Participants (n = 103) interact with a researcher in a testing room that imposed low or high perceptual load. Midway through the conversation, the researcher was replaced by another person. Thirty‐nine percent of participants failed to detect the change

Perceptual load affects change blindness in a real‐world interaction. Gillian Murphy, Lisa Murphy. Applied Cognitive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3441

Summary: Change blindness is the striking inability to detect seemingly obvious changes that occur between views of a scene. The current study assessed perceptual load as a factor that may affect change blindness for human faces. The study had participants (n = 103) interact with a researcher in a testing room that imposed low or high perceptual load. Midway through the conversation, the researcher was replaced by another person. Thirty‐nine percent of participants failed to detect the change. There was a significant effect of perceptual load, with greater change detection under low load (71%) than high load (52%). This research suggests that the perceptual load imposed by a task may have a significant effect on the likelihood of change blindness and ought to be considered in future research.

People consistently remember being more generous in the past than they actually were; when people perceive their own actions as selfish, they can remember having acted more equitably, thus minimizing guilt and preserving their self-image

Motivated misremembering: Selfish decisions are more generous in hindsight. Ryan W Carlson et al. https://psyarxiv.com/7ck25/

Significance statement: Fairness is widely endorsed in human societies, but less often practiced. Here we demonstrate how memory distortions may contribute to this discrepancy. Across three experiments (N = 1005), we find that people consistently remember being more generous in the past than they actually were. We show that this effect occurs specifically for individuals whose decisions fell below their own fairness standards, irrespective of how high or low those standards were. These findings suggest that when people perceive their own actions as selfish, they can remember having acted more equitably, thus minimizing guilt and preserving their self-image.

Abstract: People often prioritize their own interests, but also like to see themselves as moral. How do individuals resolve this tension? One way to both maximize self-interest and maintain a moral self-image is to misremember the extent of one’s selfishness. Here, we tested this possibility. Across three experiments, participants decided how to split money with anonymous partners, and were later asked to recall their decisions. Participants systematically recalled being more generous in the past than they actually were, even when they were incentivized to recall accurately. Crucially, this effect was driven by individuals who gave less than what they personally believed was fair, independent of how objectively selfish they were.  Our findings suggest that when people’s actions fall short of their own personal standards, they may misremember the extent of their selfishness, thereby warding off negative emotions and threats to their moral self-image.

Key Words: memory, motivation, morality, generosity, decision-making

The anger group showed higher levels of aggression and status seeking, with the moderator effect of anger intensity; also showed higher dominance scores, differing significantly from the fear, sadness, and/or control groups

Effects of anger on dominance-seeking and aggressive behaviors. João Carlos Centurion Cabral, Rosa Maria Martins de Almeida. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.07.006

Abstract: Anger may have evolved to orchestrate social bargaining behaviors, which ultimately can lead to establishment of dominance hierarchies. Although the relationship between anger and dominance has strong empirical support, most studies have focused on visual cues of dominance. Across two experiments, we tested the hypothesis that anger increases dominance-seeking and agonistic behaviors in those who feel it. In the first experiment (n = 82), we induced anger through a hostile mock debate and measured corrugator electromyographic activity, testosterone and cortisol levels, status-seeking tendency, and aggression using behavioral tasks. Compared with the control group, the anger group showed higher levels of aggression and status seeking, with the moderator effect of anger intensity. In the second experiment (n = 162), anger, fear, sadness, and neutral state were induced by film clips, after which dominance-related behavioral tendencies were assessed. The anger group showed higher dominance scores, differing significantly from the fear, sadness, and/or control groups. These findings reinforce the notion that feelings of anger can cause an increase in status-seeking and agonistic behaviors, leading to possible action tendencies for the establishment of dominance hierarchies.

Keywords: Anger, Dominance, Aggression, Emotion, Steroid hormones

Why do angry people overestimate their intelligence? Neuroticism as a suppressor of the association between Trait-Anger and subjectively assessed intelligence

Why do angry people overestimate their intelligence? Neuroticism as a suppressor of the association between Trait-Anger and subjectively assessed intelligence. Marcin Zajenkowski, Gilles E.Gignac. Intelligence, Volume 70, September–October 2018, Pages 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.07.003

Highlights
•    Trait-Anger and Neuroticism are substantially inter-correlated positively.
•    Trait-Anger is positively related to subjectively assessed intelligence (SAI).
•    Neuroticism is negatively related to SAI.
•    Neuroticism suppresses the association of anger and SAI.
•    The effects hold even after controlling for objective intelligence.

Abstract: Trait-Anger and Neuroticism are substantially inter-correlated positively. However, there is some theoretical and empirical research that supports the notion that Trait-Anger and Neuroticism are influenced by several processes differentially. For instance, Trait-Anger is linked to optimistic bias, increased sense of control, approach motivation and high Narcissism. In contrast, Neuroticism correlates with pessimism, low sense of control, withdrawal motivation and low Narcissism. Building on these previous findings, we hypothesized that Trait-Anger and Neuroticism would be positively and negatively, respectively, associated with subjectively assessed intelligence (SAI). Furthermore, we expected that these two traits would act as mutual suppressors in predicting SAI. The results of two studies (ns = 303 and 225) supported our hypotheses. Trait-Anger was positively and Neuroticism negatively related to SAI, even after controlling for objective intelligence. These results are consistent with previous research which suggests that SAI is more substantially associated with personality than objective intelligence. Additionally, in study 2, we found that Narcissism mediated (partially) the relationship between Trait-Anger and SAI. In the discussion, we suggest that there might be two faces of Trait-Anger: one related to anxiety and one to overconfidence. Finally, a potential role of intelligence positive illusions in Trait-Anger is proposed.

Living in human environments help to develop motor skills, embodied cognition, & the use of objects to extend cognition in the animals, so the time needed for foraging for food is reduced, & furnishes opportunities for social learning, including emulation

Cheng, K., & Byrne, R. W. (2018). Why human environments enhance animal capacities to use objects: Evidence from keas (Nestor notabilis) and apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pan paniscus, Pongo abelii, Pongo pygmaeus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0000121

Abstract: Formal training programs, which can be called education, enhance cognition in human and nonhuman animals alike. However, even informal exposure to human contact in human environments can enhance cognition. We review selected literature to compare animals’ behavior with objects among keas and great apes, the taxa that best allow systematic comparison of the behavior of wild animals with that of those in human environments such as homes, zoos, and rehabilitation centers. In all cases, we find that animals in human environments do much more with objects. Following and expanding on the explanations of several previous authors, we propose that living in human environments and the opportunities to observe and manipulate human-made objects help to develop motor skills, embodied cognition, and the use of objects to extend cognition in the animals. Living in a human world also furnishes the animals with more time for such activities, in that the time needed for foraging for food is reduced, and furnishes opportunities for social learning, including emulation, an attempt to achieve the goals of a model, and program-level imitation, in which the imitator reproduces the organizational structure of goal-directed actions without necessarily copying all the details. All these factors let these animals learn about the affordances of many objects and make them better able to come up with solutions to physical problems

Gains vs Losses: Anticipation is associated with time preference, such that the more people enjoy anticipating an event, the more they prefer to delay it, & the more they dread it, the more they prefer to accelerate it

Kisses vs. shocks: Anticipation asymmetries explain time preferences for gains vs. losses. David J. Hardisty, Shane Frederick, Elke U. Weber. Under review. http://davidhardisty.info/downloads/Dread.Manuscript.31.docx

Abstract: The dread of future losses weighs more heavily than the pleasure of anticipating future gains, even after controlling for loss aversion. This happens because waiting for a gain is a mixed emotional experience that is both pleasurable (due to savoring) and painful (due to impatience), whereas waiting for a loss is a more unidimensionally painful experience (dread). Anticipation is associated with time preference, such that the more people enjoy anticipating an event, the more they prefer to delay it, and the more they dread it, the more they prefer to accelerate it. In combination, these findings explain and mediate the "sign" effect in discounting, i.e., the fact that losses are discounted less than gains.

Keywords: intertemporal choice, delay discounting, framing, affect

Maternal pregnancy exposures are assumed to affect offspring health; other factors like paternal & postnatal exposures are also likely to be important, but maternal ones are assumed to be most important; we need to retain a critical perspective regarding this assumption

It's the mother!: How assumptions about the causal primacy of maternal effects influence research on the developmental origins of health and disease. Gemma C.Sharp, Deborah A.Lawlor, Sarah S.Richardson .Social Science & Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.07.035

Highlights
•    Many maternal pregnancy exposures are assumed to affect offspring health.
•    Other factors like paternal and postnatal exposures are also likely to be important.
•    Nevertheless, maternal pregnancy exposures are assumed to be most important.
•    We need to retain a critical perspective regarding this assumption.
•    Improving the causal evidence base and contextualising findings will help.

Abstract: Research on the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) has traditionally focussed on how maternal exposures around the time of pregnancy might influence offspring health and risk of disease. We acknowledge that for some exposures this is likely to be correct, but argue that the focus on maternal pregnancy effects also reflects implicit and deeply-held assumptions that 1) causal early life exposures are primarily transmitted via maternal traits or exposures, 2) maternal exposures around the time of pregnancy and early infancy are particularly important, and 3) other factors, such as paternal factors and postnatal exposures in later life, have relatively little impact in comparison. These implicit assumptions about the “causal primacy” of maternal pregnancy effects set the agenda for DOHaD research and, through a looping effect, are reinforced rather than tested. We propose practical strategies to redress this imbalance through maintaining a critical perspective about these assumptions.

Rabbits may be able to detect conspecifics in their predators’ scats, thus leading them to, in the short term, avoid areas in which their terrestrial predators’ diet is based on conspecifics, probably as the result of them perceiving a higher risk of predation

European rabbits recognise conspecifics in their predators’ diets. Laura M. Prada, José Guerrero-Casado, Francisco S. Tortosa. acta ethologica, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10211-018-0295-6

Abstract: Rabbits can successfully avoid their enemies by evaluating the risk of predation. They have various defensive strategies, such as morphological adaptations and behaviours patterns, which enable them to perceive their predators and thus reduce the risk of predation. It is well documented that rabbits recognise the scats of terrestrial predators and avoid those areas in which they are present. However, few studies show whether the prey species can recognise the presence of congeners in carnivores’ scats, which would allow them to identify their predators in a more efficient manner. We have carried out a comparative analysis of the use of space made by rabbits on plots on which a neutral odour (water) or the odours of the ferrets’ scats that had consumed either rabbit or another mammal (beef) were applied. Our results showed a lower number of rabbit pellets on those plots containing predator odours than on the control plots. During the first 6 days after applying the first odour, the number of rabbit pellets was lower on plots on which rabbit had been included in the diet when compared with scats obtained from a beef diet. However, no differences between the two experimental plots were recorded during the third visit (9 days after applying the first odour). Our results suggest that rabbits may be able to detect congeners in their predators’ scats, thus leading them to, in the short term, avoid areas in which their terrestrial predators’ diet is based on conspecifics, probably as the result of them perceiving a higher risk of predation.

Males reversed their initial preference for larger females in the presence of a conspecific audience male because they recognized the audience male as a competitor and tried to deceive that male about their real mating preference

Test of the Deception Hypothesis in Atlantic Mollies Poecilia mexicana—Does the Audience Copy a Pretended Mate Choice of Others? Klaudia Witte et al. MDPI.com, http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/7/3/40

Abstract: Animals often use public information for mate-choice decisions by observing conspecifics as they choose their mates and then copying this witnessed decision.  When the copier, however, is detected by the choosing individual, the latter often alters its behavior and spends more time with the previously non-preferred mate. This behavioral change is called the audience effect. The deception hypothesis states that the choosing individual changes its behavior to distract the audience from the preferred mate. The deception hypothesis, however, only applies if the audience indeed copies the pretended mate choice of the observed individual. So far, this necessary prerequisite has never been tested. We investigated in Atlantic molly males and females whether, first, focal fish show an audience effect, i.e., alter their mate choices in the presence of an audience fish, and second, whether audience fish copy the mate choice of the focal fish they had just witnessed. We found evidence that male and female Atlantic mollies copy the pretended mate choice of same-sex focal fish. Therefore, a necessary requirement of the deception hypothesis is fulfilled. Our results show that public information use in the context of mate choice can be costly.

Keywords: sexual selection; public information; male mate choice; female mate choice; audience effect; mate-choice copying; social learning; eavesdropping; Atlantic molly; Poecilia mexicana

Secularity, religiosity, and health: Physical and mental health differences between atheists, agnostics, and nonaffiliated theists compared to religiously affiliated individuals

Secularity, religiosity, and health: Physical and mental health differences between atheists, agnostics, and nonaffiliated theists compared to religiously affiliated individuals. Joseph O.Baker, Samuel Stroope, Mark H.Walker. Social Science Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.07.003

Abstract: Extensive literature in the social and medical sciences link religiosity to positive health outcomes. Conversely it is often assumed that secularity carries negative consequences for health; however, recent research outlining different types of secular individuals complicates this assumption. Using a national sample of American adults, we compare physical and mental health outcomes for atheists, agnostics, religiously nonaffiliated theists, and theistic members of organized religious traditions. Results indicate better physical health outcomes for atheists compared to other secular individuals and members of some religious traditions. Atheists also reported significantly lower levels of psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion) compared to both other seculars and members of most religious traditions. In contrast, physical and mental health were significantly worse for nonaffiliated theists compared to other seculars and religious affiliates on most outcomes. These findings highlight the necessity of distinguishing among different types of secular individuals in future research on health.

Mate value at a glance: Facial attractiveness reveals women's waist-to-hip ratio and men's household income

Mate value at a glance: Facial attractiveness reveals women's waist-to-hip ratio and men's household income. Ji-eun Shin, Eunkook M.Suh, DaykJang. Personality and Individual Differences. Volume 135, 1 December 2018, Pages 128-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.014

Abstract: Can people make valid inferences about the person's mate value by a glance of his/her face? Eighty-seven independent coders rated how attractive neutral facial pictures of 297 (152 males) undergraduate students were, after viewing each image for 3 s. The facial attractiveness rating significantly correlated with important sex-specific mate qualities. In case of female targets, facial attractiveness predicted their body shape (waist-to-hip ratio; WHR), whereas among males, it correlated with their household income. The results remained after controlling for the positive affectivity reflected in the facial image. It appears that sex-specific markers of mate value are implicitly ingrained in attractive facial features.

Lay people do not have stable, logically rigorous notions of free will & are strongly motivated to preserve free will and moral responsibility

Forget the Folk: Moral Responsibility Preservation Motives and Other Conditions for Compatibilism. Cory J Clark, Bo Winegard, Roy Baumeister. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319944911

Abstract: For years, experimental philosophers have attempted to discern whether laypeople find free will compatible with a scientifically deterministic understanding of the universe. We argue that these attempts are misguided because (1) lay people do not have stable, logically rigorous notions of free will and (2) people are strongly motivated to preserve free will and moral responsibility. Seven studies support this hypothesis by demonstrating that a variety of logically irrelevant (but motivationally relevant) features influence compatibilist judgments. In Study 1, participants who were asked to consider the possibility that our universe is deterministic were more compatibilist than those not asked to consider this possibility, suggesting that compatibilism is particularly compelling when determinism poses potential threats to moral responsibility. In Study 2, participants who considered concrete instances of moral behavior found compatibilist free will more sufficient for moral responsibility than participants who were asked about moral responsibility more generally. In Study 3a, the order in which participants read free will and determinism arguments influenced their compatibilist judgments—and only when the arguments had moral significance: Participants were more likely to report that determinism was compatible with free will than that free will was compatible with determinism. In Study 3b, participants who read the free will argument first (the more compatibilist group) were particularly likely to confess that their beliefs in free will and moral responsibility and their disbelief in determinism influenced their conclusion. In Study 4, participants reduced their compatibilist beliefs after reading a passage that argued that moral responsibility can be preserved even in the absence of free will. Participants also reported that immaterial souls were compatible with scientific determinism, most strongly among immaterial soul believers (Study 5), and evaluated information about the capacities of primates in a biased manner favoring the existence of human free will (Study 6). These results suggest that people do not have one intuition about whether free will is compatible with determinism. Rather, people report that free will is compatible with determinism when desiring to uphold moral responsibility. Recommendations for future work are discussed.

Individuals low in cognitive resources are not more likely to follow partisan cues than are individuals high in cognitive resources; the highest level of cue receptivity is observed for those individuals who have both a strong social identification with their party & high cognitive resources

An Expressive Utility Account of Partisan Cue Receptivity: Cognitive Resources in the Service of Identity Expression. Yphtach Lelkes, Ariel Malka, Bert N. Bakker. http://cess.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lelkes.pdf

Abstract: What motivates citizens to rely on partisan cues when forming political judgments? Extant literature offers two perspectives on this matter: an optimistic view that reliance on cues serves to enable adequate decision making when cognitive resources are low, and a pessimistic view that reliance on cues serves to channel cognitive resources to the goal of expressing valued political identities. In the present research we seek to further understanding of the relative importance of these two motives. We find that individuals low in cognitive resources are not more likely to follow partisan cues than are individuals high in cognitive resources.  Furthermore, we find the highest level of cue receptivity is observed for those individuals who have both a strong social identification with their party and high cognitive resources. This suggests that partisan cue receptivity more often involves a harnessing of cognitive resources for the goal of identity expression.

Keywords: Partisan Cues, Social Identity, Cognitive Reflection, Motivated

Women in committed relationships would be more likely to reveal their status to a potential copulation partner due to the man’s preference for short-term mating; a man would do conceal his being less able to provide time, commitment, & resources

Hughes, S. M., & Harrison, M. A. (2018). Women reveal, men conceal: Current relationship disclosure when seeking an extrapair partner. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000133

Abstract: This study examined sex differences in disclosing current, committed relationship status to potential extrapair copulation (EPC) partners. We hypothesized that women in a committed relationship would be more likely to reveal their relationship status to a potential EPC partner. When a woman reveals this information, it may appeal to a man’s evolved psychological preference for short-term mating, which increases his chance of reproduction without commitment. We also hypothesized that men in a committed relationship, in contrast, would be more likely to conceal their current relationship from a potential EPC partner. A committed man would be less able to provide time, commitment, and resources for which women have an evolved preference. The extrapair woman could sustain enormous costs should she bear offspring without his support. Responses from a heterosexual community sample of 322 women and 262 men (N = 584), with a diverse age range (M = 30.7, SD = 11.4), showed that women, compared with men, indeed indicated statistically more hypothetical and actual committed relationship status revelations to a potential EPC partner.

Compared to the “very happily” married, those “not too happy” in marriage were over 2x as likely to report worse health & almost 40% more likely to die over the follow-up period, & had equal or worse health & mortality risk than the never married/divorced/separated, or widowed

Marital Happiness, Marital Status, Health, and Longevity. Elizabeth M. Lawrence et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-018-0009-9

Abstract: Married individuals are healthier and live longer than those who are never married, divorced, or widowed. But not all marriages are equal: unhappy marriages provide fewer benefits than happy ones. This study examined health and longevity across a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, combining measures of marital status and marital happiness to compare those who were “very happy” in marriage to those who were “pretty happy” in marriage, “not too happy” in marriage, never married, divorced or separated, or widowed. We employed the General Social Survey–National Death Index to illuminate the associations among marital status, marital happiness, general happiness, and self-rated health and mortality risk. Compared to individuals who were “very happily” married, those who were “not too happy” in marriage were over twice as likely to report worse health and almost 40% more likely to die over the follow-up period, net of socioeconomic, geographic, and religiosity factors. Those not too happy in marriage also had equal or worse health and mortality risk compared to those who were never married, divorced or separated, or widowed. Results further indicate that general happiness underlies much of the relationship between marital happiness and better health and longevity. The literature on the health and longevity benefits of marriage is well established, but our results suggest that individuals in unhappy marriages may be a vulnerable population. We conclude that subjective well-being and relationship quality contribute to the health benefits of marriage.