Saturday, July 17, 2021

Beauty Thesis: How Skin Tone and Beauty Rankings Interact in Labor Market Outcomes

Beauty Thesis: How Skin Tone and Beauty Rankings Interact in Labor Market Outcomes. Isabel Queen. Haverford College, Department of Economic. Thesis, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10066/23568

Abstract: This paper looks at the effects of beauty and skin tone on income using data from the General Social Survey. Beauty premiums and skin tone penalties exist and have a significant impact on labor market outcomes. More beautiful people make more money, and darker skin-toned people make less money. Black men show the largest beauty premium. This research suggests that the effect of looks on income becomes even greater as skin tone is darker. White respondents show a skin tone penalty for both males and females. Industry and service jobs show significant beauty premiums, and the service industry shows a skin tone penalty. This research suggests that grooming is more significant than looks in determining income in all groups except black men.


Aggression-related sexual fantasies are a frequent phenomenon even in the general population and among women and show strong associations with sexual aggression

Bondü R, Birke JB, Aggression-Related Sexual Fantasies: Prevalence Rates, Sex Differences, and Links With Personality, Attitudes, and Behavior. J Sex Med 2021;XX:XXX–XXX. Jul 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2021.06.006

Abstract

Background: Aggression-related sexual fantasies (ASF) are considered an important risk factor for sexual aggression, but empirical knowledge is limited, in part because previous research has been based on predominantly male, North-American college samples, and limited numbers of questions.

Aim: The present study aimed to foster the knowledge about the frequency and correlates of ASF, while including a large sample of women and a broad range of ASF.

Method: A convenience sample of N = 664 participants from Germany including 508 (77%) women and 156 (23%) men with a median age of 25 (21–27) years answered an online questionnaire. Participants were mainly recruited via social networks (online and in person) and were mainly students. We examined the frequencies of (aggression-related) sexual fantasies and their expected factor structure (factors reflecting affective, experimental, masochistic, and aggression-related contents) via exploratory factor analysis. We investigated potential correlates (eg, psychopathic traits, attitudes towards sexual fantasies) as predictors of ASF using multiple regression analyses. Finally, we examined whether ASF would positively predict sexual aggression beyond other pertinent risk factors using multiple regression analysis.

Outcomes: The participants rated the frequency of a broad set of 56 aggression-related and other sexual fantasies, attitudes towards sexual fantasies, the Big Five (ie, broad personality dimensions including neuroticism and extraversion), sexual aggression, and other risk factors for sexual aggression.

Results: All participants reported non-aggression-related sexual fantasies and 77% reported at least one ASF in their lives. Being male, frequent sexual fantasies, psychopathic traits, and negative attitudes towards sexual fantasies predicted more frequent ASF. ASF were the strongest predictor of sexual aggression beyond other risk factors, including general aggression, psychopathic traits, rape myth acceptance, and violent pornography consumption.

Clinical Translation: ASF may be an important risk factor for sexual aggression and should be more strongly considered in prevention and intervention efforts.

Strengths and Limitations: The strengths of the present study include using a large item pool and a large sample with a large proportion of women in order to examine ASF as a predictor of sexual aggression beyond important control variables. Its weaknesses include the reliance on cross-sectional data, that preclude causal inferences, and not continuously distinguishing between consensual and non-consensual acts.

Conclusion: ASF are a frequent phenomenon even in the general population and among women and show strong associations with sexual aggression. Thus, they require more attention by research on sexual aggression and its prevention.


Are people in bigger cities less ethical human beings? Evidence on urban living and moral values

Are people in bigger cities less ethical human beings? Evidence on urban living and moral values. Eric A. Morris, Deirdre Pfeiffer, John Gaber. Cities, Volume 117, October 2021, 103327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103327

Highlights

• Crime and disorder are higher in more urbanized places.

• Those in more urbanized places tend to be more tolerant of others.

• Those in more urbanized places are less likely to be religious.

• Those in more urbanized places are less likely to participate in charities.

• Those in more urbanized places place more emphasis on individualism and independence.

Abstract: How might rising urbanization be affecting ethical norms and beliefs? This paper uses new World Values Survey data from 40 countries to answer this question. We find that living in more populous places is associated with greater exposure to crime and neighborhood disorder, lower likelihood of membership in charitable organizations, and lower religiosity. Residents of more populous places are no more likely to approve of ethically questionable behavior surrounding violence or money but may be more permissive in terms of sexual behavior. Contrary to the stereotype, we find no link between city size and the perceived importance of family. When imparting values to children, those in more populous places emphasize personal responsibility, individualism, and determination more, and obedience and work less. Finally, residents of more populous places are more tolerant of groups such as gays, immigrants, and those of other nationalities and religions. In all, bigger city ethics are associated with greater independence and personal freedom, though this may be both a good thing (greater tolerance of differences) and a bad one (higher crime).

Keywords: UrbanismUrban/ruralEthicsCity sizeValuesDeveloping world


Conservatives report more positive attitudes toward viewpoint diversity in their communities; liberals report more positive attitudes toward demographic diversity

On the Varieties of Diversity: Ideological Variations in Attitudes Toward, and Understandings of Diversity. Kathryn A. Howard, Daniel Cervone, Matthew Motyl. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, July 16, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211028141

Abstract: Three studies explore the possibility that attitudes toward “diversity” are multidimensional rather than unidimensional and that ideological differences in diversity attitudes vary as a function of diversity subtype. Study 1 (n = 1,001) revealed that the factor structure of attitudes toward 23 diverse community features was bidimensional. Factors involving demographic and viewpoint diversity emerged. Conservatives reported more positive attitudes toward viewpoint diversity, and liberals more positive attitudes toward demographic diversity. Study 2 (n = 1,012) replicated Study 1 findings, and extended Study 1 results by showing attitudes toward the general concept of diversity predicted attitudes toward demographic diversity but not viewpoint diversity. In Study 3, 386 participants rated how relevant a set of features was to their prototypical understanding of diversity. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed people discriminate between viewpoint, demographic, and consumer diversity. Conservatives perceived viewpoint features as more relevant to “diversity,” whereas liberals perceived demographic features as more relevant.

Keywords: diversity, ideology, attitudes, prototypes, politics


Across 195 countries, rates of depressive disorders in women & men are higher among islanders (relative to mainlanders) at more northern locations in the Northern Hemisphere & at more southern locations in the South'n Hemisph

Who is more prone to depression at higher latitudes? Islanders or mainlanders? Van de Vliert, Evert; Rentfrow, Peter Jason. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2(1), [100012]. Jul 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100012

Abstract: Across 195 countries, rates of depressive disorders in women and men are higher among islanders (relative to mainlanders) at more northern locations in the Northern Hemisphere and at more southern locations in the Southern Hemisphere. Our explanatory analyses show that the three-way interaction of greater daylength variability, being more of an islander, and adopting a more individualistic culture accounts for higher rates of depression in both genders. Differences in longitude, photoperiod, phase shift, disaster risk, economic poverty, income inequality, and urbanization level do not appear to account for the oppositely sloping north-south gradients of depression above and below the equator.

6. Discussion

Nowhere in textbooks do we learn that the world’s mental depression rates have a north-south rather than east-west distribution. Nor are we informed about the existence of a U-curve distribution of depression between the north and south poles. The present results help fill these gaps in our knowledge, highlighting the remarkable fact that the equator-topole increases in depression in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are steeper for islanders than mainlanders. This tends to hold even for men, who have always had, and continue to have, lower rates of major depression than women in all countries on Earth (cf. Andrade et al., 2003; Mersch et al., 1999; Weissman et al., 1996). The two distinct generalizations—across hemispheres and genders—lend considerable credibility to the conclusion that islanders relative to mainlanders are more prone to depression at higher latitudes. This conclusion could be further strengthened by within-country replications. Biogeographers will not be surprised by this finding as they have known for a long time about the special relationships between islands and illnesses (Harcourt, 2012, 2015). They speak of island rules to describe and explain how plants, animals, and humans on islands differ biologically from plants, animals, and humans on the mainland. One such rule is that infectious diseases in humans have flatter latitudinal gradients across island locations with sea climates than across mainland locations with continental climates (Cashdan, 2014). The new island rule developed here can be summarized as steeper equator-to-pole increases in rates of depression among islanders than among mainlanders. While it is hard to come up with an explanation for this geography of depression, there are at least five reasons to believe in the existence of a worldwide ecology of depression modulated by habitat differences in daylength and islandness. First, in common with the variability in daylength—and thus in photoperiod, phase shift, seasonal temperatures, daily rainfall, plant growth, and animal life—rates of depression fail to vary along the Earth’s east-west axis, pointing to a latitude- rather than longituderelated explanation of depression. Second, among islanders, and especially so among individualistic female islanders, increases in daylength variability tend to go hand in hand with increases in rates of depression. Third, among mainlanders, and especially so among collectivistic mainlanders, increases in daylength variability tend to go hand in hand with decreases instead of increases in rates of depression. Fourth, photoperiod (Lingjaerde et al., 1986; Potkin et al., 1986; Young et al., 1997) and phase shift (Avery et al., 1997; Lewy et al., 1984; Rosenthal and Wehr, 1992) cannot account for the oppositely sloping latitudinal gradients of depression among islanders and mainlanders. Finally, people who live at higher latitudes or on islands and clear peninsulas tend to have more individualistic cultures that make them more prone to depression (cf. Draguns, 1997; Hofstede, 2001; TanakaMatsumi and Draguns, 1997). Our reading of this finding is that individualistic cultures serve as double-edged swords. Daylength variability and islandness regularly disturb life and activities so that control has to be restored by using internal agency and creating internal structure (Friesen et al., 2014; Kay and Eibach, 2013; Whitson and Galinsky, 2008). On the one hand, these active control-restoring strategies in individualistic cultures leave the large majority of higher-latitude inhabitants and islanders more creative and happier in consequence (cf. Van de Vliert and Van Lange, 2019). On the other hand, one might speculate that a small minority of higher-latitude inhabitants and islanders may passively fall back on adopting overly simple and stable interpretations of the ordered environment that are unrelated to the controlreducing events (e.g., believing society is systematically divided into haves and have-nots; Landau et al., 2015). Future research may seek to show that this minority tends to use maladaptive control-restoring strategies associated with depressive feelings of hopelessness and helplessness rather than elated feelings of happiness. These explanatory considerations should be read in the knowledge that the geography and ecology of depression cannot be convincingly studied in a controlled laboratory setting. Thus, cause and effect cannot be inferred, so that further investigations are needed to exclude rival explanations in terms of, for example, the greater exposure of higherlatitude inhabitants to insufficient ultraviolet radiation and cold stress. Mitigating this drawback is the almost axiomatic assumption that rates of depression in women and men cannot have caused widely different degrees of daylength variability and territorial water borders. Hence, there is a causal quality to our robust relationship: the only possible direction of impact is from daylength variability and islandness to depression. The same latitude-by-longitude design with nested islandness can be employed to explore the geography and ecology of, for example, treatment for depression (Smits and Huijts, 2015), control of neglected tropical diseases (Garchitorena et al., 2017), and disparities between islanders and mainlanders in healthy behaviors such as consumption of fruits/vegetables and abstinence of tobacco/alcohol use (Taylor et al., 2018). That causation cannot be firmly established is not the only shortcoming of the proposed explanation of islanders’ and mainlanders’ rates of depression at higher latitudes. Additionally, the proposed mediating mechanism of the maladaptive control-restoring strategy of adopting overly simple and stable interpretations of the ordered environment (Landau et al., 2015) was not measured and analyzed. Mitigating this weakness is the complicating fact that a viable alternative theory should explain why the higher rates of depression at higher latitudes hold for islanders more than for mainlanders (Fig. 1). No alternative theory that we know of does so. The potentially confounding effects of disaster risk, economic poverty, income inequality, and urbanization level have been ruled out. As a result, this article provides novel evidence that brings global geography and ecology together to better understand why some populations are more depressive than others. Given the importance of depression for healthy human functioning, this is no small gap to fill.


The human sleep pattern is paradoxical: Sleep is vital for optimal physical and cognitive performance, yet humans sleep the least of all primates; short, high-quality, and flexibly timed sleep likely originated as a response to predation risks

The Human Sleep Paradox: The Unexpected Sleeping Habits of Homo sapiens. David R. Samson. Annual Review of Anthropology  Volume 50, 2021, online on July 13, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-010220-075523

Abstract: The human sleep pattern is paradoxical. Sleep is vital for optimal physical and cognitive performance, yet humans sleep the least of all primates. In addition, consolidated and continuous monophasic sleep is evidently advantageous, yet emerging comparative data sets from small-scale societies show that the phasing of the human pattern of sleep–wake activity is highly variable and characterized by significant nighttime activity. To reconcile these phenomena, the social sleep hypothesis proposes that extant traits of human sleep emerged because of social and technological niche construction. Specifically, sleep sites function as a type of social shelter by way of an extended structure of social groups that increases fitness. Short, high-quality, and flexibly timed sleep likely originated as a response to predation risks while sleeping terrestrially. This practice may have been a necessary preadaptation for migration out of Africa and for survival in ecological niches that penetrate latitudes with the greatest seasonal variation in light and temperature on the planet.