No Evidence for Desensitization in Empathy for Pain after a Violent Video Game Intervention in a Longitudinal fMRI Study on Non-Gamers

The Myth of Blunted Gamers: No Evidence for Desensitization in Empathy for Pain after a Violent Video Game Intervention in a Longitudinal fMRI Study on Non-Gamers. S Kuhn et al. Neurosignals 2018;26:22–30, https://doi.org/10.1159/000487217

Abstract

Background/Aims: It is a common concern in the research field and the community that habitual violent video gaming reduces empathy for pain in its players. However, previous fMRI studies have only compared habitual game players against control participants cross-sectionally. However the observed pattern of results may be due to a priori differences in people who become gamers and who not. In order to derive the causal conclusion that violent video game play causes desensitisation, longitudinal studies are needed.

Methods: Therefore we conducted a longitudinal fMRI intervention study over 16 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to 1) play a violent video game (Grand Theft Auto 5), 2) perform a social life simulation game (The Sims 3) 30 min/day for 8 weeks, 3) serve as passive control. To assess empathy processing, participants were exposed to painful and non-painful stimuli (e.g. someone cutting a cucumber with or without hurting herself) either as real photographs or video-game like depictions in a 3T MRI scanner before and after the training intervention as well as two months after training.

Results: We did not find any evidence for desensitization in the empathy network for pain in the violent video game group at any time point.

Conclusions: The present results provide strong evidence against the frequently proclaimed negative effects of playing violent video games and will therefore help to communicate a more realistic scientific perspective of the effects of violent video gaming in real life.

Keywords: Violent video games; Aggression; Empathy; fMRI; Training study.

Cosa Nostra and the Camorra: Assessment of personality, alexithymic traits, and attachment styles

Cosa Nostra and the Camorra: Assessment of personality, alexithymic traits, and attachment styles. Giuseppe Craparo et al. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Volume 58, May–June 2018, Pages 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.02.010

Abstract: The Mafia (Cosa Nostra) and the Camorra are criminal organizations deeply rooted in an immoral familyism in which group interests are protected to the detriment of the individual. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of personality disorders, alexithymic traits and specific attachment styles in a sample of members belonging to these two different organized crime groups. We carried out two studies adopting two different perspectives. In the first study, we recruited 20 participants (10 members of Cosa Nostra and 10 members of the Camorra) who were serving time in the Augusta (Sicily) prison for crimes they had committed as members of the two Mafia-type organizations. The age of the Cosa Nostra members ranged from 28 to 62 years (M = 47.40, SD = 10.25); the age of the Camorra members ranged from 45 to 68 (M = 55.30, SD = 7.06). We tested personality profiles, attachment styles, alexithymia, and psychopathy and compared the results between the two groups. In this study while we did not find significant differences between the two groups, we were able to identify some discrepancies in a few of the variables analysed. In the second study, we used the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO) to analyse the personality organization of 10 of 20 participants (5 members of Cosa Nostra and 5 members of Camorra). Analysing the results at the STIPO we found a significant presence of borderline personality organization in both groups. As regards attachment style, we found that Camorra-members' scores high (75°) on the Discomfort with Closeness (related to Avoidant Attachment Style) and Relationship as Secondary factors of the Attachment Style Questionnaire. The Data collected in our study were not sufficient to identify a specific personality disorder or a specific serious psychological condition in the two groups of participants. Nonetheless, thanks to use of the STIPO we were able to determine that in the sample analysed there was not one subject with a psychotic personality organization; we did however find the presence of borderline personality organization and neurotic personality organization in some of the subjects.

Have wars and violence declined? It seems not.

Have wars and violence declined? Michael Mann. Theory and Society, February 2018, Volume 47, Issue 1, pp 37–60. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11186-018-9305-y

Abstract: For over 150 years liberal optimism has dominated theories of war and violence. It has been repeatedly argued that war and violence either are declining or will shortly decline. There have been exceptions, especially in Germany and more generally in the first half of the twentieth century, but there has been a recent revival of such optimism, especially in the work of Azar Gat, John Mueller, Joshua Goldstein, and Steven Pinker who all perceive a long-term decline in war and violence through history, speeding up in the post-1945 period. Critiquing Pinker’s statistics on war fatalities, I show that the overall pattern is not a decline in war, but substantial variation between periods and places. War has not declined and current trends are slightly in the opposite direction. The conventional view is that civil wars in the global South have largely replaced inter-state wars in the North, but this is misleading since there is major involvement in most civil wars by outside powers, including those of the North. There is more support for their view that homicide has declined in the long-term, at least in the North of the world (with the United States lagging somewhat). This is reinforced by technological improvements in long-distance weaponry and the two transformations have shifted war, especially in the North, from being “ferocious” to “callous” in character. This renders war less visible and less central to Northern culture, which has the deceptive appearance of being rather pacific. Viewed from the South the view has been bleaker both in the colonial period and today. Globally war and violence are not declining, but they are being transformed.

How you behave in school predicts life success above and beyond family background, broad traits, and cognitive ability

How you behave in school predicts life success above and beyond family background, broad traits, and cognitive ability. Spengler, Marion,Damian, Rodica Ioana,Roberts, Brent W. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Mar 05 , 2018, http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpspp0000185

In this study, we investigated the role of student characteristics and behaviors in a longitudinal study over a 50-year timespan (using a large U.S. representative sample of high school students). We addressed the question of whether behaviors in school have any long-lasting effects for one‘s later life. Specifically, we investigated the role of being a responsible student, interest in school, writing skills, and reading skills in predicting educational attainment, occupational prestige, and income 11 years (N = 81,912) and 50 years (N = 1,952) after high school. We controlled for parental socioeconomic status, IQ, and broad personality traits in all analyses. We found that student characteristics and behaviors in adolescence predicted later educational and occupational success above and beyond parental socioeconomic status, IQ, and broad personality traits. Having higher interest in school was related to higher educational attainment at years 11 and 50, higher occupational prestige at year 11, and higher income at year 50. Higher levels of being a responsible student were related to higher educational attainment and higher occupational prestige at years 11 and 50. This was the first longitudinal study to test the role of student characteristics and behaviors over and above broad personality traits. It highlights the potential importance of what students do in school and how they react to their experiences during that time. It also highlights the possibility that things that happen in specific periods of one’s life may play out in ways far more significant than we expect.

Some people hear what they see: car indicator lights, flashing neon shop signs, and people’s movements as they walk may all trigger an auditory sensation; it is more frequent than previously thought

Sounds from seeing silent motion: Who hears them, and what looks loudest? Christopher J. Fassnidge, Elliot D. Freeman. Cortex, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.02.019

Abstract

Some people hear what they see: car indicator lights, flashing neon shop signs, and people’s movements as they walk may all trigger an auditory sensation, which we call the visual-evoked auditory response (vEAR or ‘visual ear’). We have conducted the first large-scale online survey (N>4000) of this little-known phenomenon. We analysed the prevalence of vEAR, what induces it, and what other traits are associated with it.

We asked respondents if they had previously experienced vEAR. Participants then rated silent videos for vividness of evoked auditory sensations, and answered additional questions.

Prevalence appeared higher relative to other typical synaesthesias. Prior awareness and video ratings were associated with greater frequency of other synaesthesias, including flashes evoked by sounds, and musical imagery. Higher-rated videos often depicted meaningful events that predicted sounds (e.g. collisions). However, ratings were also driven by the low-level ‘motion energy’ of non-predictive flashing or moving patterns, specifically in respondents who had previous awareness of vEAR.

Our motion energy analysis suggests that signals from visual motion processing may affect audition relatively directly, without requiring higher-level interpretative processes. While some popular explanations of synaesthesia assume rare and specific patterns of brain hyper-connectivity, the apparently high prevalence of vEAR, and its broad association with other synaesthesias and traits, are consistent with a common dependence on normal variations in physiological mechanisms of disinhibition or excitability of sensory brain areas and their functional connectivity, rather than just on specific patterns of hyper-connectivity. The prevalence of vEAR makes it easier to test such hypotheses further, and makes the results more relevant to understanding not only synaesthetic anomalies but also normal perception.

Keywords: Synaesthesia; individual differences; Audiovisual perception; Synaesthesia

---
Example: https://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/15-noisygifs.gif

Clothes are what most visibly set humans apart from all other species. In fact no other technology plays such an intimate part in the everyday lives of modern humans.

Clothing. Ian Gilligan. In T.K. Shackelford, V.A. Weekes-Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3009-1

Clothes are what most visibly set humans apart from all other species. In fact no other technology plays such an intimate part in the everyday lives of modern humans. Yet of all our major inventions, the least is known about the origin of clothes. One reason is that clothes do not survive for long in the archaeological record. Another factor contributingto an academic neglect is a gender bias: Clothes are generally considered more a feminine concern.

Clothing originated as an adaptive behavioral response to biological nakedness which became a thermal liability during the Pleistocene ice ages. Findings from climatology and thermal physiologycan reveal the prehistoric need for clothes as insulation from cold. While no garments have survived, archaeology yields evidence for clothing-related technologies in the paleolithic era (especially tailored clothes). The invention and improvement of clothes as protection from worsening weather conditions led to major technological innovations – toolkits with stone scrapers, blades, and bone needles. These technologies allowed hominins to conquer most of the world’s environments and to finally enter the Americas from Siberia. Clothing was the most advanced technology developed by hominins in prehistory – and it is the only paleolithic invention that people still carry with them in the contemporary world.

Testosterone and Hedge Funds: Do Alpha Males Deliver Alpha? They don't.

Lu, Yan and Teo, Melvyn, Do Alpha Males Deliver Alpha? Testosterone and Hedge Funds (January 12, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3100645

Abstract: Using facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) as a proxy for testosterone, we show that high-testosterone hedge fund managers significantly underperform low-testosterone hedge fund managers after adjusting for risk. Moreover, high-testosterone managers are more likely to terminate their funds, disclose violations on their Form ADVs, and display greater operational risk. We trace the underperformance to high-testosterone managers' greater preference for lottery-like stocks and reluctance to sell loser stocks. Our results are robust to adjustments for sample selection, marital status, sensation seeking, and manager age, and suggest that investors should eschew masculine hedge fund managers.

Keywords: hedge funds, alpha, testosterone, facial width-to-height, masculine, disposition effect, operational risk

JEL Classification: G02, G23

Men perceived a more attractive female profile picture as less trustworthy, while women found a male with a more attractive profile picture to be more trustworthy

Too hot to trust: Examining the relationship between attractiveness, trustworthiness, and desire to date in online dating. Rory McGloin, Amanda Denes. New Media & Society, Volume: 20 issue: 3, page(s): 919-936. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816675440

Abstract: This study expands upon previous research by examining how the enhancement of a dating profile picture might influence perceptions of interpersonal trustworthiness and how this relationship might further influence the perceived attractiveness and desire to date the respective individual. Participants were exposed to one of four online dating profile conditions and were then asked to rate the attractiveness of the person in the profile, as well as their perceived trustworthiness. The results revealed that men in this study perceived a more attractive female profile picture as less trustworthy, while women found a male with a more attractive profile picture to be more trustworthy. An indirect effects model also revealed that perceived trustworthiness mediates the relationship between similarity and attractiveness, though these effects were not moderated by the picture manipulation itself. Finally, this study found that individuals have greater intentions to date individuals whose profile pictures are perceived as more attractive.

Keywords: Attractiveness, evolutionary theory, online dating, profile pictures, similarity, trustworthiness

Contrary to predictions from evolutionary theory, the magnitude of gender differences varied across cultures. Contrary to predictions from the social role model, gender differences were most pronounced in cultures in which traditional sex roles are minimized

Universal and Specific in the Five Factor Model of Personality. Jüri Allik and Anu Realo. In The Oxford Handbook of the Five Factor Model, edited by Thomas A. Widiger. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199352487.013.23

Abstract: Personality psychologists—perhaps even more than in some other disciplines—are deeply interested in what is common to personality descriptions in all cultures and societies. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the potential universality of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of general personality structure. The chapter begins with a discussion of what is meant, or should be meant, by a universal. Discussed then is the empirical support, as well as the conceptual and empirical difficulty, in establishing universality in personality structure, for the FFM as well as other dimensional models. The chapter then considers different levels of analysis (including cultural and intraindividual analyses), higher-order invariants (including sex differences, age differences, and differences in perspective), and whether mean levels are universal. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the basis for personality universals, as well as addressing the common challenges to universality.

Keywords: Five-Factor Model, universal, culture, personality structure, differences in perspective


---
It seems this is well established:

Gender Differences in Personality Traits Across Cultures: Robust and Surprising Findings. Paul T. Costa Jr., Antonio Terracciano, and Robert R. McCrae. Journai of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001, Vol. 81, No. 2,322-331. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.81.2.322

Abstract: Secondary analyses of Revised NEO Personality Inventory data from 26 cultures (N = 23,031) suggest that gender differences are small relative to individual variation within genders; differences are replicated across cultures for both college-age and adult samples, and differences are broadly consistent with gender stereotypes: Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth, and Openness to Feelings, whereas men were higher in Assertiveness and Openness to Ideas. Contrary to predictions from evolutionary theory, the magnitude of gender differences varied across cultures. Contrary to predictions from the social role model, gender differences were most pronounced in European and American cultures in which traditional sex roles are minimized. Possible explanations for this surprising finding are discussed, including the attribution of masculine and feminine behaviors to roles rather than traits in traditional cultures.

Words related to resistance to change, but not perceived threat, were related to political ideology such that conservatives were more likely to include resistance-to-change-related words in their responses compared with liberals

Brief Textual Indicators of Political Orientation. Bradley M. Okdie, Daniel M. Rempala. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X18762973

Abstract: Language reflects one’s thoughts, feelings, and worldview. Technology has led to a proliferation of brief communications. Is this brief text meaningful? We examine whether text from brief political and nonpolitical communications reflect political ideology. Student responses to their ideological foundations (Study 1), brief snippets of unanimous Supreme Court verdicts (Study 2), and celebrity tweets (Study 3) were textually analyzed to examine whether they contained perceived threat and resistance to change content and whether this predicted the authors’ political affiliation. Across three studies, words related to resistance to change, but not perceived threat, were related to political ideology such that conservatives were more likely to include resistance-to-change-related words in their responses compared with liberals. These results suggest that brief text, even when not overtly political, reflects one’s political ideology. The increase in brief text production via new technology and its ability to predict political ideology make these findings particularly meaningful.

Keywords: political orientation, computer-mediated communication, affiliation, Twitter, brief text communication

The Influence of Physical Attractiveness on Belief in a Just World: Physical attractiveness powerfully affects our subjective experience as a human and that just-world beliefs are driven, at least in part, by personal experience with inequality

The Influence of Physical Attractiveness on Belief in a Just World. R. Shane Westfall, Murray G. Millar, Aileen Lovitt. Psychological Reports, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0033294118763172

Abstract: Previous work has consistently found that belief in a just world is strongly correlated with societal privilege. In the present study, we examined the influence of physical attractiveness on belief in a just world. We hypothesized that physically attractive individuals would be stronger endorsers of belief in a just world, whereas less attractive individuals would be less likely to endorse belief in a just world. Both self-rated attractiveness (experiment one) and attractiveness rated by other persons (experiment two) were found to predict endorsement of belief in a just world. Additionally, both attractiveness measures were found to have a relationship with participant’s level of life satisfaction. These findings suggest that physical attractiveness powerfully affects our subjective experience as a human and that just-world beliefs are driven, at least in part, by personal experience with inequality.

Keywords: Just-world beliefs, attractiveness, halo effect, individual differences

Is Envy Harmful to a Society’s Psychological Health and Wellbeing? A Longitudinal Study of 18,000 Adults

Is Envy Harmful to a Society’s Psychological Health and Wellbeing? A Longitudinal Study of 18,000 Adults. Redzo Mujcic and Andrew J. Oswald. Social Science and Medicine, forthcoming. http://andrewoswald.com/

Abstract: Nearly 100 years ago, the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell warned of the social dangers of widespread envy. One view of modern society is that it is systematically developing a set of institutions -- such as social media and new forms of advertising -- that make people feel inadequate and envious of others. If so, how might that be influencing the psychological health of our citizens? This paper reports the first large-scale longitudinal research into envy and its possible repercussions. The paper studies 18,000 randomly selected individuals over the years 2005, 2009, and 2013. Using measures of SF-36 mental health and psychological well-being, four main conclusions emerge. First, the young are especially susceptible. Levels of envy fall as people grow older. This longitudinal finding is consistent with a cross-sectional pattern noted recently by Nicole E. Henniger and Christine R. Harris, and with the theory of socioemotional regulation suggested by scholars such as Laura L. Carstensen. Second, using fixed-effects equations and prospective analysis, the analysis reveals that envy today is a powerful predictor of worse SF-36 mental health and well-being in the future. A change from the lowest to the highest level of envy, for example, is associated with a worsening of SF-36 mental health by approximately half a standard deviation (p < 0.001). Third, no evidence is found for the idea that envy acts as a useful motivator. Greater envy is associated with slower -- not higher -- growth of psychological well-being in the future. Nor is envy a predictor of later economic success. Fourth, the longitudinal decline of envy leaves unaltered a U-shaped age pattern of well-being from age 20 to age 70. These results are consistent with the idea that society should be concerned about institutions that stimulate large-scale envy.

Keywords: Envy, age, SF-36, mental health, well-being, longitudinal data

Does learning that homosexuality is innate (or not) increase support for gay rights? Doesn't, new information is filtered by previous ideology

Science, Sexuality, and Civil Rights: Does Information on the Causes of Sexual Orientation Change Attitudes? Elizabeth Suhay, Jeremiah Garretson. The Journal of Politics, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/694896

Abstract: Does learning that homosexuality is innate increase support for gay rights? Because there is a strong correlation between the belief that people are “born gay” and support for gay rights, many assume the former causes the latter. However, correlation does not equal causation. Drawing on data from a US-representative experiment, we examine whether exposure to scientific information on the origins of sexual orientation influences attitudes toward gay people and support for gay rights. The information influenced participants’ beliefs about the causes of homosexuality but had no impact on their attitudes. Further, belief change was contingent on ideology—liberals were more persuaded by information that people are born gay, and conservatives by information that people are not born gay. In the contemporary context, shifting causal attributions may not lead to attitude updating; rather, broad political values may act as a cognitive filter, biasing the uptake of new information about sexual orientation.

Keywords: causal attributions, gay rights, political attitudes, motivated reasoning, science communication.

I find a worldwide optimism about the future; in spite of repeated evidence to the contrary, people consistently but irrationally predict they will be better off five years from now. The gap between future & current wellbeing diminishes with age, & in rich countries, is negative among the elderly

What do Self-Reports of Wellbeing Say about Life-Cycle Theory and Policy? Angus Deaton. NBER Working Paper No. 24369. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24369

Abstract: I respond to Atkinson's plea to revive welfare economics, and to considering alternative ethical frameworks when making policy recommendations. I examine a measure of self-reported evaluative wellbeing, the Cantril Ladder, and use data from Gallup to examine wellbeing over the life-cycle. I assess the validity of the measure, and show that it is hard to reconcile with familiar theories of intertemporal choice. I find a worldwide optimism about the future; in spite of repeated evidence to the contrary, people consistently but irrationally predict they will be better off five years from now. The gap between future and current wellbeing diminishes with age, and in rich countries, is negative among the elderly. I also use the measure to think about income transfers by age and sex. Policies that give priority those with low incomes favor the young and the old, while utilitarian policies favor the middle aged, and men over women.

Taboo words to describe proper names does not cause a significant effect; however, we found that participants rated certain categories of taboo words as more offensive than other categorie

Duncan, Jennifer, Erin M Buchanan, Caleb Z Marshall, and Katerina Oberdieck 2018. “But Words Will Never Hurt Me”. Open Science Framework. February 2. osf.io/b2nxg

Abstract: It is no secret that people often use taboo words when speaking about persons and objects in their environment. Taboo words are charged with emotion and have observable impact on the listener as well as the speaker. The purpose of this study was to determine whether taboo words were quantitatively more offensive when used in combination with a proper name versus being used with a non-human object. We found that using taboo words to describe proper names does not cause a significant effect; however, we found that participants rated certain categories of taboo words as more offensive than other categories. In a second experiment, taboo words did affect ratings and memory for proper names and non-human objects.