None of the multitasking measures (accuracy, total time, total distance covered by the avatar, a prospective memory score, & a distractor management score) showed any sex differences

No sex difference in an everyday multitasking paradigm. Marco Hirnstein, Frank Larøi, Julien Laloyaux. Psychological Research, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-018-1045-0

Abstract: According to popular beliefs and anecdotes, females best males when handling multiple tasks at the same time. However, there is relatively little empirical evidence as to whether there truly is a sex difference in multitasking and the few available studies yield inconsistent findings. We present data from a paradigm that was specifically designed to test multitasking abilities in an everyday scenario, the computerized meeting preparation task (CMPT), which requires participants to prepare a room for a meeting and handling various tasks and distractors in the process. Eighty-two males and 66 females with a wide age range (18–60 years) and a wide educational background completed the CMPT. Results revealed that none of the multitasking measures (accuracy, total time, total distance covered by the avatar, a prospective memory score, and a distractor management score) showed any sex differences. All effect sizes were d ≤ 0.18 and thus not even considered “small” by conventional standards. The findings are in line with other studies that found no or only small gender differences in everyday multitasking abilities. However, there is still too little data available to conclude if, and in which multitasking paradigms, gender differences arise.

At variance with the honest signal hypothesis, vocal and facial attractiveness were uncorrelated, with the exception of a moderate positive correlation for vowels

Zäske, Romi, Verena G. Skuk, and Stefan R. Schweinberger. 2018. “Attractiveness and Distinctiveness in Voices and Faces of Young Adults.” PsyArXiv. June 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/2avu3

Abstract: Facial attractiveness has been linked to the averageness (or typicality) of a face. More tentatively, it has also been linked to a speaker’s vocal attractiveness, via the “honest signal” hypothesis, holding that attractiveness signals good genes. In four experiments, we assessed ratings for attractiveness and two common measures of distinctiveness (“distinctiveness-in-thecrowd”- DITC and “deviation-based distinctiveness”-DEV) for faces and voices (vowels or sentences) from 64 young adult speakers (32 female). Consistent and strong negative correlations between attractiveness and DEV generally supported the averageness account of attractiveness for both voices and faces. By contrast, indicating that both measures of distinctiveness reflect different constructs, correlations between attractiveness and DITC were numerically positive for faces (though small and non-significant), and significant for voices in sentence stimuli. As the only exception, voice ratings based on vowels exhibited a moderate but significant negative correlation between attractiveness and DITC. Between faces and voices, distinctiveness ratings were uncorrelated. Remarkably, and at variance with the honest signal hypothesis, vocal and facial attractiveness were uncorrelated, with the exception of a moderate positive correlation for vowels. Overall, while our findings strongly support an averageness account of attractiveness for both domains, they provide little evidence for an honest signal account of facial and vocal attractiveness in complex naturalistic speech. Although our findings for vowels do not rule out the tentative notion that more primitive vocalizations can provide relevant clues to genetic fitness, researchers should carefully consider the nature of voice samples, and the degree to which these are representative of human vocal communication.

The so-called universal sex differences have been shown to be more pronounced in Western industrial societies than in most non-Western developing societies; a possible reason is less consanguineal marriages in the first group

Evolution, Societal Sexism, and Universal Average Sex Differences in Cognition and Behavior. Lee Ellis. In Oxford Handbook of Evolution, Biology, and Society, Edited by Rosemary L. Hopcroft, Apr 2018. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190299323.013.30

Abstract: During the past century, social scientists have documented many cross-cultural sex differences in personality and behavior, quite a few of which now appear to be found in all human societies. However, contrary to most scientists’ expectations, these so-called universal sex differences have been shown to be more pronounced in Western industrial societies than in most non-Western developing societies. This chapter briefly reviews the evidence bearing on these findings and offers a biologically based theory that could help shed light on why cross-cultural sex differences exist. The following hypothesis is offered: The expression of many genes influencing sexually dimorphic traits is more likely among descendants of couples who are least closely related to one another. If so, societies in which out-marriage is normative (i.e., Western industrial countries) will exhibit a stronger expression of genes for sexually dimorphic traits compared to societies in which consanguineal marriages are common.

Keywords: social role theory, evolutionary theory, evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory, sex egalitarian societies, sex differences, personality traits

Personality assimilation across species: enfacing an ape reduces own intelligence and increases emotion attribution to apes

Personality assimilation across species: enfacing an ape reduces own intelligence and increases emotion attribution to apes. Ke Ma. Roberta Sellaro, Bernhard Hommel. Psychological Research, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-018-1048-x

Abstract: Seeing another person’s face while that face and one’s own face are stroked synchronously or controlling a virtual face by moving one’s own induces the illusion that the other face has become a part of oneself—the enfacement effect. Here, we demonstrate that humans can enface even members of another species and that this enfacement promotes “feature migration” in terms of intelligence and emotional attribution from the representation of other to the representation of oneself, and vice versa. We presented participants with a virtual human face moving in or out of sync with their own face, and then morphed it into an ape face. Participants tended to perceive the ape face as their own in the sync condition, as indicated by body-ownership and inclusion-of-others-in-the-self ratings. More interestingly, synchrony also reduced performance in a fluid-intelligence task and increased the willingness to attribute emotions to apes. These observations, which fully replicated in another experiment, fit with the idea that self and other are represented in terms of feature codes, just like non-social events (as implied by the Theory of Event Coding), so that representational self–other overlap invites illusory conjunctions of features from one representation to the other.

Task in which responding sooner led to consistent, small rewards, and responding later led to larger rewards, but greater risk of gaining nothing: Males waited longer for the possibility of larger rewards, women responded sooner & consistently gain smaller rewards

Gender differences in preference for reward frequency versus reward magnitude in decision-making under uncertainty. Astin C. Cornwall, Kaileigh A. Byrne, Darrell A. Worthy. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 135, 1 December 2018, Pages 40–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.06.031

Highlights
•    Participants performed an experience-based probabilistic intertemporal choice task.
•    Responding sooner led to consistent, small rewards.
•    Responding later led to larger rewards, but greater risk of gaining nothing.
•    Males preferred to wait longer for the possibility of larger rewards.
•    Females preferred to respond sooner and consistently gain smaller rewards.

Abstract: Extensive research has focused on gender differences in intertemporal choices made from description in which participants must choose from multiple options that are specified without ambiguity. However, there has been limited work examining gender differences in intertemporal choices made from experience in which the possible payoffs among choice alternatives are not initially known and can only be gained from experience. Other work suggests that females attend more to reward frequency, whereas males attend more to reward magnitude. However, the tasks used in this research have been complex and did not examine intertemporal decision-making. To specifically test whether females are more sensitive to reward frequency and males are more sensitive to reward magnitude on intertemporal decisions made from experience, we designed a simple choice task in which participants pressed a response button at a time of their own choosing on each of many trials. Faster responses led to smaller, but more frequent rewards, whereas slower responses led to larger, but less frequently given rewards. As predicted, females tended to respond quicker for more certain, smaller rewards than males, supporting our prediction that women attend more to reward frequency whereas men attend more to reward magnitude.

Keywords: Uncertainty; Gender; Reward; Decision-making; Delay discounting

People inflate their earnings less when they use a foreign language; reason is a dual system account that suggests that self‐serving dishonesty is an automatic tendency, which is supported by a fast and intuitive system

Honesty Speaks a Second Language. Yoella Bereby‐Meyer et al. Topics in Cognitive Science, https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12360

Abstract: Theories of dishonest behavior implicitly assume language independence. Here, we investigated this assumption by comparing lying by people using a foreign language versus their native tongue. Participants rolled a die and were paid according to the outcome they reported. Because the outcome was private, they could lie to inflate their profit without risk of repercussions. Participants performed the task either in their native language or in a foreign language. With native speakers of Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, and English, we discovered that, on average, people inflate their earnings less when they use a foreign language. The outcome is explained by a dual system account that suggests that self‐serving dishonesty is an automatic tendency, which is supported by a fast and intuitive system. Because using a foreign language is less intuitive and automatic, it might engage more deliberation and reduce the temptation to lie. These findings challenge theories of ethical behavior to account for the role of the language in shaping ethical behavior.

Impact of the menstrual cycle on women’s engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health, including sexual behavior & alcohol & tobacco consumption, as well as their ability to recognize & avoid potentially threatening people & situations

Do Women Expose Themselves to more Health-Related Risks in Certain Phases of the Menstrual Cycle? A Meta-analytic Review. Jordane Boudesseul, Kelly A. Gildersleeve, Martie Haselton, Laurent Bègue. July 02, 2018. https://psyarxiv.com/k8s5y/

Abstract: Over the past three decades, researchers have increasingly examined the menstrual cycle as a potential source of day-to-day variation in women’s cognitions, motivations, and behavior. Within this literature, several lines of research have examined the impact of the menstrual cycle on women’s engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health, including sexual behavior and alcohol and tobacco consumption, as well as their ability to recognize and avoid potentially threatening people and situations. However, findings have been mixed, leaving it unclear whether women may expose themselves to more health-related risks during certain phases of the cycle. To address this question, we conducted a meta-analysis of 23 published and 4 unpublished studies (N = 7,527). The meta-analysis revealed some shifts across the menstrual cycle in women’s sexual behavior and risk recognition and avoidance, whereas patterns were less clear for alcohol and cigarette consumption. These findings help to clarify the proximate physiological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying women’s health-related risk-taking and may inform new interventions.

Clinical & informal sperm donation markets: Factors that impact female’s decision to choose specific donors, and the characteristics, personality and behaviour of males who choose to donate

Decision-making in mate choice markets. Stephen Whyte. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy (Economics), School of Economics & Finance. Queensland University of Technology, https://eprints.qut.edu.au/118622/2/Stephen_Whyte_Thesis.pdf

Abstract: This thesis contributes to the behavioural economic and behavioural science  literature by providing empirical evidence of factors that  impact  large scale decision making in mate choice settings. The thesis consists of five studies. The first three explore human decision making in the online dating market. They utilise both stated preference and actual decision outcomes to explore differences between preference and choice, positive assortment, and specificity of preference for different sexes. Studies four and five concern male and female behaviour in the clinical and informal (online) sperm donation markets. These studies explore factors that impact female’s decision to choose specific donors, and the characteristics, personality and behaviour of males who choose to donate.

58.4% of the sampled women experienced a more intense orgasm depending on their partner’s ejaculation intensity (loud moaning, strong thrusting), but 65.1% did not experience a more intense orgasm depending on the subjectively assessed ejaculation volume

The importance of male ejaculation for female sexual satisfaction and orgasm ability. A. Burri1, J. Buchmeier2, H. Porst. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 7, Supplement 3, July 2018, Pages S123, Proceedings of the 21st World Meeting on Sexual Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.04.005

Objective: Previous research has shown that female sexual functioning and overall relationship quality is also in fluenced by the partner’s sexual problems such as premature ejaculation (PE). Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the importance of intravaginal ejaculation characteristics including as subjectively assessed ejaculation intensity and ejaculation volume and its importance for female sexual satisfaction (FSS) and female orgasm ability.

Material and Methods: A total of N = 245 women between 18 and 75 years meeting the criteria of “previous experience of sexual activity” and “absence of a sexual pain disorder” were included in this cross-sectional online study. Validated questionnaires were administered to assess the relevant study information. Furthermore, a study-specific, self-constructed questionnaire consisting of 29 items asking about women’s sexual and ejaculatory preferences (items responded to on a 5 to 7-pointed Likert-type scale). Relationships between the variables of interest were investigated using partial Spearman correlations controlling for age.

Results:
1) Women with a high orgasmic ability considered the ejaculation during intercourse to be more important than women with a low orgasmic ability (rs = 0.15, p < 0.05).

2) Women subjectively reporting minor problems regarding their male partner’s ejaculatory characteristics were more sexually satisfied than women reporting major problems.

3) 56.6% of the women said they experienced a more intense orgasm depending on their
partner’s presence of ejaculation.

4) 29.4% of the women never focused on the ejaculation volume during intercourse and 65.1% did not experience a more intense orgasm depending on the subjectively assessed ejaculation volume.

5) 58.4% of the sampled women experienced a more intense orgasm depending on their partner’s ejaculation intensity (loud moaning, strong thrusting).

6) No significant difference regarding the importance of ejaculation was detected between women preferring intra-vaginal intercourse and women preferring other sexual activities (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: The findings provide insight to importance and perception of different ejaculation aspects and their association with the female partner’s sexual function and satisfaction. The results have clinical relevance, as the treatment of ejaculatory dysfunctions should consider a stronger involvement of the the female partner.


h/t: Rolf Degen https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Women: Sexual conservatism, rather than age, predicted more unpleasantness attributed to the pictures; findings point to the use of erotica as aviable tool aimed at increasing women’s subjective sexual arousal, including in older ages

003 Effects of age on the subjective sexual response and emotional appraisal of sex pictures in women. J. Carvalho, L. Ferreira, R. Rico, I.M. Santos. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Volume 15, Issue 7, Supplement 3, July 2018, Pages S124, Proceedings of the 21st World Meeting on Sexual Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.04.007

Objective(s): Age is expected to influence women’s sexual functioning and behavior, not only due its impact at the organic level, but also given the strong cohort effects that shape women’s beliefs regarding sexuality and relationships. However, most of the current assumptions about the effects of age in women’s sexual response and behavior, relate to the influence of health issues on the propensity for sexual difficulties. Indeed, broader aspects such as sexual and relationship satisfaction, have only recently fallen under the scope of scientific research. Similarly, other aspects relating to the appraisal of sexual contents by older women have been completely dismissed. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to test the effect of age on the sexual and emotional responses to sex stimuli, as well as to test the adding effects of women’s beliefs regarding sexuality, on the appraisal of these stimuli.

Material and Method(s): Seventy-three heterosexual women, ranging from 18-77 years old, were exposed to a series of romantic, sexually moderate and sexually explicit pictures in a laboratorial context. Women reported on the levels of emotional valence, subjective sexual arousal, and level of sexual content attributed to the pictures in each set. Additionally, women completed a self-report questionnaire aimed at measuring women’s beliefs regarding female sexuality.

Result(s): Findings from hierarchical regression analyses (age entered at step 1 and sexual beliefs entered at step 2) revealed that age did not predict the emotional valence attributed to the sexual pictures; instead, sexual conservatism predicted more unpleasantness attributed to the s exually explicit pictures. Also, age predicted higher levels of subjective sexual arousal to all types of pictures and was further related to the appraisal of romantic and sexually moderate pictures as being more “sexual

Conclusion(s): Contrary to some myths supporting the negative effects of age on women's sexuality, the current results have shown that age was actually a significant (positive) predictor of subjective sexual arousal to all types of pictures (romantic, sexually moderate and sexually explicit pictures), and did not have a negative effect on the emotional valence attributed to the sex pictures. Indeed, sexual conservatism, rather than age, predicted more unpleasantness attributed to the pictures. Accordingly, findings point to the use of erotica as aviable tool aimed at increasing women’s subjective sexual arousal, including in older ages, while sexual beliefs should be monitored at all ages.

Does Partisan Self-interest Dictate Support for Election Reform? It Does. Experimental Evidence on the Willingness of Citizens to Alter the Costs of Voting for Electoral Gain

Does Partisan Self-interest Dictate Support for Election Reform? Experimental Evidence on the Willingness of Citizens to Alter the Costs of Voting for Electoral Gain. Daniel R. Biggers. Political Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-018-9481-5

Abstract: Elite support for modifying electoral institutions and policies generally depends on whether a proposed change is expected to improve their party’s electoral prospects. Prior studies suggest that the average citizen evaluates potential reforms in a similar manner, but they fail to directly demonstrate that individuals actually consider their partisan self-interest when forming policy preferences. I address this limitation through two survey experiments that manipulate the specific group for whom reforms make voting more or less difficult. The results provide strong causal evidence that individuals update their attitudes as expected in response to that information. Members of both parties consistently express greater support for changes when framed as advancing their party’s electoral prospects than when characterized as benefiting their opponents. The findings have important implications for the constraints faced by political actors in gaming the electoral system in their favor and for understanding the role of self-interest in shaping policy attitudes.

Recent findings from both human neuroimaging and animal electrophysiology have revealed that prior expectations can either damp the sensory representation or enhance it via a process of sharpening.

How Do Expectations Shape Perception? Floris P. de Lange, Micha Heilbron, Peter Kok. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.06.002

Highlights

Expectations play a strong role in determining the way we perceive the world.

Prior expectations can originate from multiple sources of information, and correspondingly have different neural sources, depending on where in the brain the relevant prior knowledge is stored.

Recent findings from both human neuroimaging and animal electrophysiology have revealed that prior expectations can modulate sensory processing at both early and late stages, and both before and after stimulus onset. The response modulation can take the form of either dampening the sensory representation or enhancing it via a process of sharpening.

Theoretical computational frameworks of neural sensory processing aim to explain how the probabilistic integration of prior expectations and sensory inputs results in perception.

Abstract: Perception and perceptual decision-making are strongly facilitated by prior knowledge about the probabilistic structure of the world. While the computational benefits of using prior expectation in perception are clear, there are myriad ways in which this computation can be realized. We review here recent advances in our understanding of the neural sources and targets of expectations in perception. Furthermore, we discuss Bayesian theories of perception that prescribe how an agent should integrate prior knowledge and sensory information, and investigate how current and future empirical data can inform and constrain computational frameworks that implement such probabilistic integration in perception.

Keywords: prediction; perception; sensory processing; Bayesian inference; predictive coding; perceptual inference

Benevolent Sexism and Mate Preferences: Why Do Women Prefer Benevolent Men Despite Recognizing That They Can Be Undermining?

Benevolent Sexism and Mate Preferences: Why Do Women Prefer Benevolent Men Despite Recognizing That They Can Be Undermining? Pelin Gul et al. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218781000

Abstract: Benevolent sexism (BS) has detrimental effects on women, yet women prefer men with BS attitudes over those without. The predominant explanation for this paradox is that women respond to the superficially positive appearance of BS without being aware of its subtly harmful effects. We propose an alternative explanation drawn from evolutionary and sociocultural theories on mate preferences: Women find BS men attractive because BS attitudes and behaviors signal that a man is willing to invest. Five studies showed that women prefer men with BS attitudes (Studies 1a, 1b, and 3) and behaviors (Studies 2a and 2b), especially in mating contexts, because BS mates are perceived as willing to invest (protect, provide, and commit). Women preferred BS men despite also perceiving them as patronizing and undermining. These findings extend understanding of women’s motives for endorsing BS and suggest that women prefer BS men despite having awareness of the harmful consequences.

Keywords: benevolent sexism, mate preferences, romantic relationships, social role theory, parental investment theory

h/t: Rolf Degen https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Sexual identities & participation in liberal & conservative social movements: the greater activism of gays and lesbians also crossed over to recent Occupy Wall Street, peace, & environmental mobilizations

Sexual identities and participation in liberal and conservative social movements. Eric Swank. Social Science Research, Volume 74, August 2018, Pages 176-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.04.002

Abstract: The desire for social change, political activism, and sexual identities may all be related. Lesbians and gays generally contest heterosexism more than heterosexuals but we do not know how sexual identities sways participation in class, race, and gender based social movements. When analyzing the American National Election Surveys of 2012 (n = 3519), gays and lesbians were about twenty times more likely to join LGB justice campaigns than heterosexuals. Moreover, the greater activism of gays and lesbians also crossed over to recent Occupy Wall Street, peace, and environmental mobilizations. Finally, this analysis ends with logistic regressions that determine if any sexual identity gaps in movement participation are the result of demographic, contextual, and ideological covariates.

People often respond to decreases in the prevalence of a stimulus by expanding their concept of it. This “prevalence-induced concept change” occurred even when participants were forewarned about it and even when they were instructed and paid to resist it.

Prevalence-induced concept change in human judgment. David E. Levari et al. Science  Jun 29 2018: Vol. 360, Issue 6396, pp. 1465-1467. DOI: 10.1126/science.aap8731

Perceptual and judgment creep: Do we think that a problem persists even when it has become less frequent? Levari et al. show experimentally that when the “signal” a person is searching for becomes rare, the person naturally responds by broadening his or her definition of the signal—and therefore continues to find it even when it is not there. From low-level perception of color to higher-level judgments of ethics, there is a robust tendency for perceptual and judgmental standards to “creep” when they ought not to. For example, when blue dots become rare, participants start calling purple dots blue, and when threatening faces become rare, participants start calling neutral faces threatening. This phenomenon has broad implications that may help explain why people whose job is to find and eliminate problems in the world often cannot tell when their work is done.

Abstract: Why do some social problems seem so intractable? In a series of experiments, we show that people often respond to decreases in the prevalence of a stimulus by expanding their concept of it. When blue dots became rare, participants began to see purple dots as blue; when threatening faces became rare, participants began to see neutral faces as threatening; and when unethical requests became rare, participants began to see innocuous requests as unethical. This “prevalence-induced concept change” occurred even when participants were forewarned about it and even when they were instructed and paid to resist it. Social problems may seem intractable in part because reductions in their prevalence lead people to see more of them.