Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Financial misconduct rates differ widely between major cities, up to a factor of three; rates strongly related to other unethical behavior, involving politicians, doctors, and (potentially unfaithful) spouses, in the city

The Geography of Financial Misconduct. Christopher A Parsons, Johan Sulaeman, Sheridan Titman. The Journal of Finance, https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.12704

ABSTRACT: Financial misconduct (FM) rates differ widely between major U.S. cities, up to a factor of three. Although spatial differences in enforcement and firm characteristics do not account for these patterns, city‐level norms appear to be very important. For example, FM rates are strongly related to other unethical behavior, involving politicians, doctors, and (potentially unfaithful) spouses, in the city.

Have women always lived so much longer than men? The answer is that they have not, only after the sharp reduction in infectious disease in the early twentieth century

XX>XY?: The Changing Female Advantage in Life Expectancy. Claudia Goldin & Adriana Lleras-Muney. NBER Working Paper, June 2018. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24716

Abstract: Females live longer than males in most parts of the world today. Among OECD nations in recent years, the difference in life expectancy at birth is around four to six years (seven in Japan). But have women always lived so much longer than men? The answer is that they have not. We ask when and why the female advantage emerged. We show that reductions in maternal mortality and fertility are not the reasons. Rather, we argue that the sharp reduction in infectious disease in the early twentieth century played a role. The primary reason is that those who survive most infectious diseases carry a health burden that affects organs, such as the heart, as well as impacting general well-being. We use new data from Massachusetts containing information on causes of death from 1887 to show that infectious diseases disproportionately affected females between the ages of 5 and 25. Increased longevity of women, therefore, occurred as the burden of infectious disease fell for all. Our explanation does not tell us why women live longer than men, but it does help understand the timing of the increase.

Movies: The contribution of at least one star was large, equalling roughly 10% of a film’s revenues; having a male star in a film generated a premium in the neighbourhood of 12%, while female star had no statistical impact on a movie’s performance

Gender and box office performance. Julianne Treme, Lee A. Craig & Andrew Copland. Applied Economics Letters, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2018.1495818

ABSTRACT: We analyse the box office–movie star relationship since the 1990s. We find that, on average, the contribution of at least one star was large, equalling roughly 10% of a film’s revenues. Also, consistent with the substantial difference in the average compensation between male and female stars, having a male star in a film generated a premium in the neighbourhood of 12%, while female star had no statistical impact on a movie’s performance.

KEYWORDS: Movies, gender, media, star power

Exaggerating in order to entertain the listener while sharing previous experiences can increase interpersonal closeness in new relationships; even listeners who are provided with the actual facts will show this effect

Exaggerating when retelling previous experiences fosters relational closeness. Holly E. Cole, Denise R. Beike. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407518787344

Abstract: This research explores the possibility that exaggerating in order to entertain the listener while sharing previous experiences can increase interpersonal closeness in new relationships. It is hypothesized that adding exaggerations about previous experiences will increase the quality of the story, which will lead to increased interpersonal closeness, and that even listeners who are provided with the actual facts will show this effect. Three studies with 592 total participants investigated the impact of exaggerating when sharing a story about a previous experience on feelings of closeness to the storyteller. In Study 1, participants read scenarios of a person telling a story about a previous experience. Results indicate a preference for exaggerated stories and a concomitant feeling of closeness to the storyteller. In Study 2, participants retold the events of a video to another participant who was a stranger. Participants instructed to give an entertaining recalling used more exaggerations, and listeners felt closer to them. In Study 3, participants watched a video of a confederate retelling events accurately or with clear exaggerations. Participants reported feeling closer to the confederate when exaggerations were included, even when they knew the facts the storyteller was retelling. Discussion centers on reasons why being entertaining was more beneficial in creating relationship closeness than being honest.

Keywords: Deception, exaggerations, interpersonal closeness, narratives, relationship formation, self-disclosure

Considerable variance in parental warmth (27%) and stress (45%) was attributable to child genetic influences on parenting; incorporating child Big Five personality into the model roughly explained half of this variance

Genetic and Environmental Associations Between Child Personality and Parenting. Mona Ayoub et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618784890

Abstract: Parenting is often conceptualized in terms of its effects on offspring. However, children may also play an active role in influencing the parenting they receive. Simple correlations between parenting and child outcomes may be due to parent-to-child causation, child-to-parent causation, or some combination of the two. We use a multirater, genetically informative, large sample (n = 1,411 twin sets) to gain traction on this issue as it relates to parental warmth and stress in the context of child Big Five personality. Considerable variance in parental warmth (27%) and stress (45%) was attributable to child genetic influences on parenting. Incorporating child Big Five personality into the model roughly explained half of this variance. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that parents mold their parenting in response to their child’s personality. Residual heritability of parenting is likely due to child characteristics beyond the Big Five.

Keywords: parenting, Big Five, behavior genetics, personality, personality development

Most owners regarded cats as family members with developed socio-cognitive skills

The socio-cognitive relationship between cats and humans – companion cats (Felis catus) as their owners see them. Péter Pongrácz, Julianna Szulamit Szapu. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.07.004

Highlights
•    In a questionnaire we inquired 157 Hungarian cat owners.
•    The questions were about cat-human relationship and cats’ socio-cognitive abilities.
•    The emerging traits were either cat-specific or similar to the dog-owner bond.
•    Most owners regarded cats as family members with developed socio-cognitive skills.
•    Better understanding of cat-human interactions may help to improve cat welfare.

Abstract: Although domestic cats are among the most common companion animals, we still know very little about the details of the cat-human relationship. With a questionnaire, we asked 157 Hungarian cat owners about their pet’s behavior, cognitive abilities and social interactions. We analyzed the responses with PCA resulting in 11 traits. The effect of cats’ and owners’ demographic variables on the main components was further analyzed with GLM. The results showed strong similarity to the surveys performed with companion dogs, but we also found features that were mainly cat-specific. We found that women considered their cats to be more communicative and empathetic, than men did (p = 0.000). The higher education owners also considered their cat as being more communicative and empathetic (p = 0.000). We also found that owners use pointing signals more often if the cat is their only pet (p = 0.000), and otherwise they do not give verbal commands often to the cat (P = 0.001). Young owners imitated cat vocalization more often (p = 0.006); while emotional matching of the cat was more commonly reported by elderly owners (p = 0.001). The more an owner initiated playing with his/her cat, the imitation of cat vocalizations was also more common in his/her case (p = 0.001). Owners think that their cat shows stronger emotional matching if otherwise they experience human-like communicative capacity from the cat (p = 0.000). Owners use more pointing signals in the case of those cats that show attention-eliciting signals in more than one modality (p = 0.000). Owners who react to the meows of unfamiliar cats, initiated interactions more often with their own cats (p = 0.000). Owners also think that cats vocalize in every possible context, and this result was not affected significantly by any of the independent factors. Our results show that owners considered their cat as a family member, and they attributed well developed socio-cognitive skills to them. Because cats have an important role as a companion animal, it would be worthy to study cat behavior with similar thoroughness as with dogs. Our questionnaire may provide a good starting point for the empirical research of cat-human communication. The deeper understanding of cats’ socio-cognitive abilities may also help to improve cat welfare.

Religious cognition places a “sex premium” on moral judgments, causing people to judge violations of conventional sexual morality as particularly objectionable; the premium is especially strong among highly religious people, and applies to both legal and illegal acts

The Sex Premium in Religiously Motivated Moral Judgment. Liana Hone, Thomas McCauley, Michael McCullough. PsyArXiv Preprints, https://psyarxiv.com/xpz5h/

Abstract: Religion encourages people to reason about moral issues deontologically rather than on the basis of the perceived consequences of specific actions. However, recent theorizing suggests that religious people’s moral convictions are actually quite strategic (albeit unconsciously so), designed to make their worlds more amenable to their favored approaches to solving life’s basic challenges. In six experiments, we find that religious cognition places a “sex premium” on moral judgments, causing people to judge violations of conventional sexual morality as particularly objectionable. The sex premium is especially strong among highly religious people, and applies to both legal and illegal acts. Religion’s influence on moral reasoning, even if deontological, emphasizes conventional sexual norms, and may reflect the strategic projects to which religion has been applied throughout history.