But with mobile phones, texting, and social media, cocaine users around the world reported that their most recent cocaine order was delivered in less time, on average, than their most recent pizza order

A primer on fentanyl(s). Mark Kleiman, May 24, 2018. www.samefacts.com/2018/05/drug-policy/a-primer-on-fentanyls/

The synthetic opioids – usually referred to both in the press and by law enforcement as “fentanyl” – have now outstripped not only the prescription opioids such as oxycodone but also heroin in terms of overdose deaths, and (as you can see below) the trend line is almost vertical.

[...]

But with mobile phones, texting, and social media, transactions can now be arranged electronically and completed by home delivery, reducing the buyer’s risk and travel time to near zero and even his waiting time to minimal levels. In the recent Global Survey on Drugs, cocaine users around the world reported that their most recent cocaine order was delivered in less time, on average, than their most recent pizza order.

[...]

We predicted that skeptics would have less favorable attitudes toward celebrities in general and feel less strongly attached to their own favorite celebrity, as compared to the believers; the first prediction was confirmed but not the second

Do Religious Skeptics Differ from Religious Believers in their Interest in Celebrities? Lynn E. McCutcheon and Harvey Richman. Implicit Religion, doi:10.1558/imre.29534. Keywords: religious, skeptics, celebrities, believers, stereotypes

Given the prejudice directed toward religious skeptics, it is imperative that we learn as much as we can about this minority group. We administered the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), and some brief additional measures of attitudes about celebrities to a sample of 91 religious believers and 92 skeptics recruited throughout the US from Mechanical Turk. We predicted that skeptics would have less favorable attitudes toward celebrities in general and feel less strongly attached to their own favorite celebrity, as compared to the believers. The first prediction was confirmed but not the second. We also compared believers with skeptics on choices of an “entertainer” vs. “non-entertainer” favorite celebrity, and found no significant difference. The results are discussed in light of current research on religious skeptics and celebrity worshipers.

Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to follow sports closely. However, sports fandom is positively associated with individualistic attributions for economic success and support for the US military

Sports Fandom and Political Attitudes. Emily A Thorson Michael Serazio. Public Opinion Quarterly, nfy018, https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfy018

Abstract: A majority of Americans identify as sports fans, and sports broadcasts attract substantially larger audiences than news on both broadcast and cable television. But despite the outsize role of sports in American life, we know little about how—or whether—sports fandom is related to political attitudes. This paper draws on a representative survey to examine (1) the association between sports fandom and political opinions; and (2) opposition to the “politicization” of sports. Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to follow sports closely. However, sports fandom is positively associated with individualistic attributions for economic success and support for the US military. In addition, conservatives are more likely to resist the intrusion of partisan politics into sports.

The Cost of Being Sexy: The long quest to understand male sexual traits, testosterone, and immunocompetence

The Cost of Being Sexy. Lesley Evans Ogden. BioScience, Volume 68, Issue 6, 1 January 1753, Pages 393–399, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy043

The long quest to understand male sexual traits, testosterone, and immunocompetence

Cape ground squirrels have captured Jane Waterman's fascination for the last 30 years. “They’re so cool,” effuses Waterman. Studying them in South Africa, where these beguiling, furry mammals breed year round, she has revealed a treasure trove of surprises. Extremely social, females live in family groups with their young. Males disperse from their family group at about 3 years old, joining bachelor groups. In these all-male groups, males sleep together, groom one another, and move together through the veld. Males have no dominance hierarchy and defend no territories, and it is rare to see any sort of aggressive behavior, explains Waterman. But on the day when a female enters estrus, which lasts about 3 hours, an average of 11 males show up to try to breed. Winners in this mating game are typically older, in better body condition, and “well endowed” with big testes and more sperm, she says. Big testes, theory holds, are usually supported with an abundance of testosterone. But Waterman has not found their testosterone levels higher than those in a lot of other less-endowed species.

This intrigued her. It seemed to Waterman that to support big testes, males had to be able to keep testosterone going year round. In these squirrels, she also found more ectoparasites on males than on females—not only when males are wide-ranging adults but also when they are homebody juveniles. Her hunch was that an influx of testosterone drives a reduced male ability to fend off ectoparasites, espousing an idea known as the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH). It is a hypothesis that she, with a graduate student, has recently tested experimentally.

Waterman's test of the ICHH follows on the heels of hundreds of studies since the idea was first articulated in The American Naturalist by Ivar Folstad and Andrew Karter in 1992. The ICHH proposes that elaborate male ornaments or signs of vigor are mediated at least in part by testosterone but that testosterone is costly in terms of compromising immune function. The ICHH is an influential hypothesis tracing its lineage back to Darwin's first musings about the tail of the peacock, the antlers of deer, and other exaggerated male traits that could attract the attention of females but might be costly for survival. For scientists who had long thought about sexual selection from a theoretical standpoint, here was a potential mechanism to explain it. The duality of testosterone—sexy but costly—suggested authors Folstad and Karter, provides a cue to choosy females as to which males cope with this burden best.

[...]

There is a clear pattern of mobile phones being carried in people’s hands, without the person using it (that is, not looking at it); In addition, when individuals join members of the opposite sex there is a clear tendency to stop holding mobile phones whilst walking

The phone walkers: a study of human dependence on inactive mobile devices. Laura P. Schaposnik and James Unwin. Behaviour, DOI: 10.1163/1568539X-00003496

Abstract: The development of mobile phones has largely increased human interactions. Whilst the use of these devices for communication has received significant attention, there has been little analysis of more passive interactions. Through census data on casual social groups, this work suggests a clear pattern of mobile phones being carried in people’s hands, without the person using it (that is, not looking at it). Moreover, this study suggests that when individuals join members of the opposite sex there is a clear tendency to stop holding mobile phones whilst walking. Although it is not clear why people hold their phones whilst walking in such large proportions (38% of solitary women, and 31% of solitary men), we highlight several possible explanation for holding the device, including the need to advertise status and affluence, to maintain immediate connection with friends and family, and to mitigate feelings related to anxiety and security.

Keywords: gender; sex; pedestrians; inactive device usage; phone

Ingestion of glucose leads to decreased activity & connectivity in brain areas & networks linked to energy seeking and satiation; in contrast, drinking plain water leads to increased connectivity probably associated with continued food seeking & unfulfilled reward

Brain activity and connectivity changes in response to glucose ingestion. A. M. van Opstal et al. Nutritional Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2018.1477538

Abstract

Objectives: The regulatory role of the brain in directing eating behavior becomes increasingly recognized. Although many areas in the brain have been found to respond to food cues, very little data is available after actual caloric intake. The aim of this study was to determine normal whole brain functional responses to ingestion of glucose after an overnight fast.

Methods: Twenty-five normal weight, adult males underwent functional MRI on two separate visits. In a single-blind randomized study setup, participants received either glucose solution (50 g/300 ml of water) or plain water. We studied changes in Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal, voxel-based connectivity by Eigenvector Centrality Mapping, and functional network connectivity.

Results: Ingestion of glucose led to increased centrality in the thalamus and to decreases in BOLD signal in various brain areas. Decreases in connectivity in the sensory-motor and dorsal visual stream networks were found. Ingestion of water resulted in increased centrality across the brain, and increases in connectivity in the medial and lateral visual cortex network. Increased BOLD intensity was found in the intracalcarine and cingulate cortex.

Discussion: Our data show that ingestion of glucose leads to decreased activity and connectivity in brain areas and networks linked to energy seeking and satiation. In contrast, drinking plain water leads to increased connectivity probably associated with continued food seeking and unfulfilled reward.

Keywords: Glucose ingestion, Energy ingestion, Functional brain responses, Brain activity, Functional connectivity, Eigenvector centrality mapping, Normal weight participants

Girls score higher than boys in mathematics and science achievement across non-OECD nations. An association was found between gender differences in science achievement and national levels of gender equality (support for the gender segregation hypothesis)

Investigating Gender Differences in Mathematics and Science: Results from the 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey. David Reilly, David L. Neumann, Glenda Andrews. Research in Science Education, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11165-017-9630-6

Abstract: The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related fields remains a concern for educators and the scientific community. Gender differences in mathematics and science achievement play a role, in conjunction with attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs. We report results from the 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a large international assessment of eighth grade students’ achievement, attitudes, and beliefs among 45 participating nations (N = 261,738). Small- to medium-sized gender differences were found for most individual nations (from d = −.60 to +.31 in mathematics achievement, and d = −.60 to +.26 for science achievement), although the direction varied and there were no global gender differences overall. Such a pattern cross-culturally is incompatible with the notion of immutable gender differences. Additionally, there were different patterns between OECD and non-OECD nations, with girls scoring higher than boys in mathematics and science achievement across non-OECD nations. An association was found between gender differences in science achievement and national levels of gender equality, providing support for the gender segregation hypothesis. Furthermore, the performance of boys was more variable than that of girls in most nations, consistent with the greater male variability hypothesis. Boys reported more favorable attitudes towards mathematics and science, and girls reported lower self-efficacy beliefs. While the gender gap in STEM achievement may be closing, there are still large sections of the world where differences remain.

Those experiencing distrust (vs. trust) endorsed more lenient moral standards for themselves than for others: Individuals who distrust and fear to be exploited show self-serving, and hence untrustworthy, moral cognition themselves

Two-Faced Morality: Distrust Promotes Divergent Moral Standards for the Self Versus Others. Alexa Weiss, Pascal Burgmer, Thomas Mussweiler. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,  https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218775693

Abstract: People do not trust hypocrites, because they preach water, but drink wine. The current research shows that, ironically, when we distrust, we become moral hypocrites ourselves. We argue that experiencing distrust alerts us to the possibility that others may intent to exploit us, and that such looming exploitation differentially affects moral standards for the self versus others. Four studies (N = 1,225) examined this possibility and its underlying motivational dynamic. Study 1 established a relationship between dispositional distrust and flexible, self-serving moral cognition. In Studies 2 and 3, participants experiencing distrust (vs. trust) endorsed more lenient moral standards for themselves than for others. Study 4 explored the role of the motivation to avoid exploitation in these effects. Specifically, participants’ dispositional victim sensitivity moderated the effect of distrust on hypocrisy. Together, these findings suggest that individuals who distrust and fear to be exploited show self-serving, and hence untrustworthy, moral cognition themselves.

Keywords: distrust, trust, moral hypocrisy, moral judgment, exploitation avoidance, victim sensitivity

State mindfulness impaired motivation to complete cognitive and performance tasks, had no overall effect (good or bad) for performance; weakened future focus and arousal serially mediated demotivating effect, but also enabled people to detach from stressors, which improved task focus

Mindfulness Meditation Impairs Task Motivation but Not Performance. Andrew C. Hafenbrack, Kathleen D. Vohs. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 147, July 2018, Pages 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.05.001

Highlights
•    State mindfulness impaired motivation to complete cognitive and performance tasks.
•    State mindfulness had no overall effect (good or bad) for performance on same tasks.
•    Weakened future focus and arousal serially mediated demotivating effect.
•    Mindfulness enabled people to detach from stressors, which improved task focus.
•    Detachment and task focus help explain why mindfulness does not alter performance.

Abstract: A state of mindfulness is characterized by focused, nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment. The current research experimentally investigated how state mindfulness influences task motivation and performance, using multiple meditation inductions, comparison conditions, tasks, and participant samples. Mindfulness inductions, relative to comparison conditions, reduced motivation to tackle mundane tasks (Experiments 1–4) and pleasant tasks (Experiment 2). Decreased future focus and decreased arousal serially mediated the demotivating effect of mindfulness (Experiments 3 and 4). In contrast to changes in motivation, inducing a state of mindfulness did not affect task performance, as seen in all experiments but one (Experiments 2–5). Meta-analyses of performance experiments, including unreported findings (i.e., the file drawer), supported these conclusions. Experiment 5’s serial mediation showed that mindfulness enabled people to detach from stressors, which improved task focus. When combined with mindfulness’s demotivating effects, these results help explain why mindfulness does not alter performance.

Keywords: Mindfulness; Meditation; Motivation; Performance; Arousal; Psychological detachment

A brief lesson that includes the assumptions of self-interest and strategic considerations moves behavior toward traditional economic rationality in ultimatum game, dictator game, and prisoner's dilemma

The Rapid Evolution of Homo Economicus: Brief Exposure to Neoclassical Assumptions Increases Self-Interested Behavior. John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2018.04.012

Highlights
•    Laboratory experiment using within & across-subject design
•    Identify impact of econ lessons on behavior in games used to measure selfishness
•    Econ lessons include assumption of self-interest and strategic considerations
•    Behav moves toward self-interest in ultimatum & dictator games & prisoner's dilemma
•    No effect in public-goods games

Abstract: Economics students have been shown to exhibit more selfishness than other students. Because the literature identifies the impact of long-term exposure to economics instruction (e.g., taking a course), it cannot isolate the specific course content responsible; nor can selection, peer effects, or other confounds be properly controlled for. In a laboratory experiment, we use a within- and across-subject design to identify the impact of brief, randomly-assigned economics lessons on behavior in the ultimatum game (UG), dictator game (DG), prisoner's dilemma (PD), and public-goods game (PGG). We find that a brief lesson that includes the assumptions of self-interest and strategic considerations moves behavior toward traditional economic rationality in UG, PD, and DG. Despite entering the study with higher levels of selfishness than others, subjects with prior exposure to economics instruction have similar training effects. We show that the lesson reduces efficiency and increases inequity in the UG. The results demonstrate that even brief exposure to commonplace neoclassical economics assumptions measurably moves behavior toward self-interest.

Keywords: Economics instruction; Self-interest; Game theory; Laboratory experiment; Social preferences

Evidence of a Flynn Effect in Children's Human Figure Drawings (1902–1968)

Evidence of a Flynn Effect in Children's Human Figure Drawings (1902–1968). Jeremy E. C. Genovese. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2018.1469113

ABSTRACT: The Flynn effect is the long-term trend for scores on tests of cognitive ability to increase across cohorts. Several samples of children's human figure drawings, published in 1902, 1926, 1963, and 1968, are examined for evidence of a Flynn effect. Results show that larger percentages of children draw more complete human figures over the course of the 20th century.

KEYWORDS: children's drawings, Draw-a-Person test, Flynn effect, history of Psychology

Stone-age strategies, space-age media & signaling in profile photos: Males emphasized social status, ambition & access to material resources, females physical appearance & youthfulness. Perception of masculinity was tied to display of resources & physical strength, femininity to physical appearance & flirtatious behavior

Stone-age strategies and space-age media: Sex differences in sexual signaling on Facebook. Igor Miklousic, Mia Karabegović, Lukrecija Puljić. Periodicum Biologorum,  Vol 119 No 4 (2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18054/pb.v119i4.5787

Abstract: Building on the proposition of the Sexual Strategies Theory that sex differences in mating strategies and intrasexual competition will be reflected in sexual signaling behavior towards possible mates, we sought to examine if such strategies would be observable on social networking sites.

For the purpose of the study, ten male and ten female public profile pictures were randomly selected from a large pool of users (N = 1386) who chose to participate in the study and subscribed to a Facebook page created in order to aggregate users with an interest in Evolutionary psychology. Selected profile photos were then included in an online evaluation protocol, filled out by 31 independent raters, resulting in a total of 620 ratings. The protocol addressed nine evolutionarily relevant partner choice characteristics; 1) physical strength or athleticism, (2) access to resources or material possessions, (3) ambition or industriousness, (4) social status, (5) intelligence, (6) features of physical appearance, (7) features accentuating youthfulness, (8) high activity level, and (9) flirtatious behavior.

Males more frequently emphasized cues of social status, ambition and access to material resources, whereas females tended to emphasize features of physical appearance and of youthfulness. Furthermore, the perception of masculinity was mostly tied to the display of resources and physical strength, as was femininity to physical appearance and flirtatious behavior.

The Sexual Strategies Theory predictions of mating display behaviors were confirmed in online settings, demonstrating the robustness of sex differences in mating-related behaviors.

Temptation & self-selection into an opportunistic environment on an individual’s likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior: people who tempt themselves to cheat are more likely to cheat & in greater magnitude. Self-reported value of ethics predicts honest behavior only for subjects who consider their moral principles to be “very important” in their everyday lives

Temptation and Cheating Behavior: Experimental Evidence. Jennifer Pate. Journal of Economic Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2018.05.006

Highlights
•    This study features an experiment testing the impact of temptation and self-selection into an opportunistic environment on an individual’s likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior.
•    The empirical evidence demonstrates that people who tempt themselves to cheat are more likely to cheat.
•    Further, people who self-select into the opportunistic setting cheat to a greater magnitude than individuals placed into the same opportunistic condition by random assignment.
•    There are no gender differences in self-selection into the opportunistic environment or in overall likelihood of cheating.
•    An individual’s self-reported value of ethics predicts honest behavior but only for subjects who consider their moral principles to be “very important” in their everyday lives.

Abstract: This article presents an experiment designed to test the impact of temptation and self-selection into an opportunistic environment on an individual’s likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior. In doing so, this experiment is the first of its kind to isolate the relationship between temptation and cheating as its primary focus, to create a randomized control group for comparative purposes, and to be conducted without deceiving subjects. The evidence shows that people who tempt themselves to cheat are more likely to cheat. Further, people who self-select into the opportunistic setting cheat to a greater extent than individuals placed into the same opportunistic condition by random assignment. There are no gender differences in choice of environment or likelihood of cheating. An individual’s self-reported value of ethics predicts honest behavior but only for subjects who consider their moral principles to be “very important” in their everyday lives. The results have direct implications for any environment where individuals can self-select into an opportunistic setting.

Keywords: Temptation; cheating; dishonesty; opportunism

For men, psychopathy was a negative predictor, and narcissism a positive predictor of lifetime offspring; for women, psychopathy emerged as a negative predictor of lifetime offspring

Lifetime offspring and the Dark Triad. Gregory L. Carter, Minna Lyons, Gayle Brewer. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 132, 1 October 2018, Pages 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.05.017

Abstract: There is a paucity of literature investigating the extent to which human personality predicts lifetime (age-controlled) offspring. The present study contributes to this field in assessing whether the inter-related ‘dark’ personalities that have been linked to mating success (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy: the ‘Dark Triad’) predict number of children. Analyses from an online sample (N = 314) revealed that for men, psychopathy was a negative predictor, and narcissism a positive predictor of lifetime offspring. For women, psychopathy emerged as a negative predictor of lifetime offspring. Results are discussed in respect of the importance of these traits to fitness-related outcomes, including reproduction, and the need to consider sex differences, as these traits may have a different function in men and women.

Keywords: Reproduction; Dark Triad; Narcissism; Machiavellianism; Psychopathy

Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill. This suggests that the wrong people may engage in risky activities, such as entering competitive markets or career paths, while the right people may be crowded out

How do beliefs about skill affect risky decisions? Adrian Bruhin, Luís Santos-Pinto, David Staubli. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 150, June 2018, Pages 350-371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.01.016

Highlights
•    In this paper, we use a laboratory experiment to study the causal effect of beliefs about skill on risky choices.
•    The paper offers an innovative experimental test that is free of strategic confounds and based on revealed preference.
•    Low (high) skill subjects are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill.
•    This suggests that the wrong people may engage in risky activities V such as entering competitive markets or career paths V while the right people may be crowded out.
•    Revealed beliefs are only moderately correlated with stated beliefs and so relying only on stated beliefs may be misleading.

Abstract: Beliefs about relative skill matter for risky decisions such as market entry, career choices, and financial investments. Yet in most laboratory experiments risk is exogenously given and beliefs about relative skill play no role. We use a laboratory experiment without strategy confounds to isolate the impact of beliefs about relative skill on risky choices. We find that low (high) skill individuals are more (less) willing to take risks on gambles where the probabilities depend on relative skill than on gambles with exogenously given probabilities. This happens because low (high) skill individuals overestimate (underestimate) their relative skill. Consequently, the wrong people may engage in risky activities where performance is based on relative skill while the right people may be crowded out.