Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Short-term mating orientation as a predictor of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior

Short-term mating orientation as a predictor of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior. Susanna V. Lopez et al. Journal of American College Health, Jul 9 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1947836

Abstract

Objectives: Sexual Strategies Theory suggests people fall on a continuum between having short-term mating orientation (STMO) and long-term mating orientation. One way STMO individuals signal mating goals is via risky drinking. The current study therefore aims to investigate drinks per week (DPW) as a mediator between STMO and risky sexual behavior (RSB), with gender as a moderator between STMO and DPW.

Participants: Undergraduate students (N = 300) from a Midwestern university during Fall 2019.

Method: Participants completed questionnaires assessing STMO, DPW, and RSB frequency.

Results: A moderated-mediation model indicated DPW significantly mediated the relationship between STMO and RSB. Positive associations were found among all three variables. Gender was not a moderator between STMO and DPW.

Conclusions: Mating orientation was a correlate of alcohol use and RSB for women and men, contributing to the literature identifying STMO as an indicator of those in need of substance use and RSB intervention.

Keywords: Alcoholcollege studentsmating strategiesrisky sexual behavior


Understanding woman’s interest in sexual activity beyond a narrow window during which sex can lead to conception: The dual sexuality framework

Understanding Women's Estrus and Extended Sexuality: The Dual Sexuality Framework. Steven W Gangestad et al. In book: D. M. Buss and P. Durkee (Eds.), Handbook of Human Mating, Oxford University Press. July 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352916307

We humans share many homologies with our fellow mammals, such as a single heart, warm-bloodedness, and mammary glands. We have also evolved a host of distinctly human features, such as unusually large brains relative to body size, a developmentally late transition to a reproductive state, bipedalism, and substantial levels of paternal care and provisioning. Unusual features within the hominin lineage are signatures of the niche that humans evolved to occupy, distinguishing us from close relatives. These features demand our attention as we aspire to understand what it means to be human (e.g., Kaplan et al., 2000; Tooby & DeVore, 1987). One such feature is the extension of a woman’s interest in sexual activity beyond a narrow window during which sex can lead to conception, to which female sexual interest is typically limited in spontaneously-ovulating mammals (e.g., Nelson, 2000; Symons, 1979; Alexander & Noonan, 1979).

Women are sexually active across the reproductive cycle, but not necessarily sexually responsive to precisely the same stimuli and contexts across the cycle. In this chapter, we lay out the dual sexuality framework for understanding women’s sexuality. This framework proposes that women’s sexuality during phases of the cycle when conception is possible differs from their sexuality during phases when conception is not possible. This perspective puts theoretical constraints on the ways that conceptive and non-conceptive sexuality can be understood. Within these constraints, multiple, contrasting psychological designs are possible. Research that can adjudicate between alternative possible psychological designs promises to hone our understanding of human mating in ways that extend far beyond the domain of women’s phase-specific sexuality.


Individuals exhibiting higher levels of Narcissism are not only less knowledgeable but also more interested in politics and more likely to participate when given the opportunity

From 2020... The Dark Side of Politics: Participation and the Dark Triad. Philip Chen, Scott Pruysers, Julie Blais. Political Studies, April 28, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720911566

Abstract: Personality traits are one piece in the larger puzzle of political participation, but most studies focus on the Five-Factor Model of personality. We argue that the normative implications of the influence of personality on politics are increased when the personality traits being studied correlate with negative social behaviors. We investigate the role of the Dark Triad on political participation as mediated through political beliefs such as interest and knowledge. We find that Psychopathy and Narcissism are positively associated with political interest, but Narcissism is also negatively associated with political knowledge. In addition, both Psychopathy and Narcissism exert a direct, positive influence on participation. Our results imply that individuals exhibiting higher levels of Narcissism are not only less knowledgeable but also more interested in politics and more likely to participate when given the opportunity.

Keywords: personality, political behavior, participation


Why some hesitate more: Cross-cultural variation in vaccine hesitancy, vaccine trust, and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates are mainly driven by differences in the prevalence of conspiratorial thinking across countries

Why some hesitate more: Cross-cultural variation in conspiracy beliefs, belief in science, and vaccine attitudes. Gul Deniz Salali,  Mete Sefa Uysal. Jul 2021. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.09.21260228

Abstract

Background Countries differ in their levels of vaccine hesitancy (a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines), trust in vaccines, and acceptance of new vaccines. In this paper, we examine the factors contributing to the cross-cultural variation in vaccine attitudes, measured by levels of 1) general vaccine hesitancy, 2) trust in vaccines, and 3) COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.

Methods We examined the relative effect of conspiracy mentality, belief in COVID-19 conspiracies, and belief in science on the above-mentioned vaccine attitudes in the UK (n= 1533), US (n= 1550), and Turkey (n= 1567) through a quota-sampled online survey to match the population for age, gender, ethnicity, and education level. 

Results We found that belief in COVID-19 conspiracies and conspiracy mentality were the strongest predictors of general vaccine hesitancy across all three countries. Belief in science had the largest positive effect on general vaccine trust and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Although participants in Turkey demonstrated the lowest level of vaccine trust, their belief in science score was significantly higher than participants in the US, suggesting that belief in science cannot explain the cross-cultural variation in vaccine trust. The mean levels of conspiracy mentality and agreement with COVID-19 conspiracies were consistent with the country-level differences in general and COVID-19 vaccine attitudes. Demographic variables did not predict vaccine attitudes as much as belief in conspiracies and science.

Conclusions Our findings suggest that cross-cultural variation in vaccine hesitancy, vaccine trust, and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates are mainly driven by differences in the prevalence of conspiratorial thinking across countries.


Native German women do not help immigrant Muslim women with a lemon bag that teared if they perceive the holder to favor sex inequality

Donghyun Danny Choi et al, The Hijab Penalty: Feminist Backlash to Muslim Immigrants. American Journal of Political Science, Jul 8 2021. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajps.12627

Abstract: Why do native Europeans discriminate against Muslim immigrants? Can shared ideas between natives and immigrants reduce discrimination? We hypothesize that natives' bias against Muslim immigrants is shaped by the belief that Muslims hold conservative attitudes about women's rights and this ideational basis for discrimination is more pronounced among native women. We test this hypothesis in a large-scale field experiment conducted in 25 cities across Germany, during which 3,797 unknowing bystanders were exposed to brief social encounters with confederates who revealed their ideas regarding gender roles. We find significant discrimination against Muslim women, but this discrimination is eliminated when Muslim women signal that they hold progressive gender attitudes. Through an implicit association test and a follow-up survey among German adults, we further confirm the centrality of ideational stereotypes in structuring opposition to Muslims. Our findings have important implications for reducing conflict between native–immigrant communities in an era of increased cross-border migration.

Popular version (extracts): https://phys.org/news/2021-07-hijab-effect-feminist-backlash-muslim.html

The intervention went like this: A woman involved in the study approached a bench at a train station where bystanders waited and drew their attention by asking them if they knew if she could buy tickets on the train.

She then received a phone call and audibly conversed with the caller in German regarding her sister, who was considering whether to take a job or stay at home and take care of her husband and her kids. The scripted conversation revealed the woman's position on whether her sister has the right to work or a duty to stay at home to care for the family.

At the end of the phone call, a bag she was holding seemingly tears, making her drop a bunch of lemons, which scatter on the platform and she appeared to need help gathering them.

In the final step, team members who were not a part of the intervention observed and recorded whether each bystander who was within earshot of the phone call helped the women collect the lemons.

They experimentally varied the identity of the woman, who was sometimes a native German or an immigrant from the Middle East; and the immigrant sometimes wore a hijab to signal her Muslim identity and sometimes not.

They found that men were not very receptive to different messages regarding the woman's attitude toward gender equality, but German women were. Among German women, anti-Muslim discrimination was eliminated when the immigrant woman signaled that she held progressive views vis-à-vis women's rights. Men continued to discriminate in both the regressive and progressive conditions of the experiment.

It was a surprise that the experimental treatment did not seem to make a big difference in the behavior of men towards Muslim women.

"Women were very receptive to this message that we had about Muslims sharing progressive beliefs about women's rights, but men were indifferent to it," says Sambanis. "We expected that there would be a difference, and that the effect of the treatment would be larger among women, but we did not expect that it would be basically zero for men."

[...]

The results are surprising from the perspective of the prior literature, which assumed that it is very hard for people to overcome barriers created by race, religion, and ethnicity. At the same time, this experiment speaks to the limits of multiculturalism, says Sambanis. "Our work shows that differences in ethnic, racial, or linguistic traits can be overcome, but citizens will resist abandoning longstanding norms and ideas that define their identities in favor of a liberal accommodation of the values of others," he says.