Saturday, July 11, 2020

Participants accepted more offers, including more unfair offers, from surgical mask-wearing opponents than from opponents without a mask; effect was enhanced when participants ascribed more altruistic motives

Fatfouta, Ramzi, and Yulia Oganian. 2020. “Bargaining Under Social Distancing Requirements: Effects of Face Masks on Socio-economic Decision-making in the COVID-19 Pandemic.” PsyArXiv. July 10. doi:10.31234/osf.io/cn7by

Abstract: Face masks play a pivotal role in the control and prevention of respiratory diseases, such as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Despite their widespread use, it is not known how face masks affect human social interaction. In this behavioral economics study (N = 475), we examined how mask-wearing modulates individuals’ likelihood of acceptance of unfair monetary offers in an iterated social exchange. Overall, participants accepted more offers, including more unfair offers, from mask-wearing opponents than from opponents without a mask. This effect was enhanced when participants ascribed more altruistic motives to their interaction partner. Importantly, this pattern of results was only present for surgical face masks, but not when a non-medical cloth face covering was used. This is the first study to uncover a new phenomenon, the face-mask effect, in which face masks can alter human social behavior.


In the mid-2000s, "hate" appears with a relative frequency that is about 70pct higher than in 1980

Haslam, N., & Murphy, S. C. (2020). Hate, dehumanization, and “hate”. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Perspectives on hate: How it originates, develops, manifests, and spreads (p. 27–41). American Psychological Association, May 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000180-002

Abstract: Hate is a subject that is always topical, but it has recently become especially significant. This chapter explores the concept of hate from two distinct angles in the hope of clarifying what it is and what it is not. The first part examines the academic conceptualization of hate, specifically the relationship between hate and dehumanization. These phenomena often appear to be tightly entwined, sometimes to the point where dehumanization comes to be seen as a part of hate's signature. The second part of the chapter explores how hate is conceptualized by laypeople (i.e., nonacademics) and how the one concept of "hate" is understood in different ways by different people. It explores variations in the breadth or inclusiveness of the concept of "hate": the range of phenomena that people believe exemplify it. The chapter shows that members of some social groups hold much more expansive definitions of "hate" than others.


Media coverage over time (2011‐2016) has used more negative tone in discussing police‐citizen interactions; relative to other jobs, policing was categorized as a pervasively stigmatized job

Is Policing Becoming a Tainted Profession? Media, Public Perceptions, and Implications. Deepshikha Chatterjee  Ann Marie Ryan. Journal of Organizational Behavior, July 10 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2471

Summary: Stigmatized professions are those where physical, social, and/or moral taints are applied. Stigma theorists hold that stigma is socially communicated and changes over time, but it is unclear if stigma content can be applied to those who are seen as powerful. Two studies examined how the impact of socio‐political discourses on policing, a profession that carries legitimate power, on the tainting of the profession and distrust in policing. In an examination of archival news media clips on policing (N = 200), results show that media coverage over time (between 2011‐2016) has used more negative tone in discussing police‐citizen interactions, and these findings varied by conservative versus liberal media. Importantly, across media sources, taints were ascribed to policing. In a second survey study, individuals directly ascribed taints to policing (N = 169). Relative to other jobs, policing was categorized as a pervasively stigmatized job (i.e., high frequency and strong potency of taints were applied). It was also found that those who discussed media stories tended to distrust police more. Implications for efforts to recruit, select, and train officers, and to improve police‐community relations are discussed; findings may also generalize to other public and community facing professions.


Although conflict (operationalized as one partner doing something the other did not like) was unassociated with the likelihood of sex on a given day, it predicted a lower likelihood the following day

Kiss and Makeup? Examining the Co-occurrence of Conflict and Sex. Jessica A. Maxwell & Andrea L. Meltzer. Archives of Sexual Behavior (2020). Jul 10 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01779-8

Abstract: Although conflict and sex frequently occur in relationships, little research has examined their interconnectedness. Some evidence suggests their co-occurrence can benefit relationships, whereas other evidence suggests the opposite. We sought to clarify such contrasting evidence by conducting a dyadic daily-diary study of 107 newlywed couples that included a 6-month follow-up assessment. Although conflict (operationalized as one partner doing something the other did not like) was unassociated with the likelihood of sex on a given day, it predicted a lower likelihood the following day. Moreover, despite the fact that sex co-occurring with (vs. occurring independent of) conflict was less enjoyable, it partially reduced the negative effects of conflict on both spouses’ daily relationship quality. The extent to which sex and conflict co-occurred was unassociated with intimates’ changes in marital satisfaction 6 months later. The implications of engaging in post-conflict sex are nuanced: although such sex is less enjoyable, it temporarily buffers relationship quality in that moment.


Concern for distressed others was seen early in the first year of life, long before previous theories assumed: Empathic concern was moderately consistent across both situation & age, from as early as 3‐months

Caring Babies: Concern for Others in Distress during Infancy. Maayan Davidov  Yael Paz  Ronit Roth‐Hanania  Florina Uzefovsky  Tal Orlitsky  David Mankuta  Carolyn Zahn‐Waxler. Developmental Science, July 10 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13016

Abstract: Concern for distressed others is a highly valued human capacity, but little is known about its early ontogeny. Theoretical accounts of empathy development have emphasized stages, but this has been called into question. This study sheds new light on four key issues: onset, consistency, development, and predictive power of early manifestations of concern for others. Three‐months‐old Israei infants (N=165) were followed longitudinally at ages 6, 12, and 18‐months, and their observed responses to others’ distress were assessed. Concern for distressed others was seen early in the first year of life, long before previous theories assumed. Empathic concern was moderately consistent across both situation and age, from as early as 3‐months. Concern for others grew only modestly with age, plateauing during the second year, whereas prosocial behavior increased rapidly during the second year. Early individual differences in concern for others predicted later prosocial behavior on behalf of distressed others. Findings underscore the early roots of caring, and appear to refute assumptions of prior stage theories of empathy development, by showing that concern for others develops much earlier and more gradually than previously assumed.



Perceptions of fake news prevalence, partisanship strength, and political interest were associated with a higher likelihood of providing a politicized and accusatory response about fake news

“Fake News is Anything They Say!” – Conceptualization and Weaponization of Fake News Among the American Public. Chau Tong, Hyungjin Gill,Jianing Li, Sebastián Valenzuela & Hernando Rojas. Mass Communication and Society, Jul 7 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2020.1789661

ABSTRACT: This study examines the articulation of public opinion about so-called fake news using a national survey (N = 510) of U.S. adults conducted in 2018. We coded respondents’ open-ended answers about what is “fake news” and found that while some respondents adopt a politically neutral, descriptive definition, others provided a partisan, accusatory answer. Specifically, the weaponization of fake news is evident in the way respondents use the term to blame adversarial political and media targets. Perceptions of fake news prevalence, partisanship strength, and political interest were associated with a higher likelihood of providing a politicized and accusatory response about fake news. Accusations were polarized as a function of partisan identity and positively correlated with affective polarization. Results are discussed in light of the linguistic distinction of the term and what it means in the context of news media distrust and polarization.

Keywords: Misinformation, fake news, partisanship, public opinion, trust in media, hostile media perceptions, hostile media effect, affective polarization