Current alcohol use is associated cross-sectionally with a favorable multisystem physiologic score known to be associated with better long-term health outcomes

Compared to non-drinkers, individuals who drink alcohol have a more favorable multisystem physiologic risk score as measured by allostatic load. Deena Goldwater, Arun Karlamangla, Sharon Stein Merkin, Teresa Seeman . PLOS September 30, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223168

Abstract
Aims: Alcohol use is associated with both positive and negative effects on individual cardiovascular risk factors, depending upon which risk factor is assessed. The present analysis uses a summative multisystem index of biologic risk, known as allostatic load (AL), to evaluate whether the overall balance of alcohol-associated positive and negative cardiovascular risk factors may be favorable or unfavorable.

Methods: This analysis included 1255 adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) biomarker substudy. Participants, average age 54.5 (±11) years, were divided into 6 alcohol-use categories based on self-reported drinking habits. Current non-drinkers were classified as lifelong abstainers and former light drinkers, former moderate drinkers, or former heavy drinkers. Current alcohol users were classified as light, moderate, or heavy drinkers. A total AL score was calculated using 24 biomarkers grouped into 7 physiologic systems including cardiovascular, inflammation, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Mixed-effects regression models were fit to determine the relationship between alcohol use categories and AL with controls for covariates that may influence the relationship between alcohol use and AL.

Results: 468 (37.6%) individuals were current non-drinkers while 776 (62.4%) were current drinkers. In adjusted mixed-effects regression models, all 3 groups of current drinkers had significantly lower average AL scores than the lifelong abstainer/former light drinker group (light: -0.23, 95% CI -0.40, -0.07, p < 0.01; moderate: -0.20, 95% CI -0.38, -0.02, p < 0.05; heavy: -0.30, 95% CI -0.57, -0.04, p < 0.05), while the average AL scores of former moderate and former heavy drinkers did not differ from the lifelong abstainer/former light drinker group.

Conclusions: Current alcohol use is associated cross-sectionally with a favorable multisystem physiologic score known to be associated with better long-term health outcomes, providing evidence in support of long-term health benefits related to alcohol consumption.

Domestic cats are spontaneously attracted by a well-known motion illusion, the Rotating Snake (RS) illusion; big cats in zoos seem also interested in motion illusions

Motion Illusions as Environmental Enrichment for Zoo Animals: A Preliminary Investigation on Lions (Panthera leo). Barbara Regaiolli et al. Front. Psychol., 04 October 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02220

Abstract: Investigating perceptual and cognitive abilities of zoo animals might help to improve their husbandry and enrich their daily life with new stimuli. Developing new environmental enrichment programs and devices is hence necessary to promote species-specific behaviors that need to be maintained in controlled environments. As far as we are aware, no study has ever tested the potential benefits of motion illusions as visual enrichment for zoo animals. Starting from a recent study showing that domestic cats are spontaneously attracted by a well-known motion illusion, the Rotating Snake (RS) illusion, we studied whether this illusion could be used as a visual enrichment for big cats. We observed the spontaneous behavior of three lionesses when three different visual stimuli were placed in their environment: the RS illusion and two control stimuli. The study involved two different periods: the baseline and the RS period, in which the visual stimuli were provided to the lionesses. To assess whether the lionesses were specifically attracted by the RS illusion, we collected data on the number of interactions with the stimuli, as well as on the total time spent interacting with them. To investigate the effect of the illusion on the animals’ welfare, individual and social behaviors were studied, and compared between the two periods. The results showed that two lionesses out of three interacted more with the RS stimulus than with the two control stimuli. The fact that the lionesses seemed to be more inclined to interact with the RS stimulus indirectly suggests the intriguing possibility that they were attracted by the illusory motion. Moreover, behavioral changes between the two periods were reported for one of the lionesses, highlighting a reduction in self-directed behaviors and an increase in attentive behaviors, and suggesting positive welfare implications. Thus, behavioral observations made before and during the presentation of the stimuli showed that our visual enrichment actually provided positive effects in lionesses. These results call for the development of future studies on the use of visual illusions in the enrichment programs of zoo animals.

Patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (necessary for normal emotion) allocate more lenient third-party punishment to criminals who commit emotionally-evocative, violent crimes

Soft on crime: Patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage allocate reduced third-party punishment to violent criminals. Erik W. Asp et al. Cortex, Volume 119, October 2019, Pages 33-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.03.024

Abstract: The human impulse to punish those who have unjustly harmed others (i.e., third-party punishment) is critical for stable, cooperative societies. Punishment selection is influenced by both harm outcome and the intent of the moral agent (i.e., the offender's knowledge of wrongdoing and desire that the prohibited consequence occur). We allocate severe punishments to those who commit violent crimes and milder punishments to those who commit non-violent crimes; and we allocate severe punishments to criminals who have malicious intent and milder punishments to criminals who lack malicious intent. Prior research has indicated that aversive, emotional responses of third-party judges may influence punishment allocation, as increased negative emotion correlates with more punitive punishments. Here, we show that patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC; a region necessary for the normal generation of emotion), compared to other neurological patients and healthy adult participants, allocate more lenient third-party punishment to criminals who commit emotionally-evocative, violent crimes. By contrast, patients with vmPFC damage did not differ from comparison participants on punishment allocation for non-emotional, non-violent crimes. These results demonstrate the necessity of the vmPFC for the integration of emotion into third-party punishment decisions, and indicate that negative emotion influences third-party punishment allocation particularly for scenarios involving physical harm to another.

Keywords: Moral judgmentPrefrontal cortexHarmThird-party punishmentSocial cognition

We identified the “walkability” of a city, how easy it is to get things done without a car, as a key factor in determining the upward social mobility of its residents

Oishi, S., Koo, M., & Buttrick, N. R. (2019). The socioecological psychology of upward social mobility. American Psychologist, Oct 2019, 74(7), 751-763. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000422

Abstract: Intergenerational upward economic mobility—the opportunity for children from poorer households to pull themselves up the economic ladder in adulthood—is a hallmark of a just society. In the United States, there are large regional differences in upward social mobility. The present research examined why it is easier to get ahead in some cities and harder in others. We identified the “walkability” of a city, how easy it is to get things done without a car, as a key factor in determining the upward social mobility of its residents. We 1st identified the relationship between walkability and upward mobility using tax data from approximately 10 million Americans born between 1980 and 1982. We found that this relationship is linked to both economic and psychological factors. Using data from the American Community Survey from over 3.66 million Americans, we showed that residents of walkable cities are less reliant on car ownership for employment and wages, significantly reducing 1 barrier to upward mobility. Additionally, in 2 studies, including 1 preregistered study (1,827 Americans; 1,466 Koreans), we found that people living in more walkable neighborhoods felt a greater sense of belonging to their communities, which is associated with actual changes in individual social class.

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Chetty et al. (2014) proposed five factors to explain these regional differences: the area’s racial makeup, the level of income inequality, the quality of the K–12 school system, the strength of social capital (measured by voter turnout, the percentage of people who returned their census forms, and various measures of community participation), and the percentage of children living in homes with single parents. These five factors account for a substantial amount of regional variations in upward mobility.

In this article, we identify a new predictor of economic mobility: the way in which cities are organized. We propose that the walkability of one’s area is an important predictor of intergenerational upward mobility. We define walkability as how easily people can live their lives on foot or using public transportation—in highly walkable areas, people can go to work, for example, or to their local grocery store without needing a car. In contrast, in less walkable areas, cars are needed for practically every task. In urban planning, geography, and transportation research, walkability is typically measured by physical characteristics such as intersection density and street connectivity, as well as land use (e.g., mixed residential and commercial use) and dwelling density (see Frank et al., 2006). Walkability is associated with urban vibrancy and recreational opportunities (Forsyth, 2015), and walkable cities tend to have better public transportation than do less walkable cities.

Limitations and Future Directions

We would like to point out several limitations of the current research. The primary limitation is a function of our analytical approach: Because the current analyses are based on correlational data, there is the possibility that unmeasured third variables account for the link between walkability and upward mobility, and thus we cannot make causal claims. In a similar vein, we cannot conclusively demonstrate chains of causality. In Study 3, for example, though we did not find any evidence for the mediational role of upward social mobility in explaining links between walkability and a sense of belonging, it is possible that both walkability and upward social mobility induce a sense of belonging, and our findings could be driven by this alternative specification. Because we could not manipulate either walkability or a sense of belonging, we could not fully disambiguate these two accounts. In Studies 2-4, there is a possibility of selection bias in that people who like to walk chose to live in walkable cities or neighborhoods and vice versa. Study 1 does not have this problem, because children are unlikely to be able to choose where to live during their childhood. In Study 1, the city in which the participants grew up, although not randomly assigned, is not an endogenous variable, and the selection bias in Study 1 is not a major concern. Nevertheless, it is important to explore whether there is a causal effect of living in a walkable city in the future.

Second, our analyses treat walkability and access to public transportation as interchangeable. Although they are strongly correlated, it is likely that each has its own separate impact on upward mobility. For instance, Lachapelle, Frank, Saelens, Sallis, and Conway (2011) found that even within equally walkable neighborhoods, individuals who used public transportation to commute had more moderateintensity physical activity than did those who drove (see also Saelens, Vernez Moudon, Kang, Hurvitz, & Zhou, 2014). The availability and use of public transportation thus could have an independent effect on an individual’s upward social mobility. As measures of public transit availability become more comprehensive (as of now, there are far more cities with Walk Scores than Public Transit scores available at www.walkscore.com), future work disentangling the two factors will be important for guiding policy recommendations.

Third, Studies 3 and 4 relied on self-reported walkability, whereas other researchers interested in walkability have used more objective measures based on geographic information systems (Todd et al., 2016). As Studies 3 and 4 found, it is related to self-reported frequency of walking. However, because walkability is a multidimensional construct—ranging from purely physical aspects such as intersection density and connectivity to the presence of sidewalks; to proximity to restaurants, banks, and other amenities; to recreational opportunities (Forsyth, 2015)— different aspects of walkability may affect different paths to upward social mobility. In addition to the hardscape (built environment) and accessibility of amenities that is captured in the Walk Score measure used in Studies 1 and 2 and that may have a more direct effect on the link between car ownership and employment, the softscape of a neighborhood,  such as its green spaces and lighting, also affect perceptions of an area’s walkability (Hajna, Dasgupta, Halparin, & Ross, 2013) and may have a more direct effect on a sense of belonging. Our current analyses, based as they are on either the hardscape-limited Walk Score or global individual perceptions of walkability, cannot disentangle all these distinct aspects of walkability, and future studies with more focused definitions of walkability, or which manipulate perceptions of walkability even without changing the hardscape, will be useful, especially when it comes to policy recommendations.

Fourth, whereas we found a robust association between walkability and upward social mobility in the city-level analyses of Study 1, we did not observe the direct association in the individual-level analyses of Studies 3 and 4. It may be that walkability is an emergent property most clearly visible at the level of aggregate, not at the level of each individual. This seeming paradox can be illustrated with a reference to epidemiology. Studies clearly indicate, for example, a strong association between air quality and prevalence of lung cancer when examined at the level of a city or county (e.g., Hemminki & Pershagen, 1994), yet when examined at the level of individuals, the association is null or nonsignificant (e.g., Beelen et al., 2008). This is in part because lung cancer is rare. When examined at the level of a city, cancer prevalence could range from 0% to even more than 10%, with gradation in each level. When observed at the level of individuals, however, most of them do not have cancer, and therefore the effect of air quality is hard to discern. Similarly, the rate of lower SES children’s moving up the economic ladder ranges from 5%–13% between cities, and so when examined at the level of individuals, those who moved up the ladder in adulthood are small in number.

Finally, in an effort to test generalizability, we conducted Study 4 in South Korea. Although we assumed that a sense of belonging would be measured more or less equivalently between the United States and Korea, this assumption must be tested rigorously in the future using sophisticated techniques such as item response theory (e.g., Reise, Widaman, & Pugh, 1993).

Societal progress is often measured by whether the life of the current generation has gotten better than that of the previous generations, with intergenerational upward economic mobility as a critical indicator of the fairness of a society. We found that the walkability of a city is an important predictor of upward social mobility and that this might be due in part to the fact that in walkable cities residents can get access to employment without owning a car and due in part to more walking and a greater sense of belonging, which we showed have real-world relationships with individual upward mobility. We found walking effects (but not perceived walkability effects) cross-nationally and cross-culturally, both in the individualistic United States and in the more collectivist Korea, implying that the link between walking, sense of belonging, and upward social mobility may be widespread and robust. It is not easy to add sidewalks or make public roads more walkable by adding more intersections and crossings. Adding additional bus lines or putting in new train lines is also not cheap (Duany, Plater-Zyberk, & Speck, 2000; Speck, 2012). However, these might be wise societal investments if, as our results suggest, they may help rebuild the fading American dream.

Evolutionary Origins of Morality: The element of prosocial concern most likely evolved in the context of shared infant care, which can be found in humans and some New World monkeys

Evolutionary Origins of Morality: Insights From Non-human Primates. Judith M. Burkart, Rahel K. Brügger and Carel P. van Schaik. Front. Sociol., July 9 2018. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2018.00017

The aim of this contribution is to explore the origins of moral behavior and its underlying moral preferences and intuitions from an evolutionary perspective. Such a perspective encompasses both the ultimate, adaptive function of morality in our own species, as well as the phylogenetic distribution of morality and its key elements across primates. First, with regard to the ultimate function, we argue that human moral preferences are best construed as adaptations to the affordances of the fundamentally interdependent hunter-gatherer lifestyle of our hominin ancestors. Second, with regard to the phylogenetic origin, we show that even though full-blown human morality is unique to humans, several of its key elements are not. Furthermore, a review of evidence from non-human primates regarding prosocial concern, conformity, and the potential presence of universal, biologically anchored and arbitrary cultural norms shows that these elements of morality are not distributed evenly across primate species. This suggests that they have evolved along separate evolutionary trajectories. In particular, the element of prosocial concern most likely evolved in the context of shared infant care, which can be found in humans and some New World monkeys. Strikingly, many if not all of the elements of morality found in non-human primates are only evident in individualistic or dyadic contexts, but not as third-party reactions by truly uninvolved bystanders. We discuss several potential explanations for the unique presence of a systematic third-party perspective in humans, but focus particularly on mentalizing ability and language. Whereas both play an important role in present day, full-blown human morality, it appears unlikely that they played a causal role for the original emergence of morality. Rather, we suggest that the most plausible scenario to date is that human morality emerged because our hominin ancestors, equipped on the one hand with large and powerful brains inherited from their ape-like ancestor, and on the other hand with strong prosocial concern as a result of cooperative breeding, could evolve into an ever more interdependent social niche.

Introduction

Contemplation of law as a natural social phenomenon quickly reveals that it cannot be reduced to purely rational processes and explicit reasoning. It is fundamentally built on (albeit not identical with) our sense for morality, the propensity to differentiate actions, decisions, and intentions between those that are proper and right and those that are improper or wrong (Long and Sedley, 1987). This evaluation can be the result of deliberation, but also of automatic proximate mechanisms such as intuitions that are expressed by a variety of moral emotions, motivations, and preferences which often have a high-urgency feel (Weaver et al., 2014).

Social scientists have traditionally considered morality as a recent, purely cultural innovation, seemingly necessary to keep our otherwise brutish nature under control (e.g., reviewed in Long and Sedley, 1987; de Waal, 2006; Haidt, 2013). In support of this conjecture, what is considered moral in a given culture or society, or what the corresponding systems of laws prescribe, can indeed be quite variable. However, despite this variability in the content of what counts as moral among cultures, there are also elements that seem universal, both with regard to the proximate mechanisms that regulate moral behavior and the content of moral norms. For instance, Barrett et al. (2016) found that across societies, including small-scale societies, humans take an agent's reason for action into account for moral judgments, but they also found independent variation when looking at specific contents, e.g., harm vs. theft, or in how the content influences the role of intentionality. Furthermore, even if conformist transmission could in principle stabilize a variety of behaviors and norms (Chudek and Henrich, 2011), there appears strong canalization in that some kinds of content (such as for instance not to harm others, or engage in parental investment) are more readily considered moral than others (van Schaik, 2016).

Ubiquitous key elements of human morality discussed in this paper are prosocial concern and conformity, as well as the moral contents of doing good, not harming others, and avoiding inequity and incest (van Schaik, 2016). Importantly, these elements are not only expressed when the individual is personally involved, i.e., in individualistic or dyadic contexts, but also in the absence of personal involvement, i.e., in third-party contexts. For instance, moral behavior not only includes the urge to conform to the rules and norms of one's own community, but also evokes strong feelings that others ought to do so as well. The universal presence of these elements of morality across human societies suggests there is an evolved core to morality, which should therefore be amenable to a functional and comparative evolutionary analysis sensu Tinbergen (Tinbergen, 1963; Bateson and Laland, 2013).

Such an evolutionary analysis claims that whenever universal, proximate mechanisms have evolved, they must have done so to fulfill a specific adaptive function. In the first section of this contribution we will argue that the adaptive function of our evolved morality was to enable the highly interdependent life-style of Pleistocene hunter-gathers.

An evolutionary analysis of human morality also includes the examination of its phylogenetic origin, to which we will turn in the second section. Whereas full-blown human morality, which includes explicit moral reasoning and evaluation, may well be unique to humans, some of its elements or building blocks are not, and we can use data from non-human primates to trace the evolutionary history of each of them separately. An obvious first, and very popular, step is to look at the great apes, and in particular the chimpanzees and bonobos (e.g., de Waal, 2006), to investigate the possible presence of a specific building block in our closest relatives. However, a broader and more informative comparative approach consists in mapping the presence or absence of each of these building blocks or traits in a broader set of species, to then test which factor best predicts this pattern of distribution (MacLean, 2016). If the specific case of humans fits such an identified pattern, this allows us to identify the evolutionary context of the emergence of this trait. This approach thus ideally allows not only to identify that a trait is or is not unique to humans, but also why it is present in a given set of species, including humans.

Beauty is an emergent property: The Neural Selection and the Emergence of ‘beauty Canons’ as Signaling Codes in Co-evolving Species

Formenti, Alessandro. 2019. “The Neural Selection and the Emergence of ‘beauty Canons’ as Signaling Codes in Co-evolving Species.” PsyArXiv. September 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/bdj3p

Abstract
Widespread opinion wants beauty to be pleasant and aimless, this assumption biased Darwin's explanation of sexual selection. Conversely, Wallace hypothesized that showy and symmetric sexual traits correlate with vigor and health and he placed ‘aesthetic’ preferences within the natural selection. The controversy has continued until today.
To understand the role of beauty canons in communication, the focus was on the flower-pollinator cooperative system as a model, were flower evolution embodies the natural history of pollinators' preferences.
Optimum for a signal requires energy efficiency, high signal-to-noise ratio, and intelligibility. It involves pollinator perception mechanisms that, in turn, induce co-evolutionary feedback on signal traits. In fact, the flowers physical and hedonic properties correlate with the basic perceptual, motivational, emotional, and learning mechanisms of pollinators.
It is proposed that pollinator behavior, unmasking a preference, reveals the ability to evaluate an expected benefit. Features such as a relative simplicity, redundancy, and regularity of stimuli facilitate perception and memorization and are essential elements for communication between co-evolving species. They improve signaling to satisfy the need for easy and fast recognition. With these properties, a stimulus is adaptive and rewarding per se and may be an ideal conditioned stimulus in associative learning.
Among the most conspicuous signals, pollinators learn to recognize and choose those associated with nectar, thus favoring the evolution of flowers that are not only ‘beautiful’ but also ‘honest’ in reporting a reward. Beauty is an emergent property, and studying communication and perception we may understand the origin of some beauty canons.

Some healthy males do not mate when they have access to a sexually receptive female; these non-copulating individuals have been reported in murine, cricetid and ungulates; in humans this is denominated asexuality

Motivational Drive in Non-copulating and Socially Monogamous Mammals. Wendy Portillo and Raúl G. Paredes. Front. Behav. Neurosci., Oct 4 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00238

Abstract: Motivational drives guide behaviors in animals of different species, including humans. Some of these motivations, like looking for food and water, are crucial for the survival of the individual and hence for the preservation of the species. But there is at least another motivation that is also important for the survival of the species but not for the survival of the individual. Undoubtedly, sexual motivation is important for individuals to find a mate and reproduce, thus ensuring the survival of the species. In species with sexual reproduction, when males find a female in the appropriate hormonal conditions, they will display sexual behavior. However, some healthy males do not mate when they have access to a sexually receptive female, even though they are repeatedly tested. These non-copulating (NC) individuals have been reported in murine, cricetid and ungulates. In humans this sexual orientation is denominated asexuality. Asexual individuals are physically and emotionally healthy men and women without desire for sexual intercourse. Different species have developed a variety of strategies to find a mate and reproduce. Most species of mammals are polygamous; they mate with one or several partners at the same time, as occur in rats, or they can reproduce with different conspecifics throughout their life span. There are also monogamous species that only mate with one partner. One of the most studied socially monogamous species is the Prairie vole. In this species mating or cohabitation for long periods induces the formation of a long-lasting pair bond. Both males and females share the nest, show a preference for their sexual partner, display aggression to other males and females and display parental behavior towards their pups. This broad spectrum of reproductive strategies demonstrates the biological variability of sexual motivation and points out the importance of understanding the neurobiological basis of sexual motivational drives in different species.

Introduction

Mammals display several reproductive strategies that can be influenced by population density, group size, distribution, home range size, abundance of food and resources. In mammals, the most common mating strategy is polygamy with the polygyny (one male more than one female) and polyandry (one female, more than one male, rare or inexistent in no human species) as subtypes. In polygamy, there is no sexual exclusivity and reproductive success is maximized through multiple mating partners (Kleiman, 1977). Social monogamy is a reproductive strategy in species in which resources are evenly distributed but sparse, females can disperse and have large home ranges, and males are not able to defend the access to more than one female. Also, a low density of females and food can favor monogamy. Monogamy is also present when successful rearing of offspring requires paternal and maternal care. Males help carry the litter, provide food for them and the mother when this resource is energetically costly to obtain, and the litter size is larger (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1978). Socially monogamous males and females after mating establish a pair bond that can last more than one reproductive cycle. However, in monogamous species some males and females do not form this pair bond and only mate opportunistically.

Interestingly, there are males and females in polygamous and socially monogamous species that do not mate even if they have the opportunity. In humans, around 1% of healthy men and women are not interested in engaging in sexual activity and are denominated as asexual. However, asexual individuals are interested in other motivational aspects of sexuality such as romantic relationships (Bogaert, 2004; Prause and Graham, 2007; Brotto and Yule, 2017; Jones et al., 2017). The biological bases of asexuality in humans are not well understood due to their complexity and ethical issues. However, the physiological bases of asexuality have been studied in murine, cricetid and ungulates, where some males do not mate even if they are tested with several sexually receptive females. In this manuscript, we will briefly outline different motivational strategies associated with reproduction in mammals and then we will describe in more detail the possible neurobiological factors associated with non-copulating (NC) males and the socially monogamous prairie vole.

In most mammals, sexual behavior consists of stereotyped movements usually organized in predictable patterns that are similar between individuals, but which vary between species. The specific patterns displayed by males and females reflect the motivational or consummatory aspects of sexual behavior. The comparative analysis between species showing different mating strategies including monogamy, polygamy and the case of asexuality could help us understand the biological variability of sexual motivational drives in mammals.

People Represent Mental States in Terms of Rationality, Social Impact, and Valence: Validating the 3d Mind Model

Thornton, Mark A., and Diana Tamir. 2019. “People Represent Mental States in Terms of Rationality, Social Impact, and Valence: Validating the 3d Mind Model.” PsyArXiv. June 24. doi:10.31234/osf.io/akhpq

Abstract: Humans can experience a wide variety of different thoughts and feelings in the course of everyday life. To successfully navigate the social world, people need to perceive, understand, and predict others’ mental states. Previous research suggests that people use three dimensions to represent mental states: rationality, social impact, and valence. This 3d Mind Model allows people to efficiently “see” the state of another person’s mind by considering whether that state is rational or emotional, more or less socially impactful, and positive or negative. In the current investigation, we validate this model using neural, behavioral, and linguistic evidence. First, we examine the robustness of the 3d Mind Model by conducting a mega-analysis of four fMRI studies in which participants considered others’ mental states. We find evidence that rationality, social impact, and valence each contribute to explaining the neural representation of mental states. Second, we test whether the 3d Mind Model offers the optimal combination of dimensions for describing neural representations of mental state. Results reveal that the 3d Mind Model achieve the best performance among a large set of candidate dimensions. Indeed, it offers a highly explanatory account of mental state representation, explaining over 80% of reliable neural variance. Finally, we demonstrate that all three dimensions of the model likewise capture convergent behavioral and linguistic measures of mental state representation. Together, these findings provide strong support for the 3d Mind Model, indicating that is it is a robust and generalizable account of how people think about mental states.

Social media dreams were quite rare (2pct of all remembered dreams); their frequency correlated with neuroticism and extraversion

Social Media, Dreaming, and Personality: An Online Study. Michael Schredl and Anja S. Göritz. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Oct 3 2019. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0385

Abstract: Social media consumption plays an important role in everyday life and, thus, one would expect that this topic is reflected in dreams. This online survey included 1,349 participants (763 women, 586 men) completing questions about social media use in waking, percentage of social media dreams, and the Big Five personality dimensions. Social media dreams were quite rare (two percent of all remembered dreams), but their frequency correlated with neuroticism and extraversion—in addition to the amount of time using social media in waking—supporting the hypothesis that social media have a stronger effect on those person's inner life due to the higher importance attached to this channel of communication. For future research it would be of interest to elicit emotions related to social media in waking and the emotional tones of social media dreams to study whether positive and/or negative aspects of waking-life social media use are directly reflected in dreams.

Job referrals: Women tend to favor women when choosing a candidate, & men do not attach much importance to the gender; gendered networks alone fail to explain the observed gender homophily in referred-referrer pairs

Gender Bias in Job Referrals: An Experimental Test. Julie Beugnot, Emmanuel Peterlé. Journal of Economic Psychology, October 4 2019, 102209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2019.102209

Highlights
•    Gender homophily in job referral choices is largely observed in the field.
•    We test whether an implicit same-gender bias exists in job referrals.
•    We run a lab experiment to control social network and work environments.
•    Only women tend to favor same-gender candidates when making referrals.
•    We identify an implicit same-gender bias in the cooperative environment only.

Abstract: Employee referral programs, while efficient for the employer, have been shown to amplify sex-based occupational segregation in labor markets because of the tendency of workers to refer people of the same gender. We implement a controlled laboratory experiment that precludes any concern for network composition or reputation effects in referral choice. In this way, our experimental design allows us to disentangle statistical discrimination, preferences, and implicit same-gender bias. Our data suggest that women tend to favor women when choosing a candidate, whereas men do not attach much importance to the gender of potential candidates. We deduce from our various treatments that same-gender referrals are mainly driven by preferences in competitive environments and implicit same-gender bias in cooperative environments. Our findings add to the existing literature by highlighting that gendered networks alone fail to explain the observed gender homophily in referred-referrer pairs.

Impression formation on online dating sites: Effects of language errors in profile texts on perceptions of profile owners’ attractiveness

Impression formation on online dating sites: Effects of language errors in profile texts on perceptions of profile owners’ attractiveness. Tess Van der Zanden et al. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, October 3, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519878787

Abstract: This article presents two experimental studies investigating the impact of language errors in online dating profiles on impression formation. A first study examined whether language errors have a negative effect on perceptions of attraction and dating intention and whether this effect is moderated by the presence of visual information, that is, the profile picture. This 2 (Language Errors/No Language Errors) × 2 (Visible/Blurred Picture) experiment revealed that language errors negatively affect perceptions of social and romantic attraction and that a visible picture on a profile positively affects perceptions of physical attraction. Study 2 focused on mechanical, rule-based, and informal language errors, which can each be attributed to different personality traits. Mechanical and rule-based errors lead to lower scores on, respectively, perceived attentiveness and intelligence, which in turn lead to lower attraction and dating intention scores. These results highlight the importance of error-free language use as a cue for attractiveness.

Keywords Dating profiles, impression formation, language errors, language use, online dating, profile picture

Dummy pills and pain relief; the connection between hostility and heart attacks in women with diabetes; and insomnia is not simply an adverse effect of depression

Matters of the Mind: Honest Placebos, Hostility and Heart Attacks, and Sleepless Nights. Rita Rubin. JAMA, October 3, 2019. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.15983

Dummy pills and pain relief, the connection between hostility and heart attacks in women with diabetes, and the notion that insomnia is not simply an adverse effect of depression have been the focus of recent studies.


“Honest” Placebos Might Help Relieve Back Pain

Until recently, the conventional wisdom was that placebo treatments worked only if patients who received them didn’t know they were placebos.

But not telling patients that sugar pills or saline injections are placebos raises ethical and legal questions related to informed consent.

Researchers have started to investigate the effectiveness of prescribing placebos with patients’ full knowledge, an approach called open-label placebo (OLP).

It turns out that the placebo effect can survive disclosure to patients, at least in those with chronic back pain, according to a German study recently published in Pain.

The researchers randomly assigned 127 people aged 19 years or older who had chronic back pain (persisting for at least 12 weeks) to usual care or usual care plus placebo. As part of the informed consent procedure before randomization, participants were shown a video produced by CBS New York that had been translated into German. The video contained information about the placebo effect in general and recent research findings about the potential benefits of OLPs.

Participants randomized to the placebo received capsules made by Zeebo Effect, a Vermont company that markets them as “honest placebos.” They’re not actually sugar pills—they contain microcrystalline cellulose, refined wood pulp commonly used as a food additive. Patients in the placebo group were told the capsules were placebos that they should take twice a day for 21 days.

The combination of OLP with treatment as usual significantly reduced patient-reported pain, disability, and depressive symptoms but not stress or anxiety, the study found. In addition, OLP treatment showed a trend toward reduced demand for analgesic rescue medication to help relieve back pain. However, OLP had no effect on objective measures of spine mobility, such as range of motion. This suggests that the approach wouldn’t work for conditions with primarily objective treatment outcomes, such as cardiovascular or immunological diseases, according to the authors.


Hostility and the Heart in Women With Diabetes

A growing body of evidence suggests that hostility is bad for the heart.

Recent findings reported in Menopause suggest this holds true for postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. Researchers tracked 15 029 women aged 50 to 79 years at enrollment, all of whom were participants in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), for 10 years on average. All of the women reported being treated for diabetes, either at the beginning of the study or during the follow-up period. None had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease before entering the study.

At baseline, the researchers administered questionnaires to the women to assess a variety of personality traits.

During follow-up, 1118 cases of nonfatal or fatal myocardial infarction and 710 cases of stroke occurred. After accounting for confounders such as age, race and ethnicity, education, high cholesterol, and family history of myocardial infarction, women in the highest quartile of hostility had a 22% higher risk of a heart attack than women in the lowest quartile. No other personality traits were associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, and there was no statistically significant association between hostility—or any other personality trait—and stroke risk.

In a stratified analysis, though, a higher level of hostility and CHD risk were significantly associated only in women diagnosed with diabetes during the course of the study, not those with the disease at baseline. The researchers speculated that among women with higher hostility, those who weren’t yet diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of the study might have lived longer with impaired glucose homeostasis, in part because they might be less likely to engage in healthy behaviors such as seeing a physician regularly.

Previous research has found that higher levels of hostility in people with type 2 diabetes raised susceptibility to stress-induced inflammation, a possible explanation for the increased risk of a heart attack. However, another study also based on WHI participants, but not specifically those with diabetes, found that greater hostility was not associated with a higher risk of CHD, while greater optimism was linked to a lower risk.

Personality traits are not easily changed, the authors point out. But, at least, identifying patients with diabetes who have high hostility could lead to the testing of interventions that would help minimize their risk for adverse outcomes.

Sorting Out the Relationship Between Depression and Insomnia

Nearly 90% of people with major depressive disorder (MDD) report disturbed sleep, but a recent study in the Journal of Affective Disorders suggests that MDD and insomnia are comorbid yet separate disorders.

The study involved patients enrolled in the STAR*D (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression) study, a prospective, randomized clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that assessed the efficacy of several antidepressants and cognitive therapy for people with treatment-resistant depression.

The 7-year study enrolled 4041 outpatients aged 18 to 75 years with MDD and tested 4 different medications or medication combinations. The insomnia study assessed the first level of STAR*D, which tested citalopram for 12 or 14 weeks, depending on whether patients responded early or late.

The insomnia study excluded participants who had no postbaseline assessments as well as those who reported sleeping more than average, not less, bringing the total included in the analysis to 2788 people.

At baseline and 5 or 6 times during treatment with citalopram, researchers administered the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomology–Clinician Rated (QIDS-C) to assess symptom severity for the previous week. Three of the 16 items on the QIDS-C deal with insomnia, and the researchers combined them to arrive at a global insomnia score. Each QIDS-C item has a maximum score of 3, so the maximum global insomnia score, signifying the most severe insomnia, was 9.

Participants’ global insomnia scores improved over the course of the study. After accounting for age, hypnotic medication use by a quarter of participants, medication dose, and general medical comorbidity, global insomnia scores dropped on average from 6.2 at baseline to 3.7 by week 9 before increasing to 4.4 at the end of the citalopram treatment phase. This further validates the sedative effects of citalopram, the authors wrote.

Patients with more severe depression symptoms at baseline were less likely to achieve MDD remission by the end of the study. Patients with more severe insomnia at baseline were also less likely to achieve MDD remission, which was not explained by the severity of their depression. On the other hand, improved sleep was independent of MDD remission.

These findings support the notion that insomnia is not simply a symptom of MDD but a separate, co-occurring disease process, which, if true, should shift how clinicians conceptualize and treat insomnia and MDD, according to the researchers. For example, they wrote, instead of lumping together excessive sleep and insomnia as a single biological dysfunction when assessing patients with MDD, it might be better to evaluate and treat those sleep disturbances independently with targeted therapies.

Mockingbirds imitate frogs and toads across North America; they imitate at least 12 species

Mockingbirds imitate frogs and toads across North America. David E. Gammon, Anna M. Corsiglia. Behavioural Processes, October 3 2019, 103982. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2019.103982

Highlights
• Vocal mimicry is widespread, but we know little about mimicry of non-avian models.
• Archived recordings show mockingbirds imitate at least 12 species of anurans.
• Anurans get imitated more when calls are acoustically similar to mockingbird song.
• Mockingbirds simplify anuran calls by leaving out formants and truncating calls.

Abstract: Vocal mimicry is taxonomically widespread among birds, but little is known about mimicry of non-avian models. Prior studies show preferential imitation of avian models whose sounds are acoustically similar to the non-imitative songs of the vocal mimic. Based on these studies and anecdotes about frog imitations by northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos), we hypothesized which anuran models would be most likely to get imitated by mockingbirds across their geographic range. We tested our hypothesis using >40 hours of archived mockingbird recordings. Our results showed that mockingbirds imitated at least 12 anuran species, and calls were disproportionately mimicked when they contained dominant frequencies within the vocal range of the mockingbird (750-7000 Hz). Mockingbirds also frequently modified model anuran sounds by leaving out formants and/or truncating call duration. Our results represent the most comprehensive survey for any mimicking species of the imitation of anurans.

Conservatives infrahumanized all immigrants equally (and more than liberals), but liberals were more sensitive to racial/religious biases in their evaluations of immigrants

The surprising politics of anti‐immigrant prejudice: How political conservatism moderates the effect of immigrant race and religion on infrahumanization judgements. Olivia Banton, Keon West, Ellie Kinney. British Journal of Social Psychology, July 30 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12337

Abstract: Attitudes towards immigrants in the United Kingdom are worsening. It has been posited that these attitudes may reflect covert racial and religious prejudices, particularly among conservatives. To investigate this, two studies examined the role that immigrant race (Black/White; Study 1) and immigrant religion (Muslim/non‐Muslim; Study 2) played in immigrant infrahumanization judgements, using political conservatism as a moderating variable. There was a moderating effect of political conservatism; however, it was not in the predicted direction. The results of both studies indicated that immigrant race (Black) and immigrant religion (Muslim) predicted greater infrahumanization when political conservatism was low. Conservatives infrahumanized all immigrants equally (and more than liberals), but liberals were more sensitive to racial/religious biases in their evaluations of immigrants.

Comprehensive review of findings from neuroimaging studies investigating the relation between pubertal and functional brain development in humans

Puberty and functional brain development in humans: Convergence in findings? Junqiang Dai, K. Suzanne Scherf. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Volume 39, October 2019, 100690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100690

Abstract: Although there is a long history of studying the influence of pubertal hormones on brain function/structure in animals, this research in human adolescents is young but burgeoning. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of findings from neuroimaging studies investigating the relation between pubertal and functional brain development in humans. We quantified the findings from this literature in which statistics required for standard meta-analyses are often not provided (i.e., effect size in fMRI studies). To do so, we assessed convergence in findings within content domains (reward, facial emotion, social information, cognitive processing) in terms of the locus and directionality (i.e., positive/negative) of effects. Face processing is the only domain with convergence in the locus of effects in the amygdala. Social information processing is the only domain with convergence of positive effects; however, these effects are not consistently present in any brain region. There is no convergence of effects in either the reward or cognitive processing domains. This limited convergence in findings across domains is not the result of null findings or even due to the variety of experimental paradigms researchers employ. Instead, there are critical theoretical, methodological, and analytical issues that must be addressed in order to move the field forward.

6. Conclusion

Although there is a long history of studying the influence of pubertal hormones on brain function and structure in animal models (see Sisk and Zehr, 2005a, 2005b), similar research in human adolescents is still early in its own ontogeny. We reviewed the existing 28 studies in this field that have been primarily conducted in the last decade. To quantify the findings, we measured convergence in results within content domains (reward, facial emotion, social information, cognitive processing) in terms of the locus and directionality of effects. We report that facial emotion processing is the only content domain with convergence in the locus of effects, such that studies consistently find a relation between metrics of pubertal development and neural activation in the amygdala. Social information processing is the only content domain in which there is consistency across studies in the directionality of effects. Specifically, functional brain activation during a variety of social information tasks is consistently positively associated with measures of pubertal development in adolescents; however, these effects do not converge in any particular locus of the brain. In contrast, there is no convergence in the locus or directionality of effects in either the reward or cognitive processing domains. These findings highlight important directions for scientists to pursue in future research.

Importantly, we reveal that this limited convergence in findings relating functional brain and pubertal development is not because of null findings or even the variety of experimental paradigms researchers employ. For example, in the social information processing domain, there is immense variety in paradigm, but convergence in the directionality of effects. In contrast, in the reward processing domain, there is high consistency in the experimental paradigm, and participant sample across studies, but no convergence in locus or directionality of effects. As a result, we argue that there are critical theoretical, methodological, and analytic issues that must be addressed in order to move the field forward. To tackle these issues, we suggest that this interdisciplinary work needs to be conducted by teams of scientists with complementary expertise in adolescent development, pubertal development, endocrinology, and pediatric neuroimaging.

Blackouts are costing the Lebanese economy about $3.9 billion per year, or roughly 8.2 percent of the country's GDP

Robert Bryce's A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations. Public Affairs, March 17, 2020, ISBN-13: 978-1610397490

Excerpts about the situation in Lebanon (as Tyler Cowen mentions in his site, https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/10/the-generator-mafia-in-lebanon.html):

...blackouts are costing the Lebanese economy about $3.9 billion per year, or roughly 8.2 percent of the country's GDP.

I asked why the Lebanese government can't put the private generators out of business.  He replied that EdL [the state-owned electricity company] is losing some $1.3 billion per year, while the private generators are taking in as much as $2 billion per annum.  "It's a huge business," he said, "and it's very dangerous to interfere with this business."

...Nakhle, an official in the Energy Ministry, was admitting that the generator mafia bribes Lebanese politicians to make sure that EdL stays weak and blackouts persist...

Maya Ammar, a model and architect in Beirut...told me, "The one reason is Lebanon that we do not have electricity is corruption, plain and simple."...The electric grid, she continued, is "a microcosmic example of how this country runs."

No evidence for a protective effect of education on mental health

No evidence for a protective effect of education on mental health. Sarah C. Dahmann, Daniel D. Schnitzlein. Social Science & Medicine, October 3 2019, 112584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112584

Highlights
•    We study whether education has a causal protective effect on mental health.
•    We use a compulsory schooling reform in Germany as a source of exogenous variation.
•    We measure mental health by the MCS score and subjective well-being from SOEP data.
•    We find no evidence for a causal protective effect.
•    Our results are robust to various specifications.

Abstract: This paper analyzes whether education has a protective effect on mental health. To estimate causal effects, we employ an instrumental variable (IV) technique that exploits a reform extending compulsory schooling by one year implemented between 1949 and 1969 in West Germany. We complement analyses on the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score as a generic measure of overall mental health with an MCS-based indicator for risk of developing symptoms of mental health disorder and a continuous measure of subjective well-being. Results support existing evidence of a positive relationship between completed years of secondary schooling and mental health in standard OLS estimations. In contrast, the IV estimations reveal no such causal protective effect and negative effects cannot be ruled out.

There is substantial evidence for the hypothesis that accidental disgust does not affect moral ratings, contrary to the common view

Jylkkä, Jussi, Johanna Härkönen, and Jukka Hyönä. 2019. “Accidental Disgust Does Not Cause Moral Condemnation of Neutral Actions.” PsyArXiv. October 3. doi:10.31234/osf.io/b26vz

Abstract: Emotivism in moral psychology holds that making moral judgements is at least partly an affective process. Three emotivist hypotheses can be distinguished: the elicitation hypothesis (that moral transgressions elicit emotions); the amplification hypothesis (that disgust amplifies moral judgments); and the moralization hypothesis (that affect moralizes the non-moral). Even though the moralization hypothesis is the strongest and most radical form of emotivism, it has not been systematically experimentally tested. Most previous studies have used as stimuli morally wrong actions, and thus they cannot answer whether disgust is sufficient to moralize an otherwise neutral action. In Experiment 1 (N = 87) we tested the effect of accidental disgust on morally neutral scenarios, and in Experiment 2 (N = 510) the differential effect of disgust on neutral and wrong scenarios. The results did not support either the moralization or the amplification hypothesis. Instead, Bayesian analyses provided substantial evidence for the null hypothesis that accidental disgust does not affect moral ratings. In line with a recent meta-analysis suggesting that disgust has no effect on moral ratings, our study indicates that this field of research is plagued by false positives due to small sample sizes.

First description of “wealth” inequality in an animal (hermit crabs), which may provide an animal model of the dynamics generating wealth inequality

A comparison of wealth inequality in humans and non-humans. Ivan D. Chase, Raphael Douady, Dianna K. Padilla. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, September 26 2019, 122962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2019.122962

Highlights
•    We present the first description of “wealth” inequality in a non-human animal.
•    We describe the distribution of snail shells occupied by a hermit crab species.
•    The distribution of shells resembles the common form of human wealth distributions.
•    Hermit crabs may provide an animal model of the dynamics generating wealth inequality.
•    Shell distribution in hermit crabs provides a baseline to compare to human inequality.

Abstract: Inequality in the distribution of material resources (wealth) occurs widely across human groups. The extent of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, is less in small-scale societies, such as hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, and greater in large-scale ones like current nation states. In many societies, the statistical distribution of wealth takes a characteristic form: unimodal, skewed to the right, and fat-tailed. However, we have relatively little systematic information about the distribution of material resources in nonhuman animals even though such resources are vital to their survival and fitness. Here we present the first description of inequality in material resources in an animal population: the distribution of gastropod (snail) shells inhabited by the hermit crab Pagurus longicarpus. We find that the shell distribution for the crabs strongly resembles the characteristic form of wealth distribution in human groups. The amount of inequality in the crabs is more than that in some small-scale human groups but less than that in nations. We argue that the shell distribution in the crabs is not simply generated by biological factors such as survival and growth of either crabs or gastropods. Instead, the strong resemblance in the human and hermit crab distributions suggests that comparable factors, not dependent upon culture or social institutions, could shape the patterns of inequality in both groups. In addition to the similarity in their inequality distributions, human and hermit crabs share other features of resource distribution, including the use of vacancy chains, not seen in other species. Based upon these parallels, we propose that P. longicarpus could be used as an animal model to test two factors – individual differences and intergenerational property transfers – that some economists theorize as major factors influencing the form of wealth distributions in humans. We also propose that inequality in hermit crabs could provide a baseline for examining human inequality.

From 2018... Salutogenic effects of adversity and the role of adversity for successful aging

From 2018...Salutogenic effects of adversity and the role of adversity for successful aging. Jan Höltge. Fall 2018, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts, PhD Thesis. https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/157239/1/157239.pdf

Abstract
The traditional psychopathological research of adversity has led to a deficit-and treatment-oriented approach to adversity and its effects. However, even though adversities are distressing, negative experiences in the first place, they also inherit resilience and well-being enhancing opportunities which can foster a more fulfilled life. This thesis synthesizes research on the salutogenic effects of adversityand provides empirical evidence for salutogenic effects of different levels of adversity. A mixed-methods project that consisted of a theoretical study, a quantitative longitudinal survey and qualitative interview study was conducted. Its aims were to review the research on ‘optimal’ adversity, andto investigate the potential positive psychological effects of severe early-life and ‘optimal’ later-life adversityfor successful aging.

The first study systematically reviewed the literature on a potential ‘optimal’ level of adversity for human well-being and development using curvilinear analyses. A moderate level of adversity was found to be associated with better outcomes compared to higher and lower levels of adversity. The second study investigated potential age-specific salutogenic effects of ‘optimal’ adversity in later life. It was found that a specific level of adverse experiences can support successful aging by supporting the maintenance of central resilience resources and satisfaction with life. The third study investigated if a subgroup of the Swiss Verdingkinder (former indentured child laborers) was able to age successful not despite, but because of its childhood experiences. Three overall factors emerged that were reported as supportive of successful aging: lightheartedness including effective stress-management, lifelong self-enhancement, and social mindedness. Hence, this study shows that known supportivefactors of successful aging can be the result of early-life adversity. Several underlying mechanisms and intervening factors of this relationship were identified.

In sum,this thesis gives further evidence for the salutogenic effects of adversity and provides implications for future research and praxis.


Check also Research has predominantly focused on the negative effects of adversity on health and well-being; but under certain circumstances, adversity may have the potential for positive outcomes, such as increased resilience and thriving (steeling effect):

A Salutogenic Perspective on Adverse Experiences. The Curvilinear Relationship of Adversity and Well-Being. Jan Höltge et al. European Journal of Health Psychology (2018), 25, pp. 53-69. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/08/research-has-predominantly-focused-on.html

Firm-level data for 55 countries, 1991-2016: The riskiness of credit allocation, captured by Greenwood and Hanson (2013)’s ISS indicator, helps predict downside risks to GDP growth & systemic banking crises 2-3 years ahead

Working Paper No. 19/207 : The Riskiness of Credit Allocation and Financial Stability. Luis Brandao-Marques,Qianying Chen,Claudio Raddatz,Jérôme Vandenbussche,Peichu Xie. IMF Working Paper No. 19/207, September 27, 2019. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/09/27/The-Riskiness-of-Credit-Allocation-and-Financial-Stability-48670

Summary: We explore empirically how the time-varying allocation of credit across firms with heterogeneous credit quality matters for financial stability outcomes. Using firm-level data for 55 countries over 1991-2016, we show that the riskiness of credit allocation, captured by Greenwood and Hanson (2013)’s ISS indicator, helps predict downside risks to GDP growth and systemic banking crises, two to three years ahead. Our analysis indicates that the riskiness of credit allocation is both a measure of corporate vulnerability and of investor sentiment. Economic forecasters wrongly predict a positive association between the riskiness of credit allocation and future growth, suggesting a flawed expectations process.

Despite the apparent irrationality of over-imitation behavior, should be conceptualized as a contextually flexible and, in fact, a normally highly functional phenomenon

‘Over-imitation’: A review and appraisal of a decade of research. Stefanie Hoehl et al. Developmental Review, Volume 51, March 2019, Pages 90-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.12.002

Highlights
•    We offer a comprehensive review of the existing literature on over-imitation.
•    We discuss methodological issues affecting the behavior in experiments.
•    Different theoretical perspectives are contrasted and critically assessed.
•    Over-imitation is a contextually flexible and normally functional phenomenon.

Abstract: After seeing an action sequence children and adults tend to copy causally relevant and, more strikingly, even perceivably unnecessary actions in relation to the given goal. This phenomenon, termed “over-imitation”, has inspired much empirical research in the past decade as well as lively theoretical debate on its cognitive underpinnings and putative role in the transmission of cultural knowledge. Here, we offer a comprehensive review of the existing literature to date, accompanied by a table including concise information on 54 published studies testing over-imitation in different species, age groups and cultures. We highlight methodological issues related to task and context that influence over-imitation rates and that should be carefully considered in study designs. We discuss the cognitive and motivational processes underlying and contributing to over-imitation, including normative action parsing, causal reasoning, motives of affiliation and social learning as well as their complex interplay. We conclude that despite the apparent irrationality of over-imitation behavior, recent studies have shown that its performance depends on the specific task, modeled actions and context variables, suggesting that over-imitation should be conceptualized as a contextually flexible and, in fact, a normally highly functional phenomenon.

Vegetarian products are perceived as being less caloric than their non-vegetarian equivalents, but participants in the study do not report more intention to eat more vegetarian products

Halo It’s Meat! the Effect of the Vegetarian Label on Calorie Perception and Food Choices. Théo Besson, Hugo Bouxom & Thibault Jaubert. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Aug 26 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2019.1652820

ABSTRACT: In the last few years, vegetarian products have become a widespread dietary option in food industry to the point that large retail chains such as McDonald’s has offered a vegetarian burger to their customers (e.g., the Grand Veggie). In the present research, two studies investigated the influence of a vegetarian label on calorie perception, frequency consumption and food choices. In the first study (N = 211) participants were randomly assigned to an experimental design 2 (burger type: Grand Veggie vs Big Mac). In the second study (N = 915), participants were either exposed to a similar burger labeled vegetarian or a meat-based. Both studies show that vegetarian products are perceived as being less caloric than their non-vegetarian equivalents. However, participants do not report more intention to eat more vegetarian products and do not lead to differences in menu composition.

KEYWORDS: Health halo effect, calorie perception, food choices, vegetarian food

Parenting quality is most optimal when fathers’ testosterone system reacts in the expected direction given the context of the father-child interaction: a T decrease/increase during a harmonious/challenging interaction

Testosterone and Fathers’ Parenting Unraveled: Links with the Quantity and Quality of Father-Child Interactions. Else E. de Vries et al. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology,  October 2 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-019-00118-z

Abstract
Objective: Individual differences in quality of father involvement in caregiving might in part be explained by fathers’ testosterone (T) levels. We examined the links between fathers’ (n = 32) salivary T levels, amount of time spent with their child (12–30 months of age), type of father-child interaction, and fathers’ sensitivity.

Methods: During two home visits, video observations of father-child interactions were conducted to measure fathers’ sensitivity during a challenging and harmonious interaction. Fathers’ saliva was collected several times throughout the day on a working day and on the home visit days, including right before and after each father-child interaction.

Results: Fathers’ T secretion throughout the day was lower on home visit days (i.e., days with a higher amount of time spent with their child) than on a working day. For both challenging and harmonious father-child interactions, mean T levels did not differ before and after father-child interactions. However, individual changes in fathers’ T levels during the father-child interactions did predict fathers’ sensitivity. Specifically, the more T increased during the challenging interaction, or decreased during the harmonious interaction, the more sensitive the father was during that interaction as well as during a subsequent interaction.

Conclusions: Parenting quality is most optimal when fathers’ T system reacts in the expected direction given the context of the father-child interaction, i.e., a T decrease during a harmonious interaction and a T increase during a challenging interaction. Our study underscores the importance of examining the interplay between biology, behavior, and caregiving context in fathers’ parenting.

Keywords: Fathers Testosterone Sensitivity Parenting Observation

Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light: Not only are heritable its manifestations at the subjective & intermediate level, but also are the objective level & its relation with psychological well-being

On the Etiology of Self-Enhancement and Its Association With Psychological Well-Being. Yu L. L. Luo, Constantine Sedikides, Huajian Cai. Social Psychological and Personality Science, September 30, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619877410

Abstract: Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light, and its manifestations have received wide attention in behavioral sciences. The self-enhancement manifestations vary on a continuum from a subjective level (agentic narcissism, communal narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity) through an intermediate level (better-than-average judgments) to an objective level (overclaiming one’s knowledge). Prior research has established the heritability of self-enhancement manifestations at the subjective and intermediate levels. The present twin study demonstrated that (1) the objective level of self-enhancement manifestation is also heritable; (2) a common core, which is moderately heritable, underlies the three levels of self-enhancement manifestations; (3) the relation between self-enhancement (manifested at all three levels) and psychological well-being is partly heritable; and (4) environmental influences, either shared by or unique to family members, are evident through (1), (2), and (3). The findings deepen understanding of the etiology of individual differences in self-enhancement and their links to psychological well-being.

Keywords: self-enhancement, behavioral genetics, narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity, better-than-average effect, overclaiming task

The existence of female orgasm is intriguing: On the one hand, female orgasm is not necessary for female reproductive success, & on the other hand, this neuro-endocrine reflex is too complex to be an evolutionary accident

An experimental test of the ovulatory homolog model of female orgasm. Mihaela Pavlicev, Andreja Moset Zupan, Amanda Barry, Savannah Walters, Kristin M. Milano, Harvey J. Kliman, and Günter P. Wagner. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  September 30, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910295116

Significance: The existence of female orgasm is intriguing for 2 reasons: On the one hand, female orgasm is not necessary for female reproductive success, and on the other hand, this neuro-endocrine reflex is too complex to be an evolutionary accident. This led to many proposed evolutionary explanations, most of which have little empirical support. We previously proposed that female orgasm uses a mechanism that originated for inducing ovulation during copulation: A mechanism that still exists in many animals but lost its role in others. Here we provide experimental evidence, strengthening the likelihood that female orgasm evolved from copulation-induced ovulation. This finding helps interpreting otherwise difficult to explain aspects of female sexuality, such as the low rate of female orgasm during intercourse.

Abstract: The ovulatory homolog model of female orgasm posits that the neuro-endocrine mechanisms underlying female orgasm evolved from and are homologous to the mechanisms mediating copulation-induced ovulation in some mammals. This model predicts that pharmacological agents that affect human orgasm, such as fluoxetine, should also affect ovulation in animals with copulation-induced ovulation, such as rabbits. We tested this prediction by treating rabbits with daily doses of fluoxetine for 2 wk and found that fluoxetine treatment reduces the number of ovulations postcopulation by 30%. In a second experiment we tested whether this result was mediated by an effect on the brain or via peripheral serotonin functions. We treated animals with fluoxetine and induced ovulation with a single injection of human chorionic gonadotropin. In this experiment ovulation rate was nominally reduced by only 8%, which is statistically not significant. We conclude that the effect of fluoxetine on copulation-induced ovulation rate supports the ovulatory homolog model of female orgasm, suggesting that female orgasm has very deep evolutionary roots among the early eutherian mammals.

Keywords: fluoxetineinduced ovulationprocess homologyanorgasmiafemale sexuality

From 2016... Not only bilateral trade but global trade openness also significantly promotes peace

From 2016... Does Trade Integration Contribute to Peace? Jong‐Wha Lee, Ju Hyun Pyun. Review of Development Economics, January 28 2016. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12222

Abstract: We investigate the effect of trade integration on interstate military conflict. Our empirical analysis, based on a large panel data set of 243,225 country‐pair observations from 1950 to 2000, confirms that an increase in bilateral trade interdependence significantly promotes peace. It also suggests that the peace‐promotion effect of bilateral trade integration is significantly higher for contiguous countries that are likely to experience more conflict. More importantly, we find that not only bilateral trade but global trade openness also significantly promotes peace. It shows, however, that an increase in global trade openness reduces the probability of interstate conflict more for countries far apart from each other than it does for countries sharing borders. The main finding of the peace‐promotion effect of bilateral and global trade integration holds robust when controlling for the simultaneous determination of trade and peace.

Patients with Lesions to Left Prefrontal Cortex Have Less Entrenched Beliefs and Are More Skeptical Reasoners

Patients with Lesions to Left Prefrontal Cortex (BA 9 and BA 10) Have Less Entrenched Beliefs and Are More Skeptical Reasoners. Vinod Goel, Miriam Marling, Vanessa Raymont, Frank Krueger and Jordan Grafman. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Volume 31, Issue 11, November 2019, p.1674-1688. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01441

Abstract: The effect of prior beliefs on reasoning and decision-making is a robust, poorly understood phenomenon, exhibiting considerable individual variation. Neuroimaging studies widely show the involvement of the left pFC in reasoning involving beliefs. However, little patient data exist to speak to the necessity and role of the left pFC in belief-based inference. To address this shortcoming, we tested 102 patients with unilateral focal penetrating traumatic brain injuries and 49 matched controls. Participants provided plausibility ratings (plausible/implausible) to simple inductive arguments and (separately) strength of believability ratings of the conclusion to those same arguments. A voxel-based lesion symptom mapping analysis identified 10 patients, all with lesions to the left pFC (BA 9 and BA 10) as rating significantly fewer arguments with highly believable conclusions as “plausible,” compared with all other patients. Subsequent analyses, incorporating the right hemisphere homologue of these patients (n = 12) and normal controls (n = 24), revealed patients with lesions to left pFC found fewer arguments plausible in the high believable than either of these groups, and there was no difference in the behavioral scores of the right pFC patients and normal controls. Further analysis, utilizing the belief ratings as the dependent measure, revealed a Group × Belief Rating interaction, with left pFC patients having less intense beliefs about the conclusions of moderately believable and highly believable arguments. We interpreted these results to indicate that lesions to left pFC (BA 9, BA 10) increase incredulity and make these patients more skeptical reasoners. The former can partially, but not fully, explain the latter. The other relevant factor may be that unilateral left pFC lesions disrupt hemispheric equilibrium and allow for an increased inhibitory role of the right pFC. We speculate that individual differences in belief bias in reasoning in the normal population may be a function of individual differences in the left and right pFC interactional dynamics.

The anterior cingulate cortex is an important cognitive control area for both sexually arousing and disgust stimuli; the activation of the thalamus may indicate a general automatic response towards sexual disgust

Long, Xipeng and Tian, Fangfang and Zhou, Yushan and Cheng, Bochao and Yi, Siqi and Jia, Zhiyun, The Neural Correlates of Sexual Arousal and Sexual Disgust (September 23, 2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3458493

Abstract
Background: Humans exhibit category-specific networks of activity when viewing sexual stimuli. The differences and relationships between stimulus-related brain activation for sexual arousal and sexual disgust are still unclear. This study aimed to identify brain regions that were mostly associated with sexual stimuli.

Methods: A systematic search was performed to identify fMRI studies that reported brain activity during sexual stimuli. The activation foci were subjected to meta-analysis using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) method. Subsequently, meta-analytic connectivity modelling (MACM) was used to create a model for the core brain network involved in responses to sexual stimuli. The functional properties of the network were assessed using behavioural domain (BD) metadata in the BrainMap database.

Findings: An ALE meta-analysis of a total of 368 subjects showed that sexual stimuli are related to the extensive activation of the occipital-temporal-limbic system and less extensive activation of the basal ganglia. Sexual arousal activated mainly the anterior cingulate cortex and right fusiform gyrus, while sexual disgust activated the limbic system, occipital gyrus, and thalamus. MACM analysis showed a network of the core brain areas involved in response to sexual stimuli, and behavioural domain analysis indicated that these areas have both common and discrete functional properties.

Interpretation: Our findings suggested that the anterior cingulate cortex is an important cognitive control area for both sexually arousing and disgust stimuli. The activation of the thalamus may indicate a general automatic response towards sexual disgust. These results revealed consistent coactivation maps across experiments and behaviours for convergent areas.

Keywords: sexual arousal; sexual orientation; activation likelihood estimation; meta-analytic connectivity modelling; fMRI; behavioural domain

Liberals express compassion toward less structured & more encompassing entities (friends, world), whereas conservatives express compassion toward more well-defined & less encompassing entities (family, nation)

Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle. Adam Waytz, Ravi Iyer, Liane Young, Jonathan Haidt & Jesse Graham. Nature Communications, volume 10, Article number: 4389 (2019). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12227-0

Abstract: Do clashes between ideologies reflect policy differences or something more fundamental? The present research suggests they reflect core psychological differences such that liberals express compassion toward less structured and more encompassing entities (i.e., universalism), whereas conservatives express compassion toward more well-defined and less encompassing entities (i.e., parochialism). Here we report seven studies illustrating universalist versus parochial differences in compassion. Studies 1a-1c show that liberals, relative to conservatives, express greater moral concern toward friends relative to family, and the world relative to the nation. Studies 2a-2b demonstrate these universalist versus parochial preferences extend toward simple shapes depicted as proxies for loose versus tight social circles. Using stimuli devoid of political relevance demonstrates that the universalist-parochialist distinction does not simply reflect differing policy preferences. Studies 3a-3b indicate these universalist versus parochial tendencies extend to humans versus nonhumans more generally, demonstrating the breadth of these psychological differences.

Introduction

In 2006, then Democratic Senator Barack Obama bemoaned the country’s “empathy deficit,” telling college graduates, “I hope you choose to broaden, and not contract, your ambit of concern.” In 2012, Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney said, “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.”

The distinction between Obama and Romney captures the distinct worldviews of American political liberals and conservatives, respectively. Romney prioritized the family unit, whereas Obama highlighted the planet broadly. This difference in parochialism versus universalism became exacerbated during the 2016 presidential election, with one article noting, “Trump vs. Hillary Is Nationalism vs. Globalism, 20161,” contrasting the more parochial Republican candidate with the more universalist Democratic candidate. Others have characterized the Trump administration’s policy decisions as battles between nationalists (typified by parochialism) and globalists (typified by universalism)2.

These differential tendencies toward parochialism and universalism on the political right and left, respectively, extend beyond the United States as well. For example, leading French right-wing politician, Marie Le Pen declared in 2016, “The gap is not between the Left and the Right, but between globalists and patriots. The globalists are acting for the dilution of France and its people in a huge worldwide magma. The patriots hope that the nation constitutes the most protective space for the French3.” Across Western Europe, ideological battles between the left and right have centered on this tension between universalism and parochialism.

Universalism refers to moral regard directed toward more socially distant and structurally looser targets, relative to socially closer and structurally tighter targets. Parochialism refers to moral regard directed toward socially closer and structurally tighter targets, relative to socially more distant and structurally looser targets. Universalist moral circles and parochial moral circles in this context are concentric, with one encompassing the other. These circles refer to groups of targets toward which one expends moral regard, and reflect the concept of moral circles popularized by Singer4 (see also Burke5). They are akin to the idea of moral communities that comprise one’s in groups (discussed by Deutsch et al.6,7), in which entities can be included or excluded as worthy of moral regard, as well as to concentric circles of identity defined by self-categorization theory (whereby one’s self-concept can include increasingly distant social groups depending on one’s level of abstraction)8. While “parochial” sometimes has a negative connotation, we do not imply any such evaluation here and simply use it to describe maintaining a tight (versus loose) moral circle.

Previous research supports this universalist–parochial distinction between liberals and conservatives9. For instance, conservatives, relative to liberals, express greater need for closure, order, and structure10,11,12. Personality research shows social liberals consistently score higher on openness, whereas social conservatives score higher on conscientiousness13. Taken together, existing work suggests that political conservatism reflects a greater tendency to seek structure, to avoid ambiguity, changes to the status quo, and novelty. By this account, political liberalism represents greater comfort with lack of structure, new experiences, and novel information.

Given ideological differences in open versus closed styles of information processing, moral concern might follow a similar pattern. In prioritizing closure, order, and stability, conservatives should express concern toward smaller, more well-defined, and less permeable social circles (relative to broader ones). In prioritizing openness, tolerance for ambiguity, and desire for change, liberals should express concern toward larger, less well-defined, and more permeable social circles (relative to smaller ones).

Beyond low-level cognitive and motivational differences, one additional line of work supports the ideological distinction between parochial–universalist differences in compassion. This line of research stems from Moral Foundations Theory (MFT)14,15,16, which characterizes liberals and conservatives as diverging along two classes of intuitive moral values. Liberals care about harm and fairness (individualizing values), whereas conservatives care more about loyalty, authority, and sanctity (binding values). This research again suggests a differing focus such that liberals tend to express compassion toward individuals broadly construed, whereas conservatives emphasize compassion toward their immediate social groups. Supporting this idea, separate work indeed found that endorsement of individualizing values is positively correlated with moral expansiveness (moral consideration for entities, including plants and animals, beyond one’s immediate in group) whereas endorsement of binding values is negatively correlated with moral expansiveness17.

The present research provides empirical evidence for these differing ideological patterns of compassion and extends these patterns to stimuli across a range of measures. This work also shows these broader ideological differences are rooted in perceptual differences. These differences appear to stem also from a broader historical trend that has accelerated in recent decades as most countries have become wealthier and safer. Christian Welzel, a lead researcher for the World Values Survey, has described how reduced “existential threats” change values:

Fading existential pressures open people’s minds, making them prioritize freedom over security, autonomy over authority, diversity over uniformity, and creativity over discipline… the existentially relieved state of mind is the source of tolerance and solidarity beyond one’s in group18.

Our research is consistent with Welzel’s characterization of the general shift from “survival values” that increase dependence on close others, to “emancipative values” that downplay local ties—and loyalties—and lead people to look farther afield for social relationships.

These studies aim to connect Singer’s4 idea of the moral circle to empirical political psychology. Beyond demonstrating a universalist–parochial distinction between liberals and conservatives, this research examines whether this distinction reflects mere political preferences, or something deeper. Universalism may reflect favorability toward policies that promote open borders (and encourage immigration) and that promote diplomacy toward ostensibly hostile nations. Such policies represent extending moral regard beyond one’s immediate group (e.g., the nation) and to the world more broadly. Similarly, parochialism may reflect favorability toward stricter immigration policies and defense spending to protect one’s nation—these policies represent prioritizing the well-being of one’s own nation at the potential expense of others. On the other hand, if the universalist–parochial distinction reflects a worldview beyond policy interests, then it should reflect evaluations of stimuli completely devoid of social or political relevance, for example abstract, animate shapes. Thus, we tested whether liberals and conservatives would display universalist and parochialist tendencies, respectively, in terms basic perceptual preferences. Finally, we examined whether this universalist–parochialist difference would map on to moral concern for humans exclusively versus a broader conception of the moral universe that includes nonhumans as well. Importantly, this work uses both measures developed for this work that explicitly capture the expanse of one’s moral circle as well as established measures that assess moral consideration for specific targets, to provide convergent evidence across studies.

Studies 1a–1c examine universalist versus parochial differences in the domains of friends versus family (friends typically constitute a larger, broader and more diffuse group than family) and the world versus the nation (the world encompasses one’s nation). Studies 2a–2b show this universalist–parochial distinction maps on to abstract entities (animated shapes) distinguished only by low-level perceptual properties. Studies 3a–3b demonstrate that this universalist–parochial distinction maps on to moral concern for humans exclusively compared with a social world that includes nonhumans. Across studies, we predicted that liberalism versus conservatism would be associated with universalism relative to parochialism, even in the context of preference for shapes devoid of social relevance and humans versus nonhumans.

We often judge that old objects or objects used by admired celebrities are worth less when cleaned, possible because cleaning removes valued historical traces, and by changing objects from their historic state

The glow of grime: Why cleaning an old object can wash away its value. Merrick Levene   Daisy Z. Hu   Ori Friedman. Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 14, No. 5, September 2019, pp. 565-572. http://journal.sjdm.org/18/181204/jdm181204.html

Abstract: For connoisseurs of antiques and antiquities, cleaning old objects can reduce their value. In five experiments (total N = 1,019), we show that lay people also often judge that old objects are worth less when cleaned, and we test two explanations for why cleaning can reduce object value. In Experiment 1, participants judged that cleaning an old object would reduce its value, but judged that cleaning would not reduce the value of an object made from a rare material. In Experiments 2 and 3 we described the nature, age and origin of the traces that cleaning would remove. Now participants judged that cleaning old historical traces would reduce the object’s value, but cleaning recently acquired traces would not. In Experiment 4, participants judged that the current value of an old object is reduced even when it was cleaned in ancient times. However, participants in Experiment 5 valued objects cleaned in ancient times as much as uncleaned ones, while judging that objects cleaned recently are worth less. Together, our findings suggest that cleaning objects may reduce value by removing valued historical traces, and by changing objects from their historic state. We also outline potential implications for previous studies showing that cleaning reduces the value of objects used by admired celebrities.

Keywords: object value, old objects, cleaning, psychological essentialism

False information can have short-term effects on what we believe & how we behave politically following exposure, which may be minimal, despite the countervailing narrative in the popular press

What’s Next? Six Observations for the Future of Political Misinformation Research. Brian E. Weeks, Homero Gil de Zúñiga. American Behavioral Scientist, September 30, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219878236

Abstract: Research on political misinformation is booming. The field is continually gaining more key insights about this important and complex social problem. Academic interest on misinformation has consistently been a multidisciplinary effort. But perhaps political communication researchers are particularly well situated to be the leading voices on the public’s understanding of misinformation and many are heeding the call. With that responsibility in mind, in this brief article we offer six observations for the future of political misinformation research that we believe can help focus this line of inquiry to better ensure we address some of the most pressing problems. Our list is not exhaustive, nor do we suggest that areas we do not cover are not important. Rather, we make these observations with the goal of spurring a conversation about the future of political misinformation research.

Keywords: misinformation, political misinformation, political communication, fake news

Intelligence of males and females were underpinned by different neurobiological correlates, which are consistent with their respective superiority in cognitive domains (visuospatial vs verbal ability)

Gender Differences in Connectome-based Predictions of Individualized Intelligence Quotient and Sub-domain Scores. Rongtao Jiang et al. Cerebral Cortex, bhz134, July 29 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhz134

Abstract: Scores on intelligence tests are strongly predictive of various important life outcomes. However, the gender discrepancy on intelligence quotient (IQ) prediction using brain imaging variables has not been studied. To this aim, we predicted individual IQ scores for males and females separately using whole-brain functional connectivity (FC). Robust predictions of intellectual capabilities were achieved across three independent data sets (680 subjects) and two intelligence measurements (IQ and fluid intelligence) using the same model within each gender. Interestingly, we found that intelligence of males and females were underpinned by different neurobiological correlates, which are consistent with their respective superiority in cognitive domains (visuospatial vs verbal ability). In addition, the identified FC patterns are uniquely predictive on IQ and its sub-domain scores only within the same gender but neither for the opposite gender nor on the IQ-irrelevant measures such as temperament traits. Moreover, females exhibit significantly higher IQ predictability than males in the discovery cohort. This findings facilitate our understanding of the biological basis of intelligence by demonstrating that intelligence is underpinned by a variety of complex neural mechanisms that engage an interacting network of regions—particularly prefrontal–parietal and basal ganglia—whereas the network pattern differs between genders.

Randomness and related concepts (events happening “accidentally”, “coincidentally” or “by chance”) are typically assumed to occur in a context of small rather than large events

Are random events expected to be small? Karl Halvor TeigenAlf Børre Kanten. Psychological Research, September 30 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-019-01252-9

Abstract: People’s intuitions about mathematical and statistical concepts often include features that are not a part of the formal definitions. We argue that randomness and related concepts (events happening “accidentally”, “coincidentally” or “by chance”) are typically assumed to occur in a context of small rather than large events. Five experiments were designed to test the hypothesis of an association between perceived randomness and size. In Experiment 1 and 2, statements describing small outcomes as due to chance were judged to be more natural and to make better sense than corresponding statements about large outcomes (or about small outcomes not due to chance). Experiment 3 showed that people imagine that stories about randomness in daily life should preferably start with small events, even when they eventually turn out to be consequential (e.g., stories about an apparently random meeting ending with marriage). Experiment 4 demonstrated that small changes in a graph of a random walk were seen as random, whereas large changes were perceived as potentially nonrandom. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that small animals are believed to display more random behavior than larger ones. This applied also to fictional creatures with nonsense names, where size was implicitly suggested by the names’ phonetic qualities. Analogical instances can be found in the history of science, all the way back to Lucretius’ doctrine of the tiny “swerves” of atoms. The pervasive association between smallness and randomness might be partly due to real-world observations and partly to cognitive and motivational constraints.

90 countries, 45 years of analysis: Financial repression (restrictions on interest rates, credit allocation, capital movements, etc.) poses a significant drag on growth, 0.4-0.7 percentage points

Financial Repression is Knocking at the Door, Again. Etibar Jafarov,Rodolfo Maino,Marco Pani. IMF Working Paper No. 19/211. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/09/30/Financial-Repression-is-Knocking-at-the-Door-Again-48641

Summary: Financial repression (legal restrictions on interest rates, credit allocation, capital movements, and other financial operations) was widely used in the past but was largely abandoned in the liberalization wave of the 1990s, as widespread support for interventionist policies gave way to a renewed conception of government as an impartial referee. Financial repression has come back on the agenda with the surge in public debt in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, and some countries have reintroduced administrative ceilings on interest rates. By distorting market incentives and signals, financial repression induces losses from inefficiency and rent-seeking that are not easily quantified. This study attempts to assess some of these losses by estimating the impact of financial repression on growth using an updated index of interest rate controls covering 90 countries over 45 years. The results suggest that financial repression poses a significant drag on growth, which could amount to 0.4-0.7 percentage points.

Children of divorced parents are less honest than children of non-divorced parents; psychological counseling improves their honesty, and fails to improve children of non-divorced parents

Parents’ marital status, psychological counseling and dishonest kindergarten children: An experimental study. Yossef Tobol, Gideon Yaniv. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, September 30 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.09.012

Highlights
• An experiment with kindergarten children is conducted to reveal their level of honesty.
• Children of divorced parents are less honest than children of non-divorced parents.
• Psychological counseling improves honesty of children of divorced parents.
• Psychological counseling fails to improve honesty of children of non-divorced parents.

Abstract: The present paper reports the results of an experiment which studied the effects of parents’ marital status (divorced or non-divorced) and psychological counseling (administered or not) on the honesty level of kindergarten children. Data on marital status and psychological counseling was anonymously provided by the kindergarten teachers and children's level of honesty was assessed by a flip-coin task which rewarded a self-reported favorable outcome. The experiment gave rise to two major results: first, children of divorced parents are less honest than children of non-divorced parents and second, psychological counseling helps improve honesty among children of divorced parents but fails to do so among children of non-divorced parents. No gender effect was found.

Keywords: Kindergarten childrenDishonest behaviorFlip coin taskPsychological counseling

Growth has been good after reform in Africa and Latin America, in contrast to the “lost decades” of the 80s and 90s

In Search of Reforms for Growth: New Stylized Facts on Policy and Growth Outcomes. William Easterly. NBER Working Paper No. 26318, September 2019. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26318

Abstract: The lack of growth response to “Washington Consensus” policy reforms in the 1980s and 1990s led to widespread doubts about the value of such reforms. This paper updates these stylized facts by analyzing moderate to extreme levels of inflation, black market premiums, currency overvaluation, negative real interest rates and abnormally low trade shares to GDP. It finds three new stylized facts: (1) policy outcomes worldwide have improved a lot since the 1990s, (2) improvements in policy outcomes and improvements in growth across countries are correlated with each other (3) growth has been good after reform in Africa and Latin America, in contrast to the “lost decades” of the 80s and 90s. This paper makes no claims about causality. However, if the old stylized facts on disappointing growth accompanying reforms led to doubts about economic reforms, new stylized facts should lead to some positive updating of such beliefs.

Gluten aversion is not limited to the political left; perhaps most surprising, supporters of Donald Trump are more likely to identify as avoiding gluten, relative to non-supporters

Gluten aversion is not limited to the political left. Trey Malone, F. Bailey Norwood. Agriculture and Human Values, June 20 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-019-09958-7

Abstract: Despite a heightened political discourse surrounding food choices, few studies have identified connections between political beliefs and consumer perceptions. Using gluten as an example, this article identifies how political opinions relate to opinions of food products. If an avoidance of gluten is a biological condition and not a social construct, there should be no correlation between political opinions and gluten avoidance. Our study uncovers a complex relationship between the social construction of gluten avoidance and the potential role of political views. Perhaps most surprising, we find that supporters of Donald Trump are more likely to identify as avoiding gluten, relative to non-supporters. Findings suggest that future research might benefit from considering the political beliefs of consumers when estimating models of food demand.

Keywords: Gluten Politics Survey Food