. dependent variables), and childhood mortality/morbidity and unpredictability are oft-studied environmental (independent) variables (Ellis et al., Reference Ellis, Figueredo, Brumbach and Schlomer2009). Therefore, future studies need to include a wider range of measures of childhood environments and life history traits in order to fully test the evolvability of any form of phenotypic plasticity in response to early environments.

In summary, this study does not reveal any evidence of the evolvability of the impulsivity reaction norm in response to childhood economic harshness. Therefore, we urge researchers to critically assess the impulsivity reaction norm, especially whether the adaptationist explanation is better supported by empirical data than by-product explanations.

Global sex differences in hygiene norms and their relation to sex equality

Global sex differences in hygiene norms and their relation to sex equality. Kimmo Eriksson,Thomas E. Dickins, Pontus Strimling. PLOS Glob Public Health 2(6): e0000591. June 21, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000591

Abstract: Strict norms about hygiene may sometimes have health benefits but may also be a burden. Based on research in the United States, it has been suggested that women traditionally shoulder responsibility for hygiene standards and therefore tend to have stricter views on hygiene. However, there is little systematic research on sex differences in hygiene norms at the global scale. We set up two hypotheses: (1) Stricter hygiene norms among women than among men is a global phenomenon. (2) The size of this sex difference varies across nations with the level of sex equality. We examine these hypotheses using data from a recent international survey (N = 17,632). Participants in 56 countries were asked for their views of where it is not appropriate for people to spit and in which situations people should wash their hands. As a measure of sex equality, we use an existing country-level measure of attitudes to equality between the sexes, available for 49 nations in the study. Stricter hygiene norms among women than among men are observed almost everywhere, but there are a few exceptions (most notably Nigeria and Saudi Arabia). The size of the sex difference in hygiene norms varies strongly with the level of sex equality, but in a non-linear way. The sex difference is most pronounced in moderately egalitarian countries with the highest recorded difference being in Chile. In more egalitarian parts of the world, more sex equality is associated with a smaller sex difference in hygiene norms. In the less egalitarian parts of the world, the opposite relation holds. We offer an interpretation in terms of what different levels of sex equality mean for the content of sex roles.

Discussion

Using data in 56 countries, the current study provided a comprehensive analysis of the sex difference in hygiene strictness. We studied a set of norms about when you should wash your hands and where you should not spit. Globally, we found norms about handwashing to be slightly stricter among women than among men. The direction of this sex difference is consistent with findings in many single-country behavioral studies of handwashing [11–15]. We found even more substantial sex differences in the strictness of spitting norms. This is an important novel finding as no prior studies have examined sex differences in spitting. Perhaps it is related to men producing more saliva than women do [31], as this might create a stronger preference in favor of spitting. It is possible that spitting elicits a stronger disgust response in women by association because spitting is an innate behavioral response to remove noxious material from the mouth [32]. But there are also differences in the types of norms the two behaviors are involved in. For one thing, handwashing norms are prescriptive while norms about spitting are proscriptive. For another, handwashing is primarily a private good while strictness about spitting is primarily a public good. Moreover, the handwashing norms we studied were concerned with when you should wash your hands whereas the spitting norms were concerned with where you should not spit. This could play a role as culture may restrict women’s access to certain locations (e.g., soccer pitches). Future work may examine the specific roles of these factors.

Our first hypothesis was that the sex difference in hygiene strictness would be observed everywhere. In our dataset, we observed the sex difference in most countries but not all. Two countries, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, were clear exceptions in that men reported stricter hygiene norms than women. To validate this finding, we searched for prior studies of hygiene in any of these countries that report results separately for men and women. We found two such studies for Saudi Arabia, both of which indeed reported stricter hygiene among men than among women [33, 34]. Thus, our findings are consistent with prior literature. We conclude that sex difference in hygiene strictness is nearly universal but that the presence of clear exceptions demonstrates that there is some cultural moderator that needs to be understood.

Our second hypothesis examined a proposed cultural moderator: the level of sex equality in society. We operationalized societal sex equality by the average attitude to sex equality with respect to participation in the job market, in politics, and in higher education. Such attitudes can be taken as a proxy for the strength, or weakness, of sex roles. Some authors have attributed stricter hygiene norms among women to sex roles [2, 21]. However, a more complex picture emerged in our data. The sex difference in hygiene strictness was often larger in countries with above-average levels of sex equality than in countries with below-average levels of sex equality. This finding is in keeping with many behavioral and somatic sex difference results and Schmitt has argued that biological sex differences can be moderated and facilitated by specific cultural contexts [16]. To our knowledge it has not be shown for the contents of normative beliefs. Within these groups of countries, the sex difference in hygiene strictness varied with the level of sex equality in different ways. Among countries with above-average sex equality, the sex difference in handwashing strictness showed no relation with sex equality whereas the sex difference in spitting strictness showed a negative relation with sex equality. Thus, the hypothesis was partially supported in this group of countries. Results looked very different in the group of countries with below-average levels of sex equality. In this group, the expected sex difference was most pronounced at the high end of sex equality, that is, at global average levels of sex equality. In countries with greater inequality, the sex difference in hygiene strictness disappeared and even became reversed at extreme levels of inequality (Saudi Arabia and Nigeria). This reversal suggests a flexible connection, if any, between hygiene norms and established sex differences in disgust sensitivity. But it is possible that the underlying asymmetry in inclusive fitness costs is something that can drive either male or female custodianship of hygiene, and hence difference in hygiene strictness, dependent upon key social ecological factors. Our analyses strongly supported that sex equality is a key factor. Specifically, while prior research has found that pathogen prevalence and religiosity may be more important factors behind sex differences in other domains [16], we found the level of sex equality do be a much stronger predictor of sex differences in hygiene.

In sum, we have found that there is substantial cultural variability in the extent to which women have stricter hygiene norms than men do, and it is quite strongly related to sex equality—but in a non-linear way. A possible interpretation of this unexpected finding is that the full spectrum of sex inequality encompasses several distinct phenomena. If we hold on to the notion that the sex difference is due to sex roles giving women a greater responsibility for maintaining hygiene in society, how could this responsibility vary across different levels of gender inequality? In moderately unequal societies, both women and men are fully responsible, but they tend to have different responsibilities. Women and men are seen as working together in a family unit where she is responsible for raising the children and keeping the home clean while he is responsible for bringing home most of the income. It is in these societies we would expect women to be more responsible for hygiene. As societies become more egalitarian, these sex roles weaken, and we would expect a decline in the sex difference in hygiene. In the most unequal societies, however, it is arguably men that have the responsibility in that they make decisions about the whole family’s behavior and are held responsible for the behavior of their wives or daughters. As a case in point, all women in the extremely unequal society of Saudi Arabia have a legal male guardian who is responsible for them [35]. Among other things, this ultra-low level of women’s responsibility means a lower level of responsibility for hygiene. Sex segregation in Saudi Arabia also implies that women are allowed less mobility and thereby potentially less exposure to situations and things that may motivate hygiene norms, in this way moderating any underlying biological sex differences [16]. This could be examined in future research.

Limitations

Limitations of the data were discussed by Eriksson et al. [8]. Most importantly, as the data are limited to hand washing and spitting norms, we cannot say whether the sex difference in hygiene strictness generalizes to other hygiene-related behaviors, such as washing the whole body, washing clothes, coughing, sneezing, and urinating. Other limitations include that African countries and small countries were undersampled, that socioeconomic stratification within countries is not measured, and that samples per country are sometimes quite small and not necessarily representative. However, these may not be major concerns, as prior analyses of data from these samples successfully replicate country-level variation in cultural values found in representative samples [22, 36]. Another limitation is that we do not have data on participants’ knowledge of objective benefits of hygiene.

Dominance judgments—important across numerous psychological domains, like attractiveness, leadership, & legal decision-making—accurately predict the likelihood with which a potential mate, ally, or rival can incapacitate their adversaries

Caton, Neil R., Lachlan M. Brown, Amy Zhao, and Barnaby Dixson. 2022. “Human Male Body Size Predicts Increased Knockout Power, Which Is Accurately Tracked by Conspecific Judgments of Male Dominance.” PsyArXiv. June 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/3jny4

Abstract: Humans have undergone a long evolutionary history of violent agonistic exchanges, which would have placed selective pressures on greater body size and the psychophysical systems that detect them. The present work showed that greater body size in humans predicted increased knockout power during contests (Study 1a-1b: total N = 5,866; Study 2: N = 44 openweight fights). In agonistic exchanges reflective of ancestral size asymmetries, heavier combatants were 300% more likely to win against their lighter counterparts solely because they were 300% more likely to knock them out (Study 2). Greater body size afforded no other fighting performance advantages other than increased knockout power (Studies 1-2). Human dominance judgments (total N = 500 MTurkers) accurately tracked the frequency with which men (N = 516) had knocked out similar sized adversaries (Study 3). Humans were able to directly perceive a man’s knockout power solely because they were attending to cues of a man’s body size. Human dominance judgments—which are important across numerous psychological domains, including attractiveness, leadership, and legal decision-making—accurately predict the likelihood with which a potential mate, ally, or rival can incapacitate their adversaries.

Do the Big Five Personality Traits Interact to Predict Life Outcomes? Systematically Testing the Prevalence, Nature, and Effect Size of Trait by Trait Moderation

Vize, Colin, Brinkley M. Sharpe, Josh Miller, Donald Lynam, and Christopher J. Soto. 2022. “Do the Big Five Personality Traits Interact to Predict Life Outcomes? Systematically Testing the Prevalence, Nature, and Effect Size of Trait by Trait Moderation.” PsyArXiv. June 28. doi:10.31234/osf.io/b5ph8

Abstract: Personality researchers have posited multiple ways in which the relations between personality traits and life outcomes may be moderated by other traits, but there are well-known difficulties in reliable detection of such trait-by-trait interaction effects. Estimating the prevalence and magnitude base-rates of trait-by-trait interactions would help to assess whether a given study is suited to detect interaction effects. We used the Life Outcomes of Personality Replication Project dataset to estimate the prevalence, nature, and magnitude of trait-by-trait interactions across 81 self-reported life outcomes (n ≥ 1,350 per outcome). Outcome samples were divided into two halves to examine the replicability of observed interaction effects using both traditional and machine-learning indices. The study was adequately powered (1 − β ≥ .80) to detect the smallest interaction effects of interest (interactions accounting for a ΔR2 of approximately .01) for 78 of the 81 (96%) outcomes in each of the partitioned samples. Results showed that only 40 interactions (5.33% of the original 750 tests) showed evidence of strong replicability through robustness checks (i.e., demographic covariates, Tobit regression, ordinal regression). Interactions were also uniformly small in magnitude. Future directions for research on trait-by-trait interactions are discussed.

Divergent thinking and creative achievement—Marginally relevant link

Said-Metwaly, S., Taylor, C. L., Camarda, A., & Barbot, B. (2022). Divergent thinking and creative achievement—How strong is the link? An updated meta-analysis. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000507

Abstract: Achieving creativity in the real-world depends on multiple individual and environmental factors. Among them, divergent thinking (DT) has long been considered a key ingredient of creativity and an essential criterion for predicting real-life creative outcomes. However, the link between DT and creative achievement (CA) has yielded heterogeneous results, as outlined by a prior meta-analysis on the DT–CA link published in 2008. Given several limitations of this meta-analysis and the large body of relevant studies that have been published since then, the present article aimed to offer an updated and methodologically rigorous meta-analytical examination of the DT–CA link. A total of 766 effect sizes from 70 studies encompassing 14,901 subjects were analyzed using a meta-analytic three-level model. The results showed that DT was positively, albeit weakly, linked to CA, with only 3% of shared variance. Moderator analyses indicated that this link was robust to variations in DT and CA measures used, gender, educational level, measurement interval between DT and CA, and country of study, but differed by DT task modality, CA domain, and intellectual giftedness. Specifically, the strength of the DT–CA link was significantly larger for (a) verbal DT tasks, (b) CA in the performance domain, and (c) gifted subjects. A significant interaction effect was also found between CA domain and intellectual giftedness, with the DT–CA link being strongest among gifted subjects in the performance domain. Implications of these results for the study and measurement of creativity are discussed.

Just Seconds of Laughter Reveals Relationship Status: Laughter with Friends Sounds More Authentic , Relaxed and Less Vulnerable than Laughter with Romantic Partners

Just Seconds of Laughter Reveals Relationship Status: Laughter with Friends Sounds More Authentic and Less Vulnerable than Laughter with Romantic Partners. Sally D. Farley, Deborah Carson & Susan M. Hughes. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Jul 1 2022. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10919-022-00406-5

Abstract: The dual pathway model posits that spontaneous and volitional laughter are voiced using distinct production systems, and perceivers rely upon these system-related cues to make accurate judgments about relationship status. Yet, to our knowledge, no empirical work has examined whether raters can differentiate laughter directed at friends and romantic partners and the cues driving this accuracy. In Study 1, raters (N = 50), who listened to 52 segments of laughter, identified conversational partner (friend versus romantic partner) with greater than chance accuracy (M = 0.57) and rated laughs directed at friends to be more pleasant-sounding than laughs directed at romantic partners. Study 2, which involved 58 raters, revealed that prototypical friendship laughter sounded more spontaneous (e.g., natural) and less “vulnerable” (e.g., submissive) than prototypical romantic laughter. Study 3 replicated the findings of the first two studies using a large cross-cultural sample (N = 252). Implications for the importance of laughter as a subtle relational signal of affiliation are discussed.

General Discussion

In these studies, we demonstrated that raters exceeded chance in determining relationship status (friend versus romantic) based on brief vocal samples of laughter, that friendship laughter sounds more authentic (louder, more relaxed, more natural, and more variable/”changing”) than romantic laughter, and that these judgments were consistent across five unique cultures. In addition, we found support for the vulnerable love hypothesis—romantic laughter sounded warmer, more feminine and more submissive than friendship laughter.

The ability of raters to identify the conversational partner (friend versus romantic) with greater than chance accuracy complements previous work on laughter’s ability to signal important information about the relationship between co-laughers (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014; Bryant et al., 2018; Lavan et al., 2016). But this research goes beyond previous work by revealing that raters can differentiate between laughter directed at two types of dyads that are both high in affiliation—friends and romantic partners. For a variety of reasons (motivational and emotional), we maintained that laughter directed at friends was more authentic than laughter directed at romantic partners, and the tendency for friendship laughter to be more accurately identified than romantic laughter implicates it as more authentic (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014). In addition, raters’ judgments of relationship status (friend versus romantic) were reliably linked to subjective characteristics of laughter authenticity. Laughter between friends was perceived as louder, more natural-sounding, more changing/variable (in Studies 2 and 3), breathier (in Study 2), and more relaxed (in Study 3).

Vulnerable Love Hypothesis

In Studies 2 and 3, we found support for the notion that laughter cues reveal the vulnerable relationship status of early-stage romantic love. Other work has shown that raters can differentiate friends and romantic partners via 20 s of content-masked clips and short content-controlled clips such as “How are you?” (Farley et al., 2013), but it is impressive that this skill extends to brief segments of laughter. The intimate voice associated with romantic love is softer, higher in pitch, and more submissive-sounding (Montepare & Vega, 1988), and these vulnerability-type cues were effective at differentiating romantic laughter from friendship laughter in our work. Specifically, in Studies 2 and 3, romantic laughter was perceived to be quieter, more feminine-sounding, and more submissive, and in Study 2, when the measure was used, more baby-like. From an evolutionary standpoint, vocal cues such as these serve to communicate “I mean you no harm” (Bryant, 2020; Gervais & Wilson, 2005). Moreover, romantic laughter was perceived as less pleasant-sounding than friend laughter, which dovetails with other research finding that masked clips of vocal cues from romantic partners are evaluated less favorably than clips from friends (Farley et al., 2013; Montepare & Vega, 1988). Early-stage romantic love is marked by a great deal of tumultuous physiological arousal and uncertainty, and romantic love renders individuals to be highly dependent on their relationships (Hatfield & Rapson, 1993a, 1993b). This might translate into a vocal style lacking in confidence and attractiveness.

The female advantage in nonverbal sensitivity (Knapp et al., 2014) was generally unsupported in this research. However, in Study 3, gender interacted with partner type. For arguably more “authentic” friendship samples, which may be easier to identify (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014), men and women performed similarly well. But for the potentially less “authentic” romantic samples, which were more challenging for raters, women’s accuracy was significantly higher than men’s. This is a unique finding given that sex differences in accuracy have not emerged in previous research (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014; Bryant et al., 2018). This female advantage to accurately decipher romantic intent via laughter may be explained by the Error Management Theory which predicts that women have an evolved bias to be skeptical of men’s commitment (Haselton & Buss, 2000), and therefore may be more in tune to discriminating signals of men’s romantic intent through a variety of means. Further, the cross-cultural ability of individuals to do this provides support for the evolutionary significance of laughter as a signal of relational import.

The research presented here augments an impressive body of work on the accuracy of thin slices of behavior (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1992). Not only can individuals make accurate inferences about important social dimensions such as sexual orientation (Rule, 2017), status (Bjornsdottir & Rule, 2017), and leadership emergence in organizations (Re & Rule, 2017) based on photographs, individuals discern critical relational information based on vocal cues (Farley et al., 2013; Hughes & Harrison, 2017; Montepare & Vega, 1998). Laughter is potentially unique because it not only reflects or signals affiliation (Brown et al., 2018), but it is also capable of enhancing relationship quality (Kurtz & Algoe, 2015, 2017). The role of laughter in signaling relational information internally within the dyad and externally to observers also supports social functional accounts of emotion, such as the emotions as social information model (EASI) (Van Kleef, 2009).

Limitations and Future Directions

The current investigations were not without some limitations. The first two studies had relatively smaller samples sizes and the second study did not include comprehensive demographics of the sample. Study 3 addressed these limitations by demonstrating ubiquity in our findings through the use of a large cross-cultural sample diverse on Hofstede’s (2011) six cultural values. Interestingly, the sample from the United States in Bryant et al. (2018) was least accurate at making forced-choice decisions from the sample of laughs from their own culture, which converges with our results from Study 3. Examination of this curious finding would be a fruitful area of future investigation.

Using the laugh samples that were the most identifiable in terms of discerning whether they were directed toward a friend or a romantic partner (Study 2) allowed us to better comprehend what specific subjective perceptions may have contributed to the success of discriminating between samples. However, whereas these samples served as good prototypes for investigation, it limits the generalizability of the findings. We attempted to account for this limitation in Study 3 by selecting different laughter samples that were not prototypical representations, and this method yielded similar findings. Study 3 also redressed a limitation from Study 2 in which we had to account for an experimental error where we had to omit some of the ratings for a set of participants as described above.

Although a unique constellation of acoustic features contributes to the perception of vocalizations (Babel et al., 2014), pitch appears to be one of the most salient features in vocal discrimination (for review see Puts et al., 2014) and is an indicator of arousal (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014; Ruch & Ekman, 2001). Examining how detailed acoustic parameters impacts perception was beyond the scope of this study as our focus was to explore subjective assessments made by listeners. However, future studies should consider the variety of acoustic features of laughter such as pitch, perhaps even through artificial manipulation, to see how they affect different percepts of laughter within romantic and non-romantic contexts. In addition, this research expanded the work of previous investigations, which have only examined female laughers (e.g., Bryant & Aktipis, 2014; Bryant et al., 2018; Lavan et al., 2016), but more studies are needed to understand sex differences in both the expression and perception of laughter across different contexts.

Our investigation examined the laughter between couples who were at the advent of their romantic relationships. It would be prudent to examine laughter obtained from couples during the early versus later stages of their relationships. Laughter appears to be an important factor throughout a couple’s exchange; it frequently occurs during courtship (with men being more likely to use women’s responsive laughter to gauge their interest; Hall, 2015), and mutual laughter has also been linked to long-term relationship satisfaction (Hall, 2013). Yet, romantic relationships often trade the early novelty and volatility of romantic love for security and commitment over time, potentially rendering the laughter of long-term romantic partners to sound similar to that of friends. This avenue could also benefit from examining how self-reported feelings for one’s romantic partner correlate with the sound of one’s laughter.

Among r/AntiVegan users there is a group of ex-vegans seeking health advice & social support; it was observed an enhanced group commitment over time, including an increase in group-focused language & a decrease in cognitive processing

‘Against the cult of veganism’: Unpacking the social psychology and ideology of anti-vegans. Rebecca Gregson, Jared Piazza, Ryan L.Boyd. Appetite, July 1 2022, 106143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106143

Abstract: Despite the established health and ecological benefits of a plant-based diet, the decision to eschew meat and other animal-derived food products remains controversial. So polarising is this topic that anti-vegan communities — groups of individuals who stand vehemently against veganism — have sprung up across the internet. Much scholarship on veganism characterizes anti-vegans in passing, painting them as ill-informed, uneducated, or simply obstinate. However, little empirical work has investigated these communities and the individuals within them. Accordingly, we conducted a study using social media data from the popular platform, Reddit. Specifically, we collected all available submissions (∼3523) and comments (∼45,528) from r/AntiVegan subreddit users (N = 3819) over a five-year period. Using a battery of computerized text analytic tools, we examined the psychosocial characteristics of Reddit users who publicly identify as anti-vegan, how r/AntiVegan users discuss their beliefs, and how the individual user changes as a function of community membership. Results from our analyses suggest several individual differences that align r/AntiVegan users with the community, including dark entertainment, ex-veganism and science denial. Several topics were extensively discussed by r/AntiVegan members, including nuanced discourse on the ethicality and health implications of vegan diets, and the naturalness of animal death, which ran counter to our expectations and lay stereotypes of r/AntiVegan users. Finally, several longitudinal changes in language use were observed within the community, reflecting enhanced group commitment over time, including an increase in group-focused language and a decrease in cognitive processing. Implications for vegan-nonvegan relations are discussed.

Keywords: Text analysisSocial mediaRedditGroup identificationVeganism

Males reported more positive outcomes from threesomes than did females, particularly when engaging with two members of the other sex

An Empirical Investigation of Variations in Outcomes Associated with Heterosexual Adults’ Most Recent Mixed-Gender Threesome Experience. Ashley E. Thompson, McKenna Osborn, Katie Gooch & Mariah Ravet. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Jun 29 2022. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-022-02299-3

Abstract: Research reveals that a substantial proportion of North American adults report interest in and experience with mixed-sex threesomes (MSTs; sexual activity involving three people at the same time in which persons of more than one sex are present). Despite the prevalence of MST participation, little is known about the outcomes of MST experiences. Thus, the current study assessed MST outcomes using various metrics including the extent to which one’s most recent MST met expectations, the likelihood of participating in the MST again, and whether an orgasm was experienced. In addition, the extent to which one’s sex, the sex of those involved, and the inclusion of one’s romantic partner impacted outcomes was examined. Data from 276 heterosexual adults (217 men, 59 women) revealed that, overall, adults report fairly positive outcomes from their most recent MST and that males reported more positive outcomes than did females (particularly when engaging in a MST with two members of the other sex). In addition, MSTs involving one’s romantic partner resulted in more positive outcomes than did those with casual partners. These results confirm that MSTs can be a satisfying experience particularly for heterosexual males and those participating with a romantic partner. Implications for educators looking to destigmatize various forms of nonmonogamies and for practitioners who intend to assist adults interested in safely exploring multi-person sexual behavior are discussed.

Users with toxic usernames produce more toxic content (of various types) than those with neutral usernames

Namespotting: Username toxicity and actual toxic behavior on reddit. Rafal Urbaniak et al. Computers in Human Behavior, July 1 2022, 107371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107371

Highlights

• First large-scale comparative exploration of the toxic behavior of Reddit users with toxic usernames.

• Our analysis employs algorithmic methods and Bayesian statistical models without relying on self-reported data.

• Users with toxic usernames produce more toxic content (of various types) than those with neutral usernames.

• Users with toxic usernames are more likely to have their account suspended than those with neutral usernames.

Abstract

Without relying on any user reports, we use algorithmic detection and Bayesian statistical methods to analyse two large data streams (329 k users) of Reddit content to study the correlations between username toxicity (of various types, such as offensive or sexually explicit) and their online toxic behavior (personal attacks, sexual harassment among others).

As it turns out, username toxicity (type) is a useful predictor in online profiling. Users with toxic usernames produce more toxic content than their neutral counterparts, with the difference in predicted mean increasing with activity (predicted 1.9 vs. 1.4 toxic comments a week for users with regular activity, and 5.6 vs. 4 for top 5% active users). More users with toxic usernames engage in toxic behavior than among neutral usernames (around 40% vs. 30%). They are also around 2.2 times more likely to have their account suspended by moderators (3.2% vs. 1.5% probability of suspension for regular and 4.5% vs. 2% for top 5% users)—detailed results vary depending on the username toxicity type and toxic behavior type. Thus, username toxicity can be used in the efforts of online communities to predict toxic behavior and to provide more safety to their users.

Keywords: Verbal aggression onlineUsernamesSocial mediaArtificial intelligenceBayesian data analysisReddit

☆ During the study, we have utilized content that is publicly available on Reddit.com and can be accessed via the Reddit API or other similar technologies. Since usernames were essential for the analysis, we could not fully anonymize them in the released datasets, but to provide our subjects more anonymity (even though Reddit is characterized by site-wide norms which discourage from using one's real name Proferes, Jones, Gilbert, Fiesler, & Zimmer, 2021), we have additionally obfuscated usernames with an alteration that will greatly impede if not prevent from accessing the account of each individual, but without changing the semantics of the usernames. This study was also not interventional research and no posts or comments of particular users are quoted. To maximize confidentiality, as a part of the released datasets, we have included the summarised data points only with the already aforementioned altered usernames. For these reasons, we assume that no distress or harm might be involved and no informed consent was required (following point 8.05 of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association). All the data sets, source code, and technical documentation are available at https://rfl-urbaniak.github.io/namespotting/. The toxicity identification tools are not open-sourced, but its use is free for researchers in academia and NGOs, and anyone who contacts the company with the willingness to reproduce the result, will obtain access.

☆☆ Disclaimer is anonymised due to Double Blind Peer Review policy. ORCID(s)

☆☆☆ Some computing power and part of this research has been funded by National Science Center research grant number 2016/22/E/HS1/00304. More computing power and further research has been funded by Samurai Labs.