Association between Social Class, Greed, and Unethical Behaviour: A Replication Study

Clerke, A. S., Brown, M., Forchuk, C., & Campbell, L. (2018). Association between Social Class, Greed, and Unethical Behaviour: A Replication Study. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 35. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.166

Abstract: Recent research has focused on the potential negative consequences of belonging to the upper class. The present study attempted to directly replicate previous research examining whether upper-class individuals had more positive attitudes toward greed than lower-class individuals, and whether these attitudes mediated the negative association between social class and unethical behaviour. The current research includes two studies with 317 and 320 participants, from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Prolific Academic, respectively. We used the same measures and procedures of the original research. The resulting dataset, and analytic code, are hosted on the Open Science Framework (Clerke et al., 2017). Collectively these datasets provide access to data from over 600 participants pertaining to social class, ethical behaviour, and sociodemographic information, such as obtained education and religious and political orientation. As in the original, we found a significant positive correlation between SES and greed in one of two studies, however the size of the effect was smaller. Contrary to the original, we did not find a significant association between SES and the propensity to lie in a hypothetical salary negotiation.

Keywords: social class ,   unethical behaviour ,   attitudes towards greed ,   replication ,   MTurk ,   Prolific Academic

Relationship of gender differences in preferences to economic development and gender equality

Relationship of gender differences in preferences to economic development and gender equality. Armin Falk, Johannes Hermle. Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6412, eaas9899. Oct 19 2018. DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9899

Abstract: What contributes to gender-associated differences in preferences such as the willingness to take risks, patience, altruism, positive and negative reciprocity, and trust? Falk and Hermle studied 80,000 individuals in 76 countries who participated in a Global Preference Survey and compared the data with country-level variables such as gross domestic product and indices of gender inequality. They observed that the more that women have equal opportunities, the more they differ from men in their preferences.

High-SES undergraduates were more likely than peers to use marijuana, choose varied drugs, consume alcohol frequently, & use alcohol and substances to cope with stress; but race & marriage were stronger predictors

Martin, Chris C. 2018. “Socioeconomic Status Predicts Substance Use and Alcohol Consumption in U.S. Undergraduates.” PsyArXiv. October 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/t9jf8

Abstract: In health sociology, the prevailing consensus is that socioeconomic status lowers illness risk. This model neglects the fact that unhealthful consumption patterns may covary with affluence. The current study examines consumption of drugs and alcohol among affluent U.S. college students. I hypothesized that undergraduate students from high-SES households would have high rates and levels of drug and alcohol consumption. Using data from 18,611 18- to 24-year-old undergraduates across 23 public and private institutions, I found that high-SES undergraduates were more likely than peers to use marijuana, choose varied drugs, consume alcohol frequently, and use alcohol and substances to cope with stress. The first three results were robust after controlling for gender, race, residence type, and relationship status. Marital status and race were stronger predictors than SES—Asians and married students were the least likely to use alcohol and drugs.

Pairing abstract art pieces with randomly generated pseudo-profound titles enhanced the perception of profoundness in those art pieces; being under a verbal working memory load enhanced the perception of profoundness of abstract art separately

Bullshit Makes the Art Grow Profounder: Evidence for False Meaning Transfer Across Domains. Martin Harry Turpin. MA Thesis, Waterloo Univ., Ontario. https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/13746/Turpin_Martin.pdf

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to explore the decision making underlying the perception of meaning in abstract art. In particular, I explore if features adjacent to the content of the art itself predominantly drive the perception of depth and meaning in abstract art, especially by drawing a connection between the modes of communication present in the art world “International Art English” and the concept of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit. Across three studies, 500 participants completed tasks that assessed the degree to which Pseudo-Profound Bullshit can enhance the perceived profoundness of abstract art and examined mechanisms that underlie this enhancement. It was found that pairing abstract art pieces with randomly generated pseudo-profound titles enhanced the perception of profoundness in those art pieces (Exp 1), that being under a verbal working memory load enhanced the perception of profoundness of abstract art separately (Exp 2), but did not interact with the presence of a title, nor did it independently affect bullshit receptivity generally (Exp 3). This ultimately contributes to our understanding of the cognition of art, and decision making, especially as it relates to an application of models of cognitive miserliness to the evaluation of abstract art.

Restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping, & decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges than when it is replaced with service-inclusive-pricing

A within-restaurant analysis of changes in customer satisfaction following the introduction of service inclusive pricing or automatic service charges. Michael Lynn, Zachary W.Brewster. International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 70, March 2018, Pages 9-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.11.001

Highlights
•    Restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping.
•    Customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges.
•    Customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced at less expensive restaurants.
•    These findings provide a strong argument for the retention of tipping.

Abstract: Many U.S. restaurants have recently adopted no-tipping policies or are considering doing so. This study examines the effects of such moves away from tipping on restaurant’s online customer ratings. The results indicate that (i) restaurants receive lower online customer ratings when they eliminate tipping, (ii) online customer ratings decline more when tipping is replaced with service-charges than when it is replaced with service-inclusive-pricing, and (iii) less expensive restaurants experience greater declines in online customer ratings when replacing tipping with either alternative than do more expensive restaurants. These findings provide a strong argument for the retention of tipping, especially among lower- and mid-tier restaurants.

Alleviating Global Poverty: Labor Mobility, Direct Assistance, and Economic Growth

Alleviating Global Poverty: Labor Mobility, Direct Assistance, and Economic Growth. Lant Pritchett. Center for Global Development Working Paper 479, March 2018. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/alleviating-global-poverty-labor-mobility-direct-assistance-and-economic-growth.pdf

Abstract: Decades of  programmatic experimentation by development NGOs combined with the latest empirical techniques for estimating program impact have shown that a well-designed, well-implemented, multi-faceted intervention can in fact have an apparently sustained impact on the incomes of  the poor (Banerjee et al 2015). The magnitude of  the income gains of  the “best you can do” via direct interventions to raise the income of  the poor in situ is about 40 times smaller than the income gain from allowing people from those same poor countries to work in a high productivity country like the USA. Simply allowing more labor mobility holds vastly more promise for reducing poverty than anything else on the development agenda. That said, the magnitude of  the gains from large growth accelerations (and losses from large decelerations) are also many-fold larger than the potential gains from directed individual interventions and the poverty reduction gains from large, extended periods of  rapid growth are larger than from targeted interventions and also hold promise (and have delivered) for reducing global poverty.

Pursuing Sex with an Ex: Does It Hinder Breakup Recovery? It seems it doesn't.

Pursuing Sex with an Ex: Does It Hinder Breakup Recovery? Stephanie S. Spielmann, Samantha Joel, Emily A. Impett. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1268-6

Abstract: The present research used longitudinal methods to test whether pursuing sex with an ex-partner hinders breakup recovery. Participants completed a month-long daily diary immediately following a breakup, as well as a two-month follow-up (Study 1). Daily analyses revealed positive associations between trying to have sex with an ex-partner and emotional attachment to the ex-partner, but not other aspects of breakup recovery, such as distress, intrusive thoughts, or negative affect. Longitudinal changes from day to day, and over 2 months, revealed that pursuing sex with an ex was not a predictor of breakup recovery over time. To address the limitation that Study 1 only assessed attempted sexual pursuits, Study 2 explored associations between pursuit of, and actual engagement in, sexual activities with ex-partners. Results revealed that most sexual pursuits were successful, and success rates were not associated with breakup recovery. Findings challenge common beliefs about potential harm of pursuing sex with an ex.

Keywords: Breakups Ex-partners Sex Longitudinal methods

Party Animals: Asymmetric Ideological Constraint among Democratic and Republican Party Activists

Party Animals: Asymmetric Ideological Constraint among Democratic and Republican Party Activists. Robert N. Lupton, William M. Myers, Judd R. Thornton. Political Research Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917718960

Abstract: Existing literature shows that Republicans in the mass public demonstrate greater ideological inconsistency and value conflict than Democrats. That is, despite a commitment to the conservative label and abstract belief in limited government, Republican identifiers’ substantive policy attitudes are nonetheless divided. Conversely, Democrats, despite registering lower levels of ideological thinking, maintain relatively consistent liberal issue attitudes. Based on theories of coalition formation and elite opinion leadership, we argue that these differences should extend to Democratic and Republican Party activists. Examining surveys of convention delegates from the years 2000 and 2004, we show that Democratic activists’ attitudes are more ideologically constrained than are those of Republican activists. The results support our hypothesis and highlight that some of the inconsistent attitudes evident among mass public party identifiers can be traced to the internal divisions of the major party coalitions themselves.

Keywords: elite attitude structures, ideological constraint, partisan asymmetry

Sensory Perception Is Not a One-Way Street. Tübingen Neuroscientists decipher the pathways by which the brain alters its own perception of the outside world

Cortical modulation of sensory flow during active touch in the rat whisker system. Shubhodeep Chakrabarti & Cornelius Schwarz. Nature Communicationsvolume 9, Article number: 3907 (2018). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06200-6

Abstract: Sensory gating, where responses to stimuli during sensor motion are reduced in amplitude, is a hallmark of active sensing systems. In the rodent whisker system, sensory gating has been described only at the thalamic and cortical stages of sensory processing. However, does sensory gating originate at an even earlier synaptic level? Most importantly, is sensory gating under top-down or bottom-up control? To address these questions, we used an active touch task in behaving rodents while recording from the trigeminal sensory nuclei. First, we show that sensory gating occurs in the brainstem at the first synaptic level. Second, we demonstrate that sensory gating is pathway-specific, present in the lemniscal but not in the extralemniscal stream. Third, using cortical lesions resulting in the complete abolition of sensory gating, we demonstrate its cortical dependence. Fourth, we show accompanying decreases in whisking-related activity, which could be the putative gating signal.

---
Sensory Perception Is Not a One-Way Street https://idw-online.de/de/news704156

70% of participants found at least 1 aggressive or humiliating sexual play desirable; 50% found at least 3 acts desirable; men desired to engage more than women; aggressive & humiliating sexual play seems a normal variation in sexual desire

Aggressive and Humiliating Sexual Play: Occurrence Rates and Discordance Between the Sexes. Menelaos Apostolou, Michalis Khalil. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1266-8

Abstract: The present study attempted to understand people’s desires for aggressive and humiliating sexual play, both in terms of interests and fantasy. An evolutionary framework has been developed which generated five hypotheses to be tested. Evidence from a qualitative study of 102 participants identified 13 aggressive and sexual acts which were commonly preferred. A subsequent quantitative online study of 1026 men and women asked participants to rate the desirability of these acts. The results indicated that more than 70% of participants found at least one aggressive or humiliating sexual play desirable, whereas about half of the participants found at least three such acts desirable. Significant sex differences were also found, with men desiring to engage in such play more than women. This discordance was moderated by the willingness of each party to partially accommodate each other’s desires. On the basis of these findings and the proposed theoretical framework, it is concluded that aggressive and humiliating sexual play constitutes a normal variation in sexual desire.

Keywords: Aggressive sexual play Humiliating sexual play Masochism Sadism Sex difference

Why people engage in costly helping; empathy is one mechanism; moral outrage is a second one, a critical force for collective action

The Upside of Outrage. Victoria L. Spring, Daryl Cameron, Mina Cikar. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.09.006

Abstract: A debate has emerged across disciplines about why people engage in costly helping. Empathy is one mechanism. We highlight a second, more controversial motivator: moral outrage. Integrating findings from moral psychology and intergroup literatures, we suggest outrage is a critical force for collective action and highlight directions for future research.

After attending economics training, judges use more economics language, render more conservative verdicts in economics cases, rule against regulatory agencies more often, & render longer criminal sentences

Ideas Have Consequences:  The Impact of Law and Economics on American Justice. Elliott Ash, Daniel L. Chen, Suresh Naidu. July 16, 2018, http://elliottash.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ash-chen-naidu-2018-07-15.pdf

Abstract: This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the effects of the law and economics movement on the U.S. judiciary. Using the universe of published opinions in U.S. Circuit Courts and 1 million District Court criminal sentencing decisions linked to judge identity, we estimate the effect of attendance in the controversial Manne economics training program, an intensive two-week course attended by almost half of federal judges. After attending economics training, participating judges use more economics language, render more conservative verdicts in economics cases, rule against regulatory agencies more often, and render longer criminal sentences. These results are robust to adjusting for a wide variety of covariates that predict the timing of attendance. Comparing non-Manne and Manne judges prior to program start and exploiting variation in instructors further assuage selection concerns. Non-Manne judges randomly exposed to Manne peers on previous cases increase their use of economics language in subsequent opinions, suggesting economic ideas diffused throughout the judiciary. Variation in topic ordering finds that economic ideas were portable from regulatory to criminal cases.

Keywords: Judicial Decision-Making, Ideology, Intellectual History.
JEL codes: D7, K0, Z1

Hugs and kisses – the role of motor preferences and emotional lateralization for hemispheric asymmetries in human social touch

Hugs and kisses – the role of motor preferences and emotional lateralization for hemispheric asymmetries in human social touch. Sebastian Ocklenburg et al. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.007

Highlights
•    We review recent works on the lateralization of human social touch.
•    Kissing, Cradling and Embracing are investigated.
•    Side biases in social touch are determined by both motor and emotive biases.

Abstract: Social touch is an important aspect of human social interaction - across all cultures, humans engage in kissing, cradling and embracing. These behaviors are necessarily asymmetric, but the factors that determine their lateralization are not well-understood. Because the hands are often involved in social touch, motor preferences may give rise to asymmetric behavior. However, social touch often occurs in emotional contexts, suggesting that biases might be modulated by asymmetries in emotional processing. Social touch may therefore provide unique insights into lateralized brain networks that link emotion and action. Here, we review the literature on lateralization of cradling, kissing and embracing with respect to motor and emotive bias theories. Lateral biases in all three forms of social touch are influenced, but not fully determined by handedness. Thus, motor bias theory partly explains side biases in social touch. However, emotional context also affects side biases, most strongly for embracing. Taken together, literature analysis reveals that side biases in social touch are most likely determined by a combination of motor and emotive biases.

Dishonest people seek a partner who will also lie—a “partner in crime” ; honest people, by contrast, engage in ethical free riding: They refrain from lying but also from leaving dishonest partners, taking advantage of their partners’ lies

Ethical Free Riding: When Honest People Find Dishonest Partners. Jörg Gross et al. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618796480

Abstract: Corruption is often the product of coordinated rule violations. Here, we investigated how such corrupt collaboration emerges and spreads when people can choose their partners versus when they cannot. Participants were assigned a partner and could increase their payoff by coordinated lying. After several interactions, they were either free to choose whether to stay with or switch their partner or forced to stay with or switch their partner. Results reveal that both dishonest and honest people exploit the freedom to choose a partner. Dishonest people seek a partner who will also lie—a “partner in crime.” Honest people, by contrast, engage in ethical free riding: They refrain from lying but also from leaving dishonest partners, taking advantage of their partners’ lies. We conclude that to curb collaborative corruption, relying on people’s honesty is insufficient. Encouraging honest individuals not to engage in ethical free riding is essential.

Keywords: behavioral ethics, ethical decision making, cooperation, dishonesty, partner selection, collaboration, rotation, open data, open materials

Jealousy evolved & has its own unique motivational state aimed at preventing others from usurping important relationships; has a core form that exists in infants and nonhuman animals and an elaborated form in humans that emerges as cognitive sophistication develops

Jealousy as a Specific Emotion: The Dynamic Functional Model. Mingi Chung, Christine R. Harris. Emotion Review, https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073918795257

Abstract: We review the jealousy literature and present our Dynamic Functional Model of Jealousy (DFMJ), which argues that jealousy evolved and has its own unique motivational state aimed at preventing others from usurping important relationships. It has a core form that exists in infants and nonhuman animals and an elaborated form in humans that emerges as cognitive sophistication develops. The DFMJ proposes that jealousy is an unfolding process with early and late phases that can be differentially impacted by relationship and personality factors. It also notes the importance of looking at multiple concomitants of jealousy, including action tendencies. We discuss how jealousy fits with current emotion theories and suggest that theories of specific emotions need to be broadened.

Keywords: attachment style, basic emotions, distinct emotions, Dynamic Functional Model of Jealousy, evolution, functional, jealousy, personality, relational variables, specific emotions