From 2015... Male homosexual preference: Available data challenges the common view of MHP being a “virtually universal” trait; social stratification together with hypergyny seem necessary for its evolution

From 2015... Barthes J, Crochet P-A, Raymond M (2015) Male Homosexual Preference: Where, When, Why? PLoS ONE 10(8), Aug 12 2016, e0134817. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134817

Abstract: Male homosexual preference (MHP) has long been of interest to scholars studying the evolution of human sexuality. Indeed, MHP is partially heritable, induces a reproductive cost and is common. MHP has thus been considered a Darwinian paradox. Several questions arise when MHP is considered in an evolutionary context. At what point did MHP appear in the human evolutionary history? Is MHP present in all human groups? How has MHP evolved, given that MHP is a reproductively costly trait? These questions were addressed here, using data from the anthropological and archaeological literature. Our detailed analysis of the available data challenges the common view of MHP being a “virtually universal” trait present in humans since prehistory. The conditions under which it is possible to affirm that MHP was present in past societies are discussed. Furthermore, using anthropological reports, the presence or absence of MHP was documented for 107 societies, allowing us to conclude that evidence of the absence of MHP is available for some societies. A recent evolutionary hypothesis has argued that social stratification together with hypergyny (the hypergyny hypothesis) are necessary conditions for the evolution of MHP. Here, the link between the level of stratification and the probability of observing MHP was tested using an unprecedented large dataset. Furthermore, the test was performed for the first time by controlling for the phylogenetic non-independence between societies. A positive relationship was observed between the level of social stratification and the probability of observing MHP, supporting the hypergyny hypothesis.

From 2016... Homophobia might reflect concerns about sexuality in general and not homosexuality in particular

From 2016... Homophobia Is Related to a Low Interest in Sexuality in General: An Analysis of Pupillometric Evoked Responses. Boris Cheval et al. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 13, Issue 10, October 2016, Pages 1539-1545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.07.013

Abstract

Introduction: A recent study by Cheval et al (J Sex Med 2016;13:825–834) found that individuals high in homophobia look significantly less long at sex-related photographs, regardless of their nature (ie, homosexual or heterosexual). Because viewing time is under some conscious control, this result could indicate that individuals high in homophobia have a low sexual interest in any sexual stimuli or are consciously motivated to avoid sexual material in line with their conscious values.

Aim: To determine the mechanism underlying shorter viewing time of sex-related photographs in individuals high in homophobia using pupil dilatation, which is considered a spontaneous, unconscious, and uncontrollable index of sexual interest.

Methods: Heterosexual men (N = 36) completed a questionnaire assessing their level of homo-negativity and then performed a picture-viewing task with simultaneous eye-tracking recording to assess their pupillary responses to the presentation of sexually related or neutral photographs.

Main Outcome Measures: Non-linear mixed models were carried out to fit the individual non-linear trajectories of pupillary reaction. Different parameters were obtained including the final asymptote of the pupillary response.

Results: Results showed that the final pupil size of men high in homophobia increased significantly less to the presentation of sex-related images (ie, heterosexual and homosexual) than the pupil size of men low in homophobia. In contrast, no significant difference in the final pupil size reaction toward homosexual images (vs heterosexual images) emerged between men high and men low in homophobia.

Conclusion: Theoretically, these findings reinforce the necessity to consider that homophobia might reflect concerns about sexuality in general and not homosexuality in particular.

Key Words: HomophobiaEye TrackingPupillary ResponsesSexual Interest

Moderate to strong evidence for the absence of an experimental effect: Belief in a controlling God did not increase after a threat compared to an affirmation of personal control (US & the Netherlands)

Hoogeveen, Suzanne, Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, Aaron Kay, and Michiel van Elk. 2019. “Compensatory Control and Belief in God: A Registered Replication Report Across Two Countries.” PsyArXiv. September 27. doi:10.31234/osf.io/vqu2x

Abstract: Compensatory Control Theory (CCT) suggests that religious belief systems provide an external source of control that can substitute a perceived lack of personal control. In a seminal paper, Kay et al. (2008) experimentally demonstrated that a threat to personal control increases endorsement of the existence of a controlling God. In the current registered report, we conducted a high-powered (N = 829) direct replication of this effect, using samples from the Netherlands and the United States. Our results show moderate to strong evidence for the absence of an experimental effect across both countries: belief in a controlling God did not increase after a threat compared to an affirmation of personal control. In a complementary preregistered analysis, an inverse relation between general feelings of personal control and belief in a controlling God was found in the US, but not in the Netherlands. We discuss potential reasons for the replication failure of the experimental effect and cultural mechanisms explaining the cross-country difference in the correlational effect. Together, our findings suggest that experimental manipulations of control may be ineffective in shifting belief in God, but that individual differences in the experience of control may be related to religious beliefs in a way that is consistent with CCT.

Religiosity Predicts Evidentiary Standards: Religious individuals exhibited a bias for believing religious claims relative to scientific claims, while nonreligious guys were consistent in their standards of evidence across domains

Religiosity Predicts Evidentiary Standards. Emilio J. C. Lobato et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, September 9, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619869613

Abstract: Research shows that religious and nonreligious individuals have different standards of evidence for religious and scientific claims. Here, in a preregistered replication and extension of McPhetres and Zuckerman, participants read about an effect attributed to either a scientific or religious cause, then assessed how much evidence, in the form of successful replications, would be needed to confirm or to reject the causal claim. As previously observed, religious individuals exhibited a bias for believing religious claims relative to scientific claims, while nonreligious individuals were consistent in their standards of evidence across domains. In a novel extension examining standards of evidence with respect to failures of replication, we found that religious individuals were consistent across domains, whereas nonreligious individuals indicated a lower threshold for rejecting religious claims relative to scientific claims. These findings indicate asymmetries in the evaluation of claims based on the presence versus absence of supportive evidence.

Keywords: religion, science, evidence, decision-making

Facebook is found as a useful tool to fulfil human needs, which predict continued Facebook use intentions of participants, and further, satisfaction with life

Who Needs Social Networking? An Empirical Enquiry into the Capability of Facebook to Meet Human Needs and Satisfaction with Life. David Houghton, Andrew Pressey, Doga Istanbulluoglu. Computers in Human Behavior, September 27 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.029

Highlights:
•    Investigation into the fulfilment of human needs through Facebook use.
•    SEM to assess human needs, Facebook use and Satisfaction with Life.
•    Facebook fulfils needs, and continued use is associated with satisfaction with life.

Abstract: Social Network Sites (SNS) have been the topic of much scholarly and public debate for the most part of the 21st century. A number of studies have investigated the benefits and drawbacks to using SNS, with Facebook the largest example boasting billions of active monthly users. In recent months, media commentary has raised a number of concerning cases surrounding Facebook’s use of data, its connection with other organizations and its legitimacy, making a number of open public calls to abandon the platform. However, active users still number in the billions, raising the question, “does Facebook achieve something on a fundamental human and social level that users are willing to overlook the potential drawback to its use?” Using Maslow’s needs hierarchy, this study adopts a survey approach (n=316) and explores the capacity for Facebook to satisfy human needs. Findings identify Facebook as a useful tool to fulfil human needs, which predict continued Facebook use intentions of participants, and further, satisfaction with life. These findings offer a broad-based view of Facebook use and its resonance with key motivators of behavior, supporting both Maslow’s needs hierarchy and highlighting the importance of need fulfilment for continued service use and satisfaction with life.


Check also The economic effects of Facebook. Roberto Mosquera et al. Experimental Economics, September 26 2019. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/09/those-who-are-off-facebook-for-one-week.html:

Those who are off Facebook for one week reduce news consumption, are less likely to recognize politically-skewed news stories, report being less depressed and engage in healthier activities. These results are strongest for men. Our results further suggest that, after the restriction, Facebook’s value increases, consistent with information loss or that using Facebook may be addictive.

The Social Effects of Internet Deprivation: Can You Engage in Political Activity Without Internet Access? Very little, it seems

Can You Engage in Political Activity Without Internet Access? The Social Effects of Internet Deprivation. Ryan Shandler, Michael L Gross, Daphna Canetti. Political Studies Review, September 26, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929919877600

Abstract: To what extent can you engage in political activity in the modern age without Internet access? The growing dependence on Internet access to fulfill basic civil functions is threatened by increasing personal and societal cyber vulnerability. In this article, we explore the extent to which citizens are able, or unable, to engage in specific political activities in the absence of Internet connectivity. To concretize the subject, we test how Internet deprivation affects the ability to realize three basic elements of political participation: political expression, civic association, and access to information. To measure this, we develop a new experimental methodology that tests people’s ability to complete tasks related to each function under simulated treatments of Internet access or deprivation. This empirical methodology offers a new framework through which to quantify the realization of social tasks under experimental conditions. Early results suggest that the absence of Internet access significantly reduces task completion for activities related to political expression and political association and conditionally reduces task completion for practices associated with freedom of information. Having substantiated this empirical framework, we encourage its application to additional forms of political activity.

Keywords: Internet access, Internet deprivation, cyber policy, freedom of speech, cyber terrorism

When a woman is more attractive than her mate, men desire to mate poach, and if a woman is less attractive than her partner, men desire to mate copy

Moran, J. B., & Wade, T. J. (2019). Perceptions of a mismatched couple: The role of attractiveness on mate poaching and copying. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, Sep 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000187

Abstract: This research investigated how a couple’s discrepancy in attractiveness influences men’s decision to mate poach or mate copy. The participants (N = 97 heterosexual men) were presented with 3 photos of a quasi couple in which the woman was consistent, and the 3 men were unattractive, equally, or more attractive than her. This study used ranking questions to assess heterosexual men’s perception of a couple. Participants were asked to drag and drop the 3 randomized photos in order of preference for 8 randomized questions regarding mate poaching and mate copying. Eight Friedman tests were conducted and revealed a significant difference between the rankings of the photos for each situation. These findings suggest that there are clear differences between the conditional mating strategies men use. Results revealed that when a woman is more attractive than her mate, men desire to mate poach, and if a woman is less attractive than her partner, men desire to mate copy.

The relationship between tickling, sensation, and laughter is complex; tickling or its mere anticipation makes us laugh, but not when we self-tickle; the study uses rats to understand self-tickle suppression & tickle anticipation

Behavioral and Cortical Correlates of Self-Suppression, Anticipation, and Ambivalence in Rat Tickling. Shimpei Ishiyama, Lena V. Kaufmann, Michael Brecht. Current Biology, September 26 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.07.085

Highlights
•    Self-touch suppresses vocalizations and cortical excitation
•    Self-touch suppression is rescued by blocking cortical inhibition
•    Rats show ambivalent response to tickling
•    Layer 5 somatosensory cortex represents tickle anticipation

Summary: The relationship between tickling, sensation, and laughter is complex. Tickling or its mere anticipation makes us laugh, but not when we self-tickle. We previously showed rat somatosensory cortex drives tickling-evoked vocalizations and now investigated self-tickle suppression and tickle anticipation. We recorded somatosensory cortex activity while tickling and touching rats and while rats touched themselves. Allo-touch and tickling evoked somatotopic cortical excitation and vocalizations. Self-touch induced wide-ranging inhibition and vocalization suppression. Self-touch also suppressed vocalizations and cortical responses evoked by allo-touch or cortical microstimulation. We suggest a global-inhibition model of self-tickle suppression, which operates without the classically assumed self versus other distinction. Consistent with this inhibition hypothesis, blocking cortical inhibition with gabazine abolished self-tickle suppression. We studied anticipation in a nose-poke-for-tickling paradigm. Although rats nose poked for tickling, they also showed escaping, freezing, and alarm calls. Such ambivalence (“Nervenkitzel”) resembles tickle behaviors in children. We conclude that self-touch-induced GABAergic cortical inhibition prevents self-tickle, whereas anticipatory layer 5 activity drives anticipatory laughter.

Those who are off Facebook for one week reduce news consumption, are less likely to recognize politically-skewed news stories, report being less depressed and engage in healthier activities; these results are strongest for men

The economic effects of Facebook. Roberto Mosquera et al. Experimental Economics, September 26 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10683-019-09625-y

Abstract: Social media permeates many aspects of our lives, including how we connect with others, where we get our news and how we spend our time. Yet, we know little about the economic effects for users. In 2017, we ran a large field experiment with over 1765 individuals to document the value of Facebook to users and its causal effect on news, well-being and daily activities. Participants reveal how much they value one week of Facebook usage and are then randomly assigned to a validated Facebook restriction or normal use. One week of Facebook is worth $67. Those who are off Facebook for one week reduce news consumption, are less likely to recognize politically-skewed news stories, report being less depressed and engage in healthier activities. These results are strongest for men. Our results further suggest that, after the restriction, Facebook’s value increases, consistent with information loss or that using Facebook may be addictive.