The high regard of organic food is a meme; not in genetic terms, but as a cultural artefact that spreads, affects social cognition, & propagates in the social environment as a true statement to be believed

Organic Food Appeals to Intuition and Triggers Stereotypes. Marjaana Lindeman, Joonas Anttila. International Journal of Psychological Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2018). DOI:10.5539/ijps.v10n3p66

Abstract: Evidence suggests that the benefits of organic food are overstated. In study 1, factors predicting positive attitudes toward organic food (OF), food processing and additives were investigated. Intuitive thinking style was the strongest predictor, followed by categorical thinking, belief in simplicity of knowledge and susceptibility to health myths. In Study 2, the effect of OF consumer status on perceived warmth and competence was examined. OF-positive participants rated the OF consumer similarly as the conventional consumer. However, OF-negative participants regarded the OF consumer as warmer but less competent than the conventional consumer. In Study 3, perceptions of a couple were examined similarly. OF consumer couple's relationship was more idealized by the OF-positive participants whereas other participants regarded the OF consumer couple's relationship as less satisfactory. In addition, intuitive thinking style increased positive judgments about the stimulus persons in Studies 2 and 3. Eating organic food may thus evoke positive and negative stereotypes, and intuitive thinkers may be especially receptive to OF marketing and influenced by a preference for natural.




Check also Sweet taste of prosocial status signaling: When eating organic foods makes you happy and hopeful. Petteri Puska et al. Appetite, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/11/consumers-told-their-organic-food.html

Dopaminergic basis for signaling belief updates, but not surprise, and the link to paranoia

Dopaminergic basis for signaling belief updates, but not surprise, and the link to paranoia. Matthew M. Nour, Tarik Dahoun, Philipp Schwartenbeck, Rick A. Adams, Thomas H. B. FitzGerald, Christopher Coello, Matthew B. Wall, Raymond J. Dolan, and Oliver D. Howes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809298115

Significance: To survive in changing environments animals must use sensory
information to form accurate representations of the world. Surprising sensory information might signal that our current beliefs about the world are inaccurate, motivating a belief update. Here, we investigate the neuroanatomical and neurochemical mechanisms underlying the brain’s ability to update beliefs following informative sensory cues. Using multimodal brain imaging in healthy human participants, we demonstrate that dopamine is strongly related to neural signals encoding belief updates, and that belief updating itself is closely related to the expression of individual differences in paranoid ideation. Our results shed new light on the role of dopamine in making inferences and are relevant for understanding psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, where dopamine function is disrupted.

Abstract: Distinguishing between meaningful and meaningless sensory information is fundamental to forming accurate representations of the world. Dopamine is thought to play a central role in processing the meaningful information content of observations, which motivates an agent to update their beliefs about the environment. However, direct evidence for dopamine’s role in human belief updating is lacking. We addressed this question in healthy volunteers who performed a model-based fMRI task designed to separate the neural processing of meaningful and meaningless sensory information. We modeled participant behavior using a normative Bayesian observer model and used the magnitude of the model-derived belief update following an observation to quantify its meaningful information content. We also acquired PET imaging measures of dopamine function in the same subjects. We show that the magnitude of belief updates about task structure (meaningful information), but not pure sensory surprise (meaningless information), are encoded in midbrain and ventral striatum activity. Using PET we show that the neural encoding of meaningful information is negatively related to dopamine-2/3 receptor availability in the midbrain and dexamphetamine-induced dopamine release capacity in the striatum. Trial-by-trial analysis of task performance indicated that subclinical paranoid ideation is negatively related to behavioral sensitivity to observations carrying meaningful information about the task structure. The findings provide direct evidence implicating dopamine in model-based belief updating in humans and have implications for understating the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders where dopamine function is disrupted.

Mice: Performance in behavioral tasks did not correlate strongly with number of neurons; whereas neuronal number is a good predictor of cognitive skills across species, it is not a predictor of cognitive across individuals within a species

Lack of correlation between number of neurons and behavioral performance in Swiss mice. Kleber Neves, Gerson D. Guercio, Yuri Anjos-Travassos, Stella Costa, Ananda Perozzo, Karine Montezuma, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Rogerio Panizzutti
bioRxiv 428607; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/428607

Abstract: Neuronal number varies by several orders of magnitude across species, and has been proposed to predict cognitive capability across species. Remarkably, numbers of neurons vary across individual mice by a factor of 2 or more. We directly addressed the question of whether there is a relationship between performance in behavioral tests and the number of neurons in functionally relevant structures in the mouse brain. Naive Swiss mice went through a battery of behavioral tasks designed to measure cognitive, motor and olfactory skills. We estimated the number of neurons in different brain regions (cerebral cortex, hippocampus, olfactory bulb, cerebellum and remaining areas) and crossed the two datasets to test the a priori hypothesis of correlation between cognitive abilities and numbers of neurons. As previous evidence indicates that environmental enrichment may increase neurogenesis and improve neuronal survival, we added a control group that did not undergo cognitive testing to rule out the possibility that our test battery could alter the neuronal number. We found that behavioral testing did not change numbers of neurons in the cerebral cortex and in the hippocampus. Surprisingly, performance in the behavioral tasks did not correlate strongly with number of neurons in any of the brain regions studied. Our results show that whereas neuronal number is a good predictor of cognitive skills across species, it is not a predictor of cognitive, sensory or motor ability across individuals within a species, which suggests that other factors are more relevant for explaining cognitive differences between individuals of the same species.

Industrial Revolution: Some psychological traits –lower level of time discounting, higher level of optimism, decreased materialistic orientation, & higher level of trust in others– are likely to increase the rate of innovation

Psychological Origins of the Industrial Revolution. Nicolas Baumard. Behavioral and Brain Sciences (forthcoming), https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X1800211X

Since the Industrial Revolution, human societies have experienced high and sustained rates of economic growth. Recent explanations of this sudden and massive change in economic history have held that modern growth results from an acceleration of innovation. But it is unclear why the rate of innovation drastically accelerated in England in the 18th century. An important factor might be the alteration of individual preferences with regard to innovation due to the unprecedented living standards of the English during that period, for two reasons. First, recent developments in economic history challenge the standard Malthusian view according to which living standards were stagnant until the Industrial Revolution. Pre-industrial England enjoyed a level of affluence that was unprecedented in history. Second, Life History Theory, a branch of evolutionary biology, has demonstrated that the human brain is designed to respond adaptively to variations in resources in the local environment. In particular, a more favorable environment (high resources, low mortality) triggers the expression of future-oriented preferences. In this paper, I argue that some of these psychological traits –a lower level of time discounting, a higher level of optimism, decreased materialistic orientation, and a higher level of trust in others– are likely to increase the rate of innovation. I review the evidence regarding the impact of affluence on preferences in contemporary as well as past populations, and conclude that the impact of affluence on neuro-cognitive systems may partly explain the modern acceleration of technological innovations and the associated economic growth.

Rolf Degen summarizing: If competition is framed as competition with oneself, rather than with other people, women are more competitive than men

Gender differences in interpersonal and intrapersonal competitive behavior. Jeffrey Carpenter, Rachel Frank, Emiliano Huet-Vaughn. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2018.10.003

Highlights
•    We ask if gender affects an individual’s willingness to compete against oneself
•    Our lab experiment randomly sorts subjects to compete against others or themselves
•    Women select intrapersonal competition more than interpersonal competition
•    Women select intrapersonal competition comparatively more than men
•    Perseverance or ”grit” does not predict competitive behavior
•    Men are more risk-seeking and this has some effect on the inclination to compete

Abstract: Gender differences in competitive behavior continue to be documented by econo-mists and other social scientists; however, the bulk of the research addresses competition with others and excludes other economically relevant contests. In this paper, we ask: how does gender affect how individuals react to competing against themselves? In a laboratory experiment in which some subjects compete against others and some compete against themselves, we find women select into intrapersonal competition at significantly higher rates than interpersonal competition and comparatively more than men. In addition, we find that while perseverance or “grit” does not explain the gender difference in behavior, risk attitudes have some explanatory power.

Schadenfreude is higher in real-life situations compared to psychologists' experiments in the lab

Schadenfreude is higher in real-life situations compared to hypothetical scenarios. Maria Luz Gonzalez-Gadea, Agustin Ibanez, Mariano Sigman. PLOS, October 11, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205595

Abstract: Schadenfreude (i.e., the pleasure derived from another’s misfortune) has been widely studied by having participants imagine how they would feel in hypothetical scenarios describing another person’s pain or misfortune. However, research on affective forecasting shows that self-judgments of emotions are inaccurate in hypothetical situations. Here we show a study in which we first presented a hypothetical schadenfreude situation and few months later, due to an exceptional circumstance, the situation turned out to happen in reality. This fortuitous circumstance allowed us to compare people’s imagined emotional reactions with their actual feelings. Results showed that schadenfreude was higher in the real situation than in the hypothetical one. More importantly, participants used different proxies to predict their emotional reaction: while out-group dislike served as a proxy of schadenfreude in both types of scenario, the degree of in-group identification also increased schadenfreude in those who had experienced the real event, arguably a mechanism to promote positive self-evaluation. These results highlight the importance of assessing schadenfreude in the heat of the moment.

More-skilled workers tend to live in larger cities where they earn higher wages; larger cities are also more unequal

Inequality in and across Cities. Jessie Romero and Felipe F. Schwartzman. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Economic Brief October 2018, No. 18-10. https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2018/eb_18-10

Abstract: Inequality in the United States has an important spatial component. More-skilled workers tend to live in larger cities where they earn higher wages. Less-skilled workers make lower wages and do not experience similar gains even when they live in those cities. This dynamic implies that larger cities are also more unequal. These relationships appear to have become more pronounced as inequality has increased. The evidence points to externalities among high-skilled workers as a significant contributor to those patterns.

Distinct facial expressions represent pain and pleasure across cultures

Distinct facial expressions represent pain and pleasure across cultures. Chaona Chen, Carlos Crivelli, Oliver G. B. Garrod, Philippe G. Schyns, José-Miguel Fernández-Dols, and Rachael E. Jack. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807862115

Significance: Humans often use facial expressions to communicate social messages. However, observational studies report that people experiencing pain or orgasm produce facial expressions that are indistinguishable, which questions their role as an effective tool for communication. Here, we investigate this counterintuitive finding using a new data-driven approach to model the mental representations of facial expressions of pain and orgasm in individuals from two different cultures. Using complementary analyses, we show that representations of pain and orgasm are distinct in each culture. We also show that pain is represented with similar face movements across cultures, whereas orgasm shows differences. Our findings therefore inform understanding of the possible communicative role of facial expressions of pain and orgasm, and how culture could shape their representation.

Abstract: Real-world studies show that the facial expressions produced during pain and orgasm—two different and intense affective experiences—are virtually indistinguishable. However, this finding is counterintuitive, because facial expressions are widely considered to be a powerful tool for social interaction. Consequently, debate continues as to whether the facial expressions of these extreme positive and negative affective states serve a communicative function. Here, we address this debate from a novel angle by modeling the mental representations of dynamic facial expressions of pain and orgasm in 40 observers in each of two cultures (Western, East Asian) using a data-driven method. Using a complementary approach of machine learning, an information-theoretic analysis, and a human perceptual discrimination task, we show that mental representations of pain and orgasm are physically and perceptually distinct in each culture. Cross-cultural comparisons also revealed that pain is represented by similar face movements across cultures, whereas orgasm showed distinct cultural accents. Together, our data show that mental representations of the facial expressions of pain and orgasm are distinct, which questions their nondiagnosticity and instead suggests they could be used for communicative purposes. Our results also highlight the potential role of cultural and perceptual factors in shaping the mental representation of these facial expressions. We discuss new research directions to further explore their relationship to the production of facial expressions.

Evolutionary Explanations for Humor and Creativity. Or it is sexual selection?

Creativity and Humor. Chapter 10 - Evolutionary Explanations for Humor and Creativity. Aaron Kozbelt. Explorations in Creativity Research 2019, Pages 205-230. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813802-1.00010-7

Abstract: In this chapter, I explore evolutionary explanations for humor and creativity, via humor production—the ability to generate a verbal comment or behavior that other people find funny. Proposed evolutionary mechanisms for the origin of the human capacity for humor production include Darwinian natural selection and sexual selection. Natural selection explanations for humor are hampered by the difficulty of distinguishing genuine adaptations from evolutionary by-products, and by a problematic emphasis on group selection. A sexual selection view of humor as a trait-indicator of genetic fitness has been studied extensively and boasts impressive empirical support. Alternatives to the trait-indicator view, such as the use of humor to signal compatibility, interest, or warmth, have also been suggested. The wide range of interpersonal contexts in which humor production can play out suggests a pluralism of mechanisms underlying humor production ability—rich fodder for future research.

Silver medalists’ life expectancy is less than that of gold and bronze medalists; perceived dissatisfactory competition outcomes may adversely affect health

The Effects of Competition Outcomes on Health: Evidence from the Lifespans of U.S. Olympic Medalists. Adriaan Kalwij. Economics & Human Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2018.10.001

Highlights
•    Silver medalists’ life expectancy is less than that of gold and bronze medalists.
•    Perceived dissatisfactory competition outcomes may adversely affect health.
•    Competition outcomes could play a causal role in the positive SES-health gradient.

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of competition outcomes on health by using U.S. Olympic medalist lifespans and medal colors as a natural experiment. Whereas the life expectancies of gold and bronze medalists do not differ significantly, life expectancy of silver medalists is about 2.4 and 3.9 years less than these former, respectively. These findings are readily explainable by insights from behavioral economics, psychology, and human biology, which suggest that (perceived) dissatisfactory competition outcomes may adversely affect health. Competition outcomes that affect socioeconomic status (SES) could, therefore, play an important causal role in the positive SES-health gradient among the general population.

Firms headquartered in countries with strict environmental policies perform their polluting activities abroad in countries with relatively weaker policies, but emit less overall CO2 globally due to strict policies at home

Exporting Pollution. Itzhak Ben-David, Stefanie Kleimeier, Michael Viehs. NBER Working Paper No. 25063. http://www.nber.org/papers/w25063

Abstract: Despite awareness of the detrimental impact of CO2 pollution on the world climate, countries vary widely in how they design and enforce environmental laws. Using novel micro data about firms’ CO2 emissions levels in their home and foreign countries, we document that firms headquartered in countries with strict environmental policies perform their polluting activities abroad in countries with relatively weaker policies. These effects are stronger for firms in high-polluting industries and with poor corporate governance characteristics. Although firms export pollution, they nevertheless emit less overall CO2 globally in response to strict environmental policies at home.

Hillary Clinton: 'You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for'

Clinton: 'You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for'. Rachel Ventresca, CNN, October 9, 2018, https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/09/politics/hillary-clinton-civility-congress-cnntv

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that civility in America can only begin again if Democrats win back the House or Senate this fall.

"You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about," Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "That's why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that's when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength."

Clinton alluded to previous controversies -- like the 2000 election recount to the "swift boat" attacks against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election to the confirmation of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- as evidence of what she sees as hardball tactics by Republicans.

"I remember what they did to me for 25 years -- the falsehoods, the lies, which unfortunately people believe because the Republicans have put a lot of time, money, and effort in promoting them," Clinton said. "So when you're dealing with an ideological party that is driven by the lust for power, that is funded by corporate interests who want a government that does its bidding, it's -- you can be civil, but you can't overcome what they intend to do unless you win elections."

Clinton said a top priority of a Democratic House and Senate should be to scrutinize President Donald Trump. Asked if Democrats should impeach Trump, Clinton sidestepped.

"The question about impeachment — you know, that will be left to others to decide," Clinton said. "I want to stop the degrading of the rule of law. The delegitimizing of elections. One of their priorities should be, let's protect our elections. Let's make sure that we have electoral security. Let's end the suppression of voters. So there is a big agenda if the Democrats take over."

CNN's Mick Krever contributed to this report.

Backward magical contagion: discomfort or pleasure when something like hair falls into the possession of a negatively- or positively-perceived individual; lots of people experience such fear

Reversing the causal arrow: Incidence and properties of negative backward magical contagion in Americans. Paul Rozin, Christopher Dunn, Natalie Fedotova. Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 13, No. 5, Sept 2018, pp. 441-450, http://journal.sjdm.org/14/14511/jdm14511.html

Abstract: Backward magical contagion describes instances in which individuals (sources) express discomfort or pleasure when something connected to them (medium; e.g., hair, a diary) falls into the possession of a negatively- or positively-perceived individual (recipient). The reaction seems illogical, since it is made clear that the source will never experience the object again, and the psychological effect appears to reverse the standard forward model of causality. Backward magical contagion was originally believed to be a belief held only within traditional cultures. Two studies examined negative backward contagion in adult Americans in online surveys. Study 1 indicated that backward contagion effects occur commonly, particularly when a recipient knows of the medium’s source. Study 2 showed that backward contagion effects tend to be neutralized when the recipient burns the object, as opposed to just possessing it or discarding it. Ironically, in traditional cultures, burning is a particularly potent cause of backward contagion.

Keywords: magic, contagion, backward causation

Risk Factors Related to Cognitive Distortions Toward Women and Moral Disengagement: A Study on Sex Offenders

Risk Factors Related to Cognitive Distortions Toward Women and Moral Disengagement: A Study on Sex Offenders. Giulio D’Urso, Irene Petruccelli, Simona Grilli, Ugo Pace. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9572-9

Abstract: Violence against women is a heterogeneous phenomenon worldwide. In order to better understand this phenomenon, it is also necessary to study the offenders against women. Therefore, the present study investigates, in the light of risk factors, the individual and social characteristics (related to adolescence), the moral disengagement strategies and cognitive distortions of 120 sex offenders detained in Italian jails. We administered the semi-structured interview for data collection regarding family, social and medical histories and the manner in which the deviant act was carried out, the Moral Disengagement Scale, and the Vindictive Rape Attitude Questionnaire to investigate the presence of cognitive distortions toward women. Results show important risk factors in the genesis of moral disengagement strategies in the offenders: the use of substances and being institutionalized in their past. In addition, through a multiple regression model, we noticed how education levels represent a negative predictor of cognitive distortions towards women and the attribution of blame to a positive predictor. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Sex offenders Moral disengagement Cognitive distortions Risk factors Substance abuse Institutionalization Adolescence

Relationships and Infidelity in Pornography: An Analysis of Pornography Streaming Websites

Relationships and Infidelity in Pornography: An Analysis of Pornography Streaming Websites. Kyler R. Rasmussen, Daniel Millar, Jeremy Trenchuk. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9574-7

Abstract: Research suggests that pornography has the potential to inform sexual and romantic scripts, but no studies have examined the relational content within modern mainstream pornography. In this article, we present a content analysis of 190 sexually explicit online video clips from mainstream pornography streaming websites, coding for the relationship between participants (if any) and whether the video portrayed acts of infidelity. We also contrasted those clips with a comparison sample of 77 YouTube videos. We found that depictions of on-screen committed relationships were relatively rare in pornography (7.9% of videos) compared to YouTube (18.2%), but that infidelity was relatively common (25.3% vs. 2.6%), with pornography more likely to depict women as engaging in infidelity than men. Relational content was more likely to be included in a pornographic clip when the video portrayed a fictional narrative. These findings are consistent with past research connecting pornography consumption with open and liberal sexuality.

Keywords: Casual sex Content analysis Infidelity Pornography