Opposites Attract: Assortative Mating and Immigrant–Native Intermarriage in Contemporary Sweden. Annika Elwert. European Journal of Population, Dec 2019. https://link.springer.com/journal/10680
Abstract: This paper studies how immigrant–native intermarriages in Sweden are associated with individual characteristics of native men and women and patterns of assortative mating. Patterns of educational- and age-assortative mating that are similar to those found in native–native marriages may reflect openness to immigrant groups, whereas assortative mating patterns that indicate status considerations suggest that country of birth continues to serve as a boundary in the native marriage market. The study uses Swedish register data that cover the entire Swedish population for the period of 1991–2009. The results from binomial and multinomial logistic regressions show that low status of natives in terms of economic and demographic characteristics is associated with intermarriage and that intermarriages are characterized by educational and age heterogamy more than are native–native marriages. The findings indicate that immigrant women as well as immigrant men become more attractive marriage partners if they are considerably younger than their native spouses. This is particularly true for intermarriages with immigrants from certain regions of origin, such as wives from Asia and Africa and husbands from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Gender differences in the intermarriage patterns of native men and women are surprisingly small.
Background and Previous Research on Immigrant–Native Intermarriages in Europe and Sweden
Intermarriage
between immigrants and natives has increased in most European countries
in past decades and is closely related to the proportion of immigrants
in the country (Lanzieri 2012).
This general increase in intermarriage in Europe is largely related to a
substantial increase in intermarriage with spouses from countries
outside the EU (de Valk and Medrano 2014).
Intermarriage rates in Sweden have risen continuously since the 1970s,
and the increase is somewhat steeper for men than for women. Figure 1 displays the proportions of immigrant–native intermarriages (defined here as marriages between a native SwedeFootnote 4
and their foreign-born spouse) and native–native marriages (defined as
marriages between two native spouses) of all newly contracted marriages
made by native Swedes from 1969 to 2009. As of 1991 the register
extracts used in this paper contain an identifier for non-marital
cohabitations with common children, which makes it possible to report
the shares of native–native cohabitation and immigrant–native
cohabitation.
Fig. 1
Shares of native–native unions and immigrant–native unions of all unions of native Swedish men and women in Sweden 1969–2009
For
native women, the shares of immigrant–native marriage and cohabitation
are close in size and have changed only marginally since the 1990s; for
native men, there is a wider gap with immigrant–native cohabitation
displaying lower rates with little increase over time and
immigrant–native marriages displaying higher rates with a more
pronounced increase over time.
In earlier decades, intermarriage
between native Swedes and immigrants was dominated by intermarriage with
other Nordic citizens, particularly Finns (Cretser 1999).
In more recent years, the increase in intermarriages can be largely
accounted for by the increased number of marriages with partners from
outside Europe, and Thailand has replaced Finland as the most frequent
country of origin for intermarried immigrant women (although Finland
remains the most common country of origin for intermarried immigrant
men; Haandrikman 2014).
Most of the previous research on intermarriage has a strong emphasis on immigrant integration (Kulu and González-Ferrer 2014). Intermarriage in this regard is thought to indicate social integration (Kalmijn 1998). Studies in this line of research largely focus on the intermarriage rates
of different immigrant groups, since these are understood to be a
measure of group closure and social distance. Individual characteristics
that are associated with immigrant–native intermarriage are typically
contrasted with those that are associated with endogamous immigrant
marriage (for example, González-Ferrer 2006; Kalmijn and van Tubergen 2006; Dribe and Lundh 2008
on Sweden). Studies that take into account the native side of
intermarriage are comparatively rare. They often show that native men
who intermarry are more often lower educated and have a lower income
(Guetto and Azzolini 2015; Haandrikman 2014), are older (Glowsky 2007; Guetto and Azzolini 2015; Niedomysl et al. 2010),
and may encounter difficulties in finding an attractive partner in the
native endogamous marriage market—difficulties that could be related to
their age (Glowsky 2007) or to local shortages of native women (Östh et al. 2011).
As Kulu and González-Ferrer (2014)
note, patterns of intermarriages are gendered. In many countries, more
foreign-born women than foreign-born men are intermarried (and the
reverse applies to natives). Such patterns can be explained by selective
immigration and the structural constraints of the marriage market or by
selective marriage patterns of the native majority population. In
contrast to other European countries, these patterns in Sweden’s case
can be partly explained by gendered patterns of marriage migration;
i.e. native men (and to a lesser extent native women) marrying women
(men) from economically poorer countries. Marriage migration to the
native majority is a growing phenomenon particularly in Sweden, although
it does exist elsewhere as well (de Valk and Medrano 2014). Niedomysl et al. (2010)
show that assortative mating patterns in marriages of marriage migrants
and natives deviate from the Swedish norm. While both the opportunity
structures and individual characteristics may be related to the
likelihood of marrying a marriage migrant, individual characteristics
such as age and income appear to be of greater importance (Östh et al. 2011).
Conclusion
Since
marriage is one of the most intimate relationships in life, marriage
between different social groups has the potential to reveal the social
distance between them. Theoretically speaking, if marriage means
accepting one another as equals, intermarriage can be an indication of openness towards other social groups (Kalmijn 1991). Since marriage is also always related to status (Kalmijn 1998),
adopting the openness perspective would mean that immigrant–native
marriages are not expected to differ from native–native marriages with
regard to status homogamy, or, if they do, this is in a random fashion.
If intermarriage is related to low individual attractiveness in the marriage market or if there are systematic differences in assortative mating patterns,
this can be seen as an indication that status considerations are
important determinants of intermarriage. Accordingly, members of
different social groups do not regard each other as equals.
This
study focuses on marriages between immigrants and natives in Sweden and
in particular on assortative mating patterns by education and age.
Marriage market status both in terms of economic and demographic
characteristics of native Swedes is associated with intermarriage. The
findings show that—broadly speaking—native Swedish men and women with
lower status in economic and demographic characteristics are more prone
to intermarry, which is similar to the findings of Östh (2011) and
Haandrikman (2014).
While these patterns support the idea that individuals of lower status
in the marriage market suffer from a competitive disadvantage and are
hence more likely to marry immigrants (Fu 2001; Gullickson and Torche 2014),
the patterns found among native men also support the idea that the
highly educated are more likely to be open towards immigrants (Hello et
al. 2002; Wagner and Zick 1995).
Moreover,
the findings of this study show that there are systematic differences
in assortative mating patterns between native endogamous marriages and
intermarriages, which would support a status exchange interpretation.
With respect to educational-assortative mating, intermarriages display
higher levels of educational heterogamy across immigrant groups with
different levels of status in society, but the patterns appear to be
more random than systematic. With respect to age, however,
age-assortative mating patterns display systematic differences that
indicate the existence of age status exchange in Swedish
intermarriages. Intermarriages are generally more heterogamous with
regard to age as well. The patterns of age hypogamy with a substantial
gap for native Swedish men and women along the lines of a
hierarchy of immigrants nonetheless indicate that for some immigrant
groups intermarriage with natives is more achievable when they have
other attractive characteristics to offer in return. These associations
are particularly pronounced for intermarriages with marriage migrants,
where these patterns closely follow the theoretically predicted
hierarchy of immigrants. Marriage migrants can be regarded as a
different category to resident immigrants because the union with a Swede
gives them the opportunity to be given secured residence, which is
likely to make them more receptive to status exchange.
Sweden
often appears to be a comparatively open society with low levels of
educational homogamy and high levels of gender equality. Similarly,
intermarriage between immigrants and natives has been thought of as
indicating the openness of natives towards immigrants and accepting them
as “equal lifetime partner[s]” (Kalmijn 1991).
The findings of this study challenge this view and support the notion
that country of birth serves as a boundary in the native marriage
market. This study illustrates the fact that this boundary manifests
itself not only by excluding immigrants of certain immigrant groups from
the pool of marriage partners but also by allowing them in if they have
something to offer in return. In the Swedish case, this is likely to be
age.
Breastfeeding and offspring’s compassion and empathy in adulthood: A study with an over 30‐year follow‐up. Aino I. L. Saarinen et al. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, December 10 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12600
Abstract: This study investigated whether breastfeeding predicts offspring’s dispositional compassion and empathy from early adulthood to middle age. The parents of the participants (N = 1,394) of the Young Finns study answered questions about breastfeeding in 1983, and the participants’ compassion and empathy were evaluated in 1997‒2012 (participants were aged 20‒50 years). Breastfeeding did not predict the course of compassion or empathy in adulthood at the age of 20‒50 years. The associations remained non‐significant, when adjusted for age, gender, socioeconomic factors, and a wide range of characteristics of the family environment (including mother’s gestational age; premature birth; birth weight; number of other children at home; parental mental disorder; parental relationship status; parental postnatal smoking; parental postnatal alcohol use; parenting behavior; and child’s externalizing behavior). In conclusion, breastfeeding seems not to predict offspring’s compassion or empathy in adulthood. The findings may present a hopeful perspective for children growing up with non‐breastfeeding caregivers.
DISCUSSION To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate whether breastfeeding predicts offspring’s compassion or empathy in adulthood. Our results revealed that neither having received breastfeeding, nor the duration of breastfeeding predicted the course of compassion or empathy from ages 20 to 50, that is from early adulthood to middle age. The associations of breastfeeding with compassion and empathy remained nonsignificant over the whole follow-up, when adjusted for age and gender, when adjusted also for socioeconomic factors in childhood and adulthood, and when additionally adjusted for a wider range of characteristics of the child, home environment, and parenting (i.e., mother’s gestational age; premature birth; birth weight; number of other children at home; parental mental disorder; parental relationship status; parental postnatal smoking; parental postnatal alcohol use; parenting behavior; and child’s externalizing behavior). Moreover, the effect of breastfeeding on compassion and empathy remained non-significant also in the multiple imputed dataset, indicating that the non-significant associations were not accounted for by some attrition biases over the follow-up. Taken together, our study provided evidence that breastfeeding does not predict the development of dispositional compassion or empathy of the offspring in adulthood. It has been suggested that the previous null results regarding breastfeeding and socioemotional outcomes might be at least partly accounted for by a limited range of control variables (Jansen, de Weerth & Riksen-Walraven, 2008). That is, there might be some selection bias between breastfeeding and nonbreastfeeding mothers with regard to other qualities. For example, non-breastfeeding mothers may be more career-oriented (Stewart-Knox, Gardiner & Wright, 2003) and more likely able to provide a favorable home environment with regard to socioeconomic factors. In the present study, however, we controlled for a relatively comprehensive range of the
characteristics of the child and home environment. Nevertheless, all the associations of breastfeeding with offspring’s compassion or empathy remained non-significant. Hence, this implies that breastfeeding may not predict offspring’s compassion or empathy in adulthood indirectly via other qualities of the family environment. Another explanation for the previous results, which have found no link for breastfeeding to offspring’s socioemotional development in childhood, might potentially be that compassion may not be fully developed yet in early childhood. Several studies have investigated socioemotional outcomes among children aged as young as 1–3.5 years (e.g., Borra et al., 2012; Oddy et al., 2011). It has been suggested that there might be cognitive requirements for being able to feel compassion: for example one must be able to imagine himself or herself to the same situation and to imagine how it would feel like (Cassell, 2002). Our study demonstrated that there exist no association of breastfeeding with compassion after childhood and cognitive maturation. Compassion and empathy are generally regarded as cornerstones of one’s socioemotional development. Deficits in compassion or empathy constitute a central feature of a range of psychiatric disorders, for example, antisocial personality disorder and paranoia (APA, 2013). Hence, our results, which showed no association of breastfeeding with empathy or compassion, tentatively suggest that non-breastfeeding does not predispose the child to socioemotional deficits or to psychiatric disorders through them. This is in line with a previous study demonstrating that breastfeeding is not linked with violent behavior in adulthood (Caicedo, Gonc alves, Gonz alez & Victora, 2010). In our study, there were some limitations that are necessary to be taken into consideration. Breastfeeding was evaluated by asking parents whether the child had received breastfeeding and for how many months breastfeeding had occurred. It was not assessed, however, whether the child had been exclusively or non-exclusively breastfed, that is whether the child had received also complementary food or other nutritions during breastfeeding. However, breastfeeding has been commonly assessed this way in previous studies (e.g., Belfort et al., 2016; Narvaez et al., 2013). Moreover, such studies that have differentiated between exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding have found no differences between the effects of exclusive vs. non-exclusive breastfeeding on socioemotional outcomes in childhood (e.g., Kramer et al., 2011; Lind et al., 2014). Moreover, breastfeeding was evaluated retrospectively. Previously, the length of recall period is found to positively correlate with recall bias (Horta et al., 2013). In this study, we aimed to minimize potential recall bias by asking parents about breastfeeding in 1983 (i.e., in the first follow-up measurement). Further, it has been highlighted that the duration of breastfeeding should be checked from many sources if possible (Horta et al., 2013). We advised the parents to check this information from the child’s personal record cards obtained from well-baby clinics. Finally, there is evidence that high parental socioeconomic status is related to underestimation of the duration of breastfeeding (Huttly, Barros, Victora, Beria & Vaughan, 1990). In this study, we controlled for a variety of childhood covariates, including parental socioeconomic status. Finally, the rate of non-breastfed children was comparatively low in the present study (7.5%). Also, previous studies have found that the rate of non-breastfed children varies between 0.5 and 26% in Europe (Clements et al., 1997; H€ornell, Aarts, Kylberg, Hofvander & Gebre-Medhin, 1999; Michaelsen et al., 1994). Hence, no firm conclusions can be made about the effects of non-breastfeeding on the course of compassion and empathy. Nevertheless, there was a higher frequency of participants who had been breastfed over a comparatively short time period (e.g., 4 months) and they did not differ from others in their compassion or empathy levels. Overall, previous studies have suggested that the potential association of breastfeeding with compassion and empathy might go indirectly via close and supportive parent-child relationship (Bystrova et al., 2009; Cernadas et al., 2003) and secure attachment (Britton et al., 2006). In the light of previous evidence, that kind of mediating socioemotional factors are unlikely to develop over a short period of breastfeeding. The present study had a variety of substantial strengths. First, we had a prospective follow-up of over 30 years and a comparatively large population-based sample consisting of six different age cohorts. Second, our data enabled us to investigate the course of dispositional compassion and empathy from ages 20 to 50, that is, from early adulthood to middle age. Third, we used multilevel models for repeated measurements that have comparatively strong statistical power (Gelman & Hill, 2006), so that also modest associations between the study variables could be obtained. Fourth, we replicated all the analyses in a multiple imputed dataset in order to ensure that the results were not accounted for by certain attrition biases in our sample. Finally, we could control for a range of potential confounding variables, such as age, gender, socioeconomic factors in childhood and adulthood, and also a range of characteristics of the child and family environment. Taken together, our data provided exceptional possibilities to investigate whether breastfeeding predicts the course of compassion and empathy of the offspring in adulthood. Suboptimal breastfeeding is common not only in developing countries (Huffman et al., 2001; M€uller & Krawinkel, 2005) but also in Western countries. In the United States, for example, only about one third of mothers continue breastfeeding the infant for the first 6 months (McDowell, Wang & Kennedy-Stephenson, 2008), although the WHO has recommended exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life (WHO & UNICEF, 2003). There are a variety of reasons for suboptimal breastfeeding, including experiences of restricted freedom, conflicts between motherhood and pursuing a career, sexualityrelated feelings, and perceived social isolation (Stewart-Knox et al., 2003; Van Esterik, 2002). Importantly, many mothers are also forced to introduce formula-feeding because of hormonal or nutritional reasons (Goldman, Hopkinson & Rassin, 2007; Jansen et al., 2008). Still, however, breastfeeding is considered even as an aspect of morality or a measure of the quality of motherhood in some populations (Lee, 2007). Consequently, a review concluded that mothers who introduce formula-feeding frequently experience feelings of guilt, uncertainty and failure (Lakshman, Ogilvie & Ong, 2009). In many cases, formula-feeding mothers have to defend their feeding methods when visiting child care services, which may lower their trust toward health-care professionals (Lee, 2007).
In the context of child health-care services, it is necessary to clarify the precise arguments for breastfeeding for mothers. There is a great amount of evidence that breastfeeding is linked with better somatic health of the child, including properties from blood pressure to respiratory diseases and allergies (e.g., Friedman & Zeiger, 2005; Owen et al., 2002; Wold & Adlerberth, 2002). On the other hand, previous meta-analyses have concluded that breastfeeding does not predict higher intelligence or cognitive abilities of the offspring (e.g., Horta, Loret de Mola & Victora, 2015; Walfisch, Sermer, Cressman & Koren, 2013). Moreover, most previous studies have found no evidence for a link for breastfeeding to prosocial behavior, sociability, or emotional difficulties in childhood (e.g., Kramer et al., 2008; Lind et al., 2014; Oddy et al., 2011; Tanaka et al., 2009). In line with these findings, the present study showed that breastfeeding does not predict compassion or empathy of the offspring in adulthood. Our findings may present a hopeful and encouraging perspective for children growing up with non-breastfeeding caregivers. This study was supported financially by the Academy of Finland (M.H., grant numbers 308676 and 258578); Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation (M.H.); the Jenny and Antti Wiguri Foundation (L.P.-R.); and Mannerheim League for Child Welfare’s Research Foundation and Finnish Cultural Foundation (E.O.). The Young Finns Study has been financially supported by the Academy of Finland: Grants 286284, 134309 (Eye), 126925, 121584, 124282, 129378 (Salve), 117797 (Gendi), and 41071 (Skidi); the Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospitals (grant X51001); the Juho Vainio Foundation; the Sigrid Juselius Foundation; the Yrj€o Jahnsson Foundation; the Paavo Nurmi Foundation; the Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research and Finnish Cultural Foundation; the Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation; the Emil Aaltonen Foundation; and Diabetes Research Foundation of Finnish Diabetes Association. The funding source had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Leviston, Zoe, and Hannah V. Uren. 2019. “Overestimating One’s ‘green’ Behavior: Better-than-average Bias May Function to Reduce Perceived Personal Threat from Climate Change.” PsyArXiv. December 12. doi:10.1111/josi.12365
Abstract: The actions of others, and what others approve of, can be a powerful tool for promoting pro-environmental behaviour. A potential barrier to the utility of social norms however are cognitive biases in how we perceive others, including the better-than-average effect. This effect describes the tendency for people to think they are exceptional, especially when compared with their peers. In order to investigate the role of the better-than-average effect in the context of climate-relevant pro-environmental behaviour, we administered questions as part of a larger online survey of 5,219 nationally representative Australians. Participants were asked to report whether they engaged in a list of 21 pro-environmental behaviours, and then asked to estimate how their engagement compared with the average Australian. Over half of our participants ‘self-enhanced’; they overestimated their engagement in pro-environmental behaviours relative to others. ‘Self-enhancement’ was related to reduced perceptions of personal harm from climate change, more favourable assessments of coping ability, less guilt, and lower moral and ethical duty to take action to prevent climate change. These relationships held when participants sceptical about anthropogenic climate change were removed from analyses. We discuss the implications of the findings for the use of social norms in promoting pro-environmental behaviour.
Discussion
The majority of our participants evidenced better-than-average tendencies. Our findings are consistent with previous literature from other domains and provide good initial evidence that better-than-average effects operate in the domain of climate-relevant behaviour. The bias was not restricted to people who perform poorly, or to those holding certain beliefs about climate change, but was evident across a spectrum of behaviour and attitudes. Moreover, distorted perceptions about one’s own behaviour was related to factors such as moral and ethical duty to respond to climate change, climate-related guilt, coping appraisals, and descriptive and injunctive norms. In each case we found that a self-other comparison that flattered the respondent tended to be accompanied by attitudes that function to reduce threats posed by climate change and reduce personal culpability. Taken together, the results suggest better-than-average effects might serve a palliative function for the individual.
The tendency for ‘self-enhancers’ to downgrade personal perceived harm from climate change and bolster personal coping ability relative to other groups might also be understood as ‘optimism bias’ – the belief that negative events are more likely to happen to others than to oneself (Radcliffe & Klein, 2002). This form of bias is itself functional, as it aids in restoring feelings of efficacy and control. Coupled with findings that self-enhancers reported lower feelings of guilt and moral and ethical duty, it is arguable that better-than-average assessments are not necessarily causative but one of an interrelated set of motivated cognitions to reduce both internal and external threat (Hornsey et al., 2015).
Motivations to self-enhance may also have interpersonal underpinnings and benefits. For instance, Kurz and Prosser (this issue) argue that tightly defined behaviours, such as vegetarianism and cycling, implicitly signal moral judgements to those who do not partake in these behaviours. Our list of climate-relevant behaviours included both loosely and tightly specified behaviours. In order to restore moral worth, it is feasible that those whose inaction is made salient in specific behavioural areas become motivated to make downward social comparisons (‘I may not be perfect, but I’m better than most’). Self-enhancement may this have a moral licensing effect, allowing the assessor to concurrently admit to unstainable behaviours (driving a motor vehicle, regularly eating meat) while maintaining moral standing within the broader community. Further research might test whether better-than-average effects are heightened under conditions where indicating high behavioural engagement is made more difficult. Similarly, future research employing longitudinal or experimental designs might illuminate whether self-other assessments are dynamic or whether they reflect more general chronic predispositions toward bias.
Considering violence against police by citizen race/ethnicity to contextualize representation in officer-involved shootings. John A. Shjarback, Justin Nix. Journal of Criminal Justice, December 11 2019, 101653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2019.101653
Highlights
• Overrepresentation in officer-involved shootings is a function of the racial/ethnic benchmark being used for comparison.
• Violence against police by citizen race/ethnicity may be a better benchmark than others used previously (e.g., contacts).
• Research should move beyond fatal officer-involved shootings to also include non-fatal OIS and all firearm discharges.
• Blacks were not more likely than whites to be fatally shot nationally or shot and injured/killed by police in Texas.
• Blacks were more likely than whites to be shot at by police in California based on the benchmarks used.
Abstract
Purpose: The current study examined racial/ethnic disparities in officer-involved shootings, employing violence directed toward police by race/ethnicity as a benchmark for comparison.
Methods: Odds ratios comparing white and African-American as well as white and Hispanic differences were calculated using three separate datasets: The Washington Post's counts of fatal officer-involved shootings, fatal and injurious officer-involved shootings in Texas, and all firearm discharges by officers in California.
Results: African-Americans were not more likely than whites to be fatally shot nationally or shot and injured/killed by police in Texas based on the benchmarks used. However, African-Americans were more likely than whites to be shot at by California police.
Conclusions: Racial/ethnic overrepresentation (or the lack thereof) in officer-involved shootings appears to be a function of the specific benchmark for comparison as well as the outcome being examined. Studies focusing exclusively on fatalities represent an incomplete and non-random sample of all officer-involved shooting incidents. Data limitations may omit factors, such as place or departmental policies, that are cofounding the relationship between race/ethnicity and fatal police-citizen violence.
Early Holocene temperature oscillations exceed amplitude of observed and projected warming in Svalbard lakes. Willem G.M. van der Bilt William J. D`Andrea Johannes P. Werner Jostein Bakke. Geophysical Research Letters, December 3 2019. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084384
Abstract: Arctic climate is uniquely sensitive to on‐going warming. The feedbacks that drive this amplified response remain insufficiently quantified and misrepresented in model scenarios of future warming. Comparison with paleotemperature reconstructions from past warm intervals can close this gap. The Early Holocene (11.7‐8.2 ka BP) is an important target because Arctic temperatures were warmer than today. This study presents centennially resolved summer temperature reconstructions from three Svalbard lakes. We show that Early Holocene temperatures fluctuated between the coldest and warmest extremes of the past 12 ka, exceeding the range of instrumental observations and future projections. Peak warmth occurred ~10 ka BP, with temperatures 7°C warmer than today due to high radiative forcing and intensified inflow of warm Atlantic waters. Between 9.5‐8 ka BP, temperatures dropped in response to freshwater fluxes from melting ice. Facing similar mechanisms, our findings may provide insight into the near‐future response of Arctic climate.
4 Conclusions
Alkenone (𝑈37 𝐾) ) data show that Svalbard experienced summer temperatures both warmer and colder than today during the Early Holocene. Warmth was greatest around 10 ka BP, when temperatures were up to ~7 °C higher than present in response to high radiative forcing and intensified ocean heat advection. In agreement with a growing body of recent work (e.g.
Lecavalier et al., 2017; McFarlin et al., 2018), these findings indicate an earlier and warmer
Holocene Optimum in the High Arctic then previously suggested. Moreover, comparison with
model output shows that the amplitude of warming was on par with 21st century emission
scenarios, but that temperatures rose much slower than today. A denser and more evenly spread distribution of similar high-resolution reconstructions is needed to ascertain if this signal is representative for the wider region. Between 10-8 ka BP, temperatures declined in response to freshwater input into the North Atlantic from melting ice sheets. The sensitivity of regional climate to freshwater forcing is of relevance for a future Arctic, which will likely be impacted by increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet and enhanced runoff as the hydrological cycle intensifies (Bintanja & Selten, 2014; Shepherd et al., 2012).
When transgressors intend to cause harm: The empowering effects of revenge and forgiveness on victim well‐being. Peter Strelan Jan‐Willem Van Prooijen Mario Gollwitzer. British Journal of Social Psychology, December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12357
Abstract: When people are transgressed against, they are usually motivated to restore personal power that was threatened by the transgression. We argue and test the new idea that while revenge and forgiveness responses are typically seen as opposites, both may be empowering, depending on the offender’s intent to harm. Across two studies, one experimental (N = 381) and one employing an autobiographical recall paradigm (N = 251), we tested a moderated mediation model. Notably, we found that revenge is empowering at high levels of intent and forgiveness is empowering regardless of intent. Importantly, we also demonstrate that empowerment provides an explanation for the process by which getting revenge and forgiving are each associated with improved affective outcomes for victims.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Revenge
We found, as hypothesized, a significant revenge 9 intent interaction on empowerment
in both studies. In Study 1, when offender intent was high, taking revenge was less
disempowering than doing nothing (the control condition), and avengers experienced
more positive and less negative affect in that case. In Study 2, we observed a similar effect:
The more participants reported that perceived offender intent was high, the more
revenge was empowering. The differing methodological approaches that we employed
may account for the nuanced difference in the direction of effects between Study 1 and
Study 2. Study 1 used hypothetical scenarios, which (1) are comparably less emotionally
involving, and in which (2) people are probably more aware of the fact that, usually, in
Western societies revenge tends not to be socially acceptable (Yoshimura & Boon, 2018).
Study 2, however, used autobiographical stories, which were more involving and also less
prone to social desirability issues. Here, participants might have allowed themselves to
experience and/or report the empowering effects of taking revenge more strongly than in
Study 1. In any event, regardless of how revenge affected empowerment in the two
studies, our theoretical argument is sustained: When victims perceive that offenders
intended to cause harm, getting revenge is the more sensible tactic – compared to doing
nothing (Study 1) or not getting revenge (Study 2) – at least in terms of empowering
victims.
Compatibility with and extension of existing theorizing about revenge
Previous experimental research suggests revenge can be satisfying when victims can
see that their transgressor understands the reasons for revenge, or has learnt from it
(e.g., Funk et al., 2014; Gollwitzer et al., 2011), but revenge is likely to be unsatisfying
when it serves no clear function (e.g., Carlsmith & Darley 2008). Our findings fit with
the idea that taking revenge can make avengers feel both good and bad (see Eadeh
et al., 2017). Specifically, in Study 1, when intent was high, avengers felt more
empowered than participants who did nothing, so that avengers were more likely to
indicate positive affect. However, when empowerment was statistically controlled for,
taking revenge was negatively related to positive affect. This suggests that the hedonic
benefits of taking revenge can be explained by feelings of empowerment. These
findings are novel and add another piece to the puzzle regarding the hedonic qualities
of revenge.
In Study 2, the empowering effect of revenge on affective outcomes under conditions
of high intent was even more pronounced. In terms of direct effects, revenge was
associated with higher levels of negative affect and clinical symptoms. However, to the
extent that victims got revenge against deliberately hurtful transgressors, they felt
empowered, so much so that the relations with negative affect and clinical symptoms
flipped around: Getting revenge was now associated with less negative affect and fewer
clinical symptoms. Interestingly, revenge was also associated with higher levels of
positive affect, especially when offenders meant to hurt and avengers felt empowered.
In short, we provide further evidence that if revenge is indeed to be ‘sweet’, it needs to
be functional. As offender intent increases, revenge becomes an appropriate response
(e.g., McCullough et al., 2013). One function of revenge under conditions of high intent,
therefore, is that it serves to empower avengers, an experience which in turn helps make
revenge ‘sweet’. Finally, we have extended previous research. Earlier studies on the functionality of
revenge relied on an offender’s response for a victim to know if revenge was effective
(e.g., Funk et al., 2014; Gollwitzer et al., 2011). However, in the present studies, the
potential efficacy of revenge was under the avenger’s control (i.e., they only had to decide
if the transgression was intentional or not).
Forgiveness
In both studies, there was a main (direct) effect of forgiveness on empowerment, indicating
that forgiving is empowering. Notably, this relation was not qualified by an interaction with
intent, indicating that forgiveness is empowering regardless of the extent to which victims
perceive that offenders intend to cause harm. Furthermore, in Study 1, there was evidence
that forgiving helps victims feel less negative and more positive because it is, to some extent,
empowering. The direct effects on well-being are in line with a substantial literature
indicating the benefits of forgiving for victims (Cheadle & Toussaint, 2015; Griffin et al.,
2015; Larkin et al, 2015; McCullough, 2008; Witvliet & Luna, 2018). The indirect effect
through empowerment is new, providing initial evidence for the process by which
forgiveness leads to more positive and less negative affective outcomes.
In Study 2, forgiveness was positively associated with revenge and negative affect and
clinical symptoms – yet was also positively associated with empowerment and positive
affect. Although these relations seem incompatible, there are at least two interrelated
plausible explanations. One is that these findings reflect the reality of post-transgression
turmoil, wherein victims need to navigate conflicting response repertoires particularly in
good-quality relationships (as was the case in this study). For example, longitudinal
research shows that emotional responses oscillate in the aftermath of transgressions, so
that a person can indicate vengeful and benevolent motivations at the same time (e.g.,
McCullough et al., 2003). In addition, it is possible that the positive forgiveness–revenge
correlation reflects that participants had acted vengefully, which in turn enabled them to
forgive, consistent with research indicating that getting justice helps victims forgive (for a
review, see Strelan, 2018). The other explanation is methodological in nature. Wellestablished measures of forgiveness require participants to indicate their current
thoughts or feelings or motivations towards a transgressor, so that the classic forgiveness
versus revenge dichotomy emerges. That is, if a person is currently positively disposed
towards a transgressor, they cannot at the same time indicate that they are negatively
disposed towards them; therefore, the conflicting responses typically seen posttransgression are not captured. However, this was the first study in which victims’
perceptions of their forgiveness and revenge behaviours have been measured and
participants were asked to recall the extent to which they had acted vengefully or in a
forgiving manner. As a measure of recalling what one did, it allows a respondent to be
internally inconsistent, that is, to recall acting both positively and negatively towards a
transgressor.
When the empowering effect of forgiveness was taken into account (Study 2), the
significant positive relation between forgiveness and each of negative affect and clinical
symptoms disappeared, indicating a suppressor effect for empowerment. This suggests
that a sense of empowerment helps to render moot the positive relation between
forgiveness and those negative outcomes. Further, there was an indirect negative effect of
forgiveness on negative affect and clinical symptoms via empowerment. These relations
indicate that the less forgiving a person is, the less empowered they feel, and the more
negative their affective responses. In short, there is some evidence that if empowerment plays a role, it is to explain why lower levels of forgiveness may predict higher levels of
negative affect and clinical symptoms.
Compatibility with and extension of existing theorizing about forgiveness
Our findings speak to two aspects of the forgiveness literature. One is concerned with the
costs of forgiving, which effectively suggests that if offenders do not deserve forgiveness
(e.g., Strelan et al., 2016), then forgivers should experience forgiveness as costly. In the
present studies, offenders who intended harm would not deserve forgiveness, and
therefore, forgiving should prove to be a costly affective exercise for victims. Notably, in
Study 2, we found similar effects to Strelan et al. for the forgiveness 9 intent interaction
on the downstream variables: Forgiving was related to higher negative affect and lower
positive affect when intent was high – in other words, when offenders did not deserve
forgiveness (see footnote 2). However, in both our studies intent to harm did not affect the
extent to which forgivers felt empowered – in other words, even when offenders did not
deserve forgiveness, forgiveness was still empowering. These particular findings provide
further support for Strelan et al.’s theorizing that undeserved forgiveness is a costly
affective response, but they also suggest there may be nuances in the way undeserved
forgiving is experienced. To that end, our findings for empowerment are consistent with
another literature concerning the benefits of forgiveness, which suggests that forgiving is
empowering despite an offender’s bad behaviour and possibly even because of it (e.g.,
Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000).
Educational attainment is associated with unconditional helping behaviour. Grace Westlake, David Coall and Cyril C. Grueter. Evolutionary Human Sciences, Volume 12019 , e15. Dec 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2019.16
Abstract: Altruism is a universal human trait, but little is known about its within-population variation. Socio-economic status (SES) has been found to positively impact altruism, but the specific socio-economic variables behind this relationship have remained elusive. This study aimed to determine which facets of SES predict altruism using a lost letter paradigm and a novel lost letter method. Six hundred letters (half dropped on the pavement, half sent to residential addresses) were distributed in 20 suburbs of Perth (Australia) differing in socio-economic variables. Letters distributed in high-SES neighbourhoods were more likely to be returned than letters distributed in low-SES neighbourhoods. Educational attainment and occupation status were the specific socio-economic variables underlying this association, while economic resources and crime rate were not associated with the likelihood of a letter being returned. These results suggest that altruism blossoms in neighbourhoods that are populated with highly educated individuals working in high-status jobs. The relationship between education and prosocial inclinations may be mediated by cognitive ability, self-control and high levels of socialization. Having experienced sustained exposure to norm-abiding models, more educated people may also be better at internalizing cultural norms of helping behaviour, thus creating a more altruistic environment where they reside.
Discussion
The current study revealed substantial and systematic variation in altruistic tendencies across urban suburbs of different socio-economic characteristics. This variance appears to be conditioned by the education and occupation level of residents in the suburb, and was not consistently influenced by economic resources or crime rate.
Socio-economic status
Both the original lost letter experiment and the novel, modified letterbox method provided support for the hypothesis that area-level SES (measured by IRSAD) was positively correlated with helping behaviour. This result is in consensus with previous research reporting a link between SES and letter return rates in the lost letter experiment (Brown and Reed 1982; Grueter et al. 2016; Holland et al. 2012; Nettle et al. 2011; Silva and Mace 2014). Multiple drivers underlying the lower levels of prosociality in low-SES areas are conceivable, for example time constraints resulting from the need to make ends meet (Holland et al. 2012; Lynam et al. 2000), lower sense of control over the environment (e.g. Gallo et al. 2005) or – more mundanely – higher tolerance of litter rates (see Khatib et al. 2007).
However, the above finding is in conflict with studies by Piff et al. (2010, 2012) who found upper-class individuals to be less prosocial and more unethical in measures such as willingness to cooperate with a game partner and attitudes on charitable donations. Côté et al. (2015) recently showed that higher-income individuals are not more selfish across the board but a tendency to be less generous emerges only under conditions of high economic inequality. Piff et al. (2012) suggested that – among others – this was because high-SES people have abundant resources to deal with the downstream costs of unethical behaviour (e.g. money for a speeding fine), while lower-SES individuals may need to be more careful as they incur greater relative consequences for social deviation. Piff et al. (2012) proposed that low-SES individuals have a greater interest in the wellbeing of others because it affects their ability to draw resources from them. Thus lower-class individuals’ willingness to engage in altruistic behaviour can be seen a function of economic interdependence. Relatedly, Amir et al. (2018) invoked an uncertainty management framework to account for the greater prosociality observed in economic games among economically deprived children. In this framework, cooperation with social partners and prosociality reflect the adaptive internalization of a risk-mitigating strategy in the face of uncertain returns associated with early life deprivation.
The difference between the results of Piff et al. (2010, 2012) and lost letter-based studies could stem from the fact that the former analysed variation at the individual level, whereas the latter examined neighbourhood-level differences (Holland et al. 2012). Perhaps high-SES neighbourhoods foster altruism, yet within any one neighbourhood, the poorer individuals are more altruistic than the wealthier ones (Holland et al. 2012).
Another reason for the difference between our findings and those of Piff et al. (2010, 2012) could be that their experiments measured altruistic tendencies towards people in general (no specific group) in a range of environments. In contrast, the lost letter experiment used in this study measured altruistic behaviours within one's own ‘home environment’ (their suburb or street) towards (presumably) members of their own group; individuals who encountered lost letters would have probably assumed that the letter was distributed by a resident when walking through the area.
Lastly, as suggested by Holland et al. (2012), the experiments used to analyse altruism by Piff et al. (2010, 2012) may be more competitive than the small, cooperative task of returning a lost letter, resulting in different behaviours. For example, upper-class individuals may be more likely than lower-class individuals to return a letter in a cooperative task, but they may also be more likely to deceive another player in a laboratory-based economic game. Future studies should incorporate multiple measures of altruistic behaviour (such as those used by Piff et al. 2010, 2012) to determine if the patterns seen in this study are unique to the lost letter experiment.
Socio-economic variables
The principal aim of this study was to disentangle the association of different socio-economic variables with altruistic behaviour. Crime was predicted to reduce altruism by lowering trust, but a suburb's crime rate was largely unrelated to the expression of prosocial behaviour. Only in the model where economic resources were included did crime rate become significant. Therefore, the variance explained by crime rate may be accounted for by other SES characteristics such as education, which was included in all other models. It may also be that crime has a threshold effect and needs to be at a certain rate before it begins to affect peoples’ altruistic tendencies. The suburbs analysed in this study may not have had sufficient crime rates to demonstrate this effect.
Economic resources, as a characteristic of SES, also did not have a significant effect on letter return rate. This suggests that demographic factors such as individuals’ assets, house prices and average household income are not related to suburb-level altruistic behaviours. Holland et al. (2012) suggested that low-SES individuals may be too preoccupied with meeting their individual needs to be willing to spend time helping others. This hypothesis suggests that individuals with more economic resources will be better equipped to meet their needs and will, therefore, have more time and energy to engage altruistically with others. The current dataset does not rule out the hypothesis that, when time itself is not a limited resource, people may be more willing to engage in prosocial behaviours. It should be noted that the location of this study does not experience widespread socio-economic deprivation where a great proportion of individuals do not have access to basic needs such as clean water, food and housing. Perhaps this hypothesis may be relevant in more economically deprived contexts where economic resources may influence altruism.
IEO was found to be significantly associated with whether a letter would be returned or not. The effect of IRSAD on letter return rate may largely be explained by the composite variables that it shares with IEO. This finding suggests that the component of SES that affects a neighbourhood's letter return rate is the education and occupation status of individuals in that suburb. To our knowledge this is a novel finding that has not been reported previously. However, along a similar vein, there is one recent study which documented a positive correlation between historical rates of primary education and civic honesty (Cohn et al. 2019). Because IEO incorporates both education and occupation variables, we cannot distinguish whether both, or just one or the other, of these variables influence altruistic behaviour within a suburb.
This study has isolated education and occupation as the likely leading socio-economic variables behind the often found relationship between SES and letter return rates. However, we still do not fully understand the mechanism behind this link. We do not know what aspects of education and occupation status may lead individuals within a suburb to behave more altruistically. Education and occupation may also be associated with a third variable that may be driving the patterns in the results. For example, individuals who have achieved a high education level or who are in high-status jobs are more likely to possess greater cognitive abilities (Schmidt and Hunter 2004; Strenze 2007). It may thus be possible that the significant effect of IEO on letter return rate reflects an underlying effect of cognitive ability. Previous studies in behavioural economics have shown a link between cognitive ability and altruistic behaviour (Jones 2008). Cognitive ability has been found to be negatively correlated with a preference for immediate rewards and impulsivity (Jensen 1998; de Wit et al. 2007). Cognition in more stressful and harsh environments associated with lower SES may be focused more on temporal discounting and lower levels of self-control (Coall et al. 2012; Frankenhuis et al. 2016; Mullainathan and Shafir 2013; Sheehy-Skeffington and Rea 2017), conditions that discourage altruistic behaviour (Osiński et al. 2017). It is important to note that extrapolating from SES at a relatively crude area-level analysis to individual differences in cognitive ability (and thus altruism) is problematic. The relationship between these factors and education is probably more complex, and dependent on many factors (e.g. opportunity, value placed on education, etc.).
An evolutionary mechanism underlying the finding that education and occupation are the primary drivers of prosocial behaviour may be that educated people have more opportunities to learn, to be taught and to receive feedback and thus are more likely to adopt or maintain cultural norms of prosociality. Individual behavioural decisions (as to whether to act proscocially) are influenced by expectations of the behaviour of others in the local social environment (Bichierri and Xiao 2009). In turn, these decisions also influence the local social environment, by conveying to others information about local norms of cooperative behaviour (cf. Schroeder et al. 2014).
Modified lost-letter experiment
The novel letterbox method incorporated in this study featured a significantly lower return rate compared with the original pavement method. Both methods, however, exhibited the same SES patterns in the data. One explanation for the differing return rates is that ignoring a letterbox letter ends all future possibilities for the letter to be returned, but pavement letters may be picked up by someone else (however, one could also argue that receiving a lost letter in someone's letterbox increases the recipient's pressure to do something about it). Another possible explanation is that returning a pavement letter may incur a smaller cost in terms of time and effort, because an individual could already be heading in the direction of a post box, compared who a letterbox recipient who would have to make a separate trip. Furthermore, individuals may behave more prosocially when encountering pavement letters because there is a chance that their actions are being observed by bystanders and influence their reputation (sensu Raihani and Bshary, 2015). Additionally, there remains the possibility that letterbox recipients may have uncertainty about what to do with the wrongly addressed letter.
The similar socio-economic patterns found in the results from both methods suggest that the letterbox method may be a useful alternative to the pavement method as it may not be as susceptible to some of the potentially confounding variables such as non-residents encountering the letters and differing rates of pedestrian foot traffic in different neighbourhoods. The letterbox method has additional advantages that should be considered for future experiments. The method enables the letter to be distributed at any time, unlike pavement letters, which must be distributed on wind- and rain-free evenings. The letterbox method also eliminates the lengthy process of distributing letters by hand and provides easy access to remote or rural areas. Additionally, the letterbox method allows for more letters to be distributed in any given area, owing to the elimination of the possibility of individuals encountering multiple letters while walking through a neighbourhood.
Cultural group selection and prosociality
Cultural group selection theory posits that groups whose members engage altruistically with each other are more successful in intergroup competition than groups whose members lack such locally stable cooperative cultural norms (Henrich 2004; Richerson et al. 2016). However, the great variation in altruistic tendencies exhibited by the different suburbs suggests that cultural group selection does not function at the scale of the city. Instead, we may see large populations splitting up into smaller sub-groups with their own set of altruistic norms which may be the result of cultural group selection operating on this smaller scale. However, since populations of city suburbs are not natural groups but administrative divisions, it is unclear if these are subject to cultural group selection. Alternatively, variation in altruism attributed to different cultural norms could in fact reflect individual adaptations to different environments with varying levels of socio-economic harshness (Mace and Silva 2016).
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