The Mona Lisa Illusion—Scientists See Her Looking at Them Though She Isn’t

The Mona Lisa Illusion—Scientists See Her Looking at Them Though She Isn’t. Gernot Horstmann, Sebastian Loth. i-Perception, https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669518821702

Abstract: If the person depicted in an image gazes at the camera or painter, a viewer perceives this as being gazed at. The viewers’ perception holds irrespectively of their position relative to image. This is the Mona Lisa effect named after the subject of Leonardo’s famous painting La Gioconda. The effect occurs reliably but was not tested with Mona Lisa herself. Remarkably, viewers judged Mona Lisa’s gaze as directed to their right-hand side irrespectively of the image zoom, its horizontal position on screen, and the distance of the ruler that was used for measuring the gaze direction.

Keywords: gaze direction, Mona Lisa effect, picture perception

Author estimates the degree to which scientists are willing to change the direction of their work in exchange for resources

Myers, Kyle, The Elasticity of Science (August 22, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3176991

Abstract: This paper estimates the degree to which scientists are willing to change the direction of their work in exchange for resources. Novel data from the National Institutes of Health is used to estimate an entry model that accounts for strategic interactions. Inducing a scientist to change their direction by 1 standard deviation, a qualitatively small difference, requires a four-fold increase in funds, an extra $1 million per year. But at current levels, the costs and benefits of directed versus undirected research appear to be quite similar.

Keywords: economics of science
JEL Classification: H50, I23, O31, O33, O38

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How Do We Redirect Scientific Investigation? Chuck Dinerstein. ACSH, Jan 2 2019. https://www.acsh.org/news/2019/01/02/how-do-we-redirect-scientific-investigation-13698

The economic term for haggling over the size of the carrot is elasticity. Using NIH grant data from 2002 to 2009 and the similarity of applicants’ prior work to the objectives of each RFA grant a recent paper looks at the scientists’ bargain. The measure of similarity was based upon how much of scientists prior published abstracts used terminology found in the individual RFA application research objectives – the underlying assumption was the use of the same scientific language was a useful marker for the underlying science to be similar.

It is no surprise that scientists apply to highly “similar” projects, especially when they are more readily available, because of less competition, and come with good funding. So what tradeoffs do scientists make changing course and applying for less similar projects?

*    The more aligned a scientist’s and RFA research interest, the less weight is put on the amount of the total award. But as the similarity becomes less, the amount of the grant rises. A "30% less" similar field would be where a researcher was studying a vaccine for a particular virus using a specific research animal and was asked instead to investigate a vaccine for a different virus but still using the same research animal and approach. By the author’s calculation scientists require an additional $1 million/annually to change course.
*    Competition for grants is another consideration, and the author found that scientists traded an increased award size of about $80,000 for one more competitor for funding.

Put into other words, scientists are willing to be redirected, but it comes at a cost, an award about 65% greater than what they might have gotten for staying the course. That premium helps cover the adjustments necessary for tangibles, like equipment and the intangible, research preferences.

*    RFA grants result in a 16 - 24% increase in publications. But that direction is short-lived with many researchers returning to their “primary interests” once the research award ends.
*    When looking at the output of both the winners and “losers” of the RFA awards, there seems to be no difference in quantity or quality, as measured by the publishing journal’s “impact.” In the words of the author, RFA’s “create more not better science.”

What can we conclude? Not surprisingly, applicants choose the path they believe will be most likely to be funded. To get more externally directed research, to move science in the direction of “our choosing,” we must pay for a larger carrot and “…it is likely  that much larger,  sustained  levels of investments  would  be necessary  to  generate meaningful  long-run  changes.” As with all things, when we look at the devil in the details, we find human behavior is often more than “if you build it, they will come.”

The self–other knowledge asymmetry in cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, and creativity

The self–other knowledge asymmetry in cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, and creativity. Aljoscha C. Neubauer et al. Heliyon, Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2018, e01061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01061

Abstract: The self–other knowledge asymmetry model (SOKA) assumes that some personality traits might be open to oneself and other persons (‘open area’), while other traits are more accurately perceived by others (‘blind spot’); a third group of traits might be visible only to oneself and not to others (‘hidden area’), and finally a trait might neither be visible to oneself nor to one's peers (‘unknown area’). So far, this model has been tested only for personality traits and general intelligence, not for more specific abilities; to do so was the novel intention of our study. We tested which of six abilities (verbal, numerical, and spatial intelligence; interpersonal and intrapersonal competence; and creative potential/divergent thinking ability) are in which SOKA area. We administered performance tests for the six abilities in two samples – 233 14-year-olds and 215 18-year-olds – and collected self- and peer-ratings for each domain. Numerical intelligence and creativity were judged validly both from self- and peer-perspectives (‘open area’). In the younger sample verbal intelligence was validly estimated only by peers (‘blind spot’), whereas the older group showed some insight into their own abilities as well (‘blind spot’ to ‘open area’). While in the younger group only the pupils themselves could validly estimate their intra- and interpersonal competence (‘hidden area’), in the older group peers were also successful in estimating other's interpersonal competence, albeit only with low accuracy (‘hidden area’ to ‘open area’). For 18-year-olds, spatial ability was in the hidden area too, but in 14-year-olds this could neither be validly estimated by pupils themselves nor by peers (‘unknown area’). These results implicate the possibility of non-optimal career choices of young people, and could, therefore, be helpful in guiding professional career counselling.

Few psychological or physiological processes are universally beneficial; most positive phenomena reach inflection points where their effects turn negative; mindfulness is unlikely to be an exception

Can Mindfulness Be Too Much of a Good Thing? The Value of a Middle Way. Willoughby B Britton. Current Opinion in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.12.011

Highlights
•    Few psychological or physiological processes are universally beneficial.
•    Most positive phenomena reach inflection points where their effects turn negative.
•    Mindfulness is unlikely to be an exception to the inverted U-shape curved principle.
•    Some mindfulness-related processes have negative effects under certain conditions.
•    Research that includes the full range of possible effects would improve the efficacy of mindfulness.

Abstract: Previous research has found that very few, if any, psychological or physiological processes are universally beneficial. Instead, positive phenomena tend to follow a non-monotonic or inverted U-shaped trajectory where their typically positive effects eventually turn negative. This review investigates mindfulness-related processes for signs of non-monotonicity. A number of mindfulness-related processes—including, mindful attention (observing awareness, interoception), mindfulness qualities, mindful emotion regulation (prefrontal control, decentering, exposure, acceptance), and meditation practice—show signs of non-monotonicity, boundary conditions, or negative effects under certain conditions. A research agenda that investigates the possibility of mindfulness as non-monotonic may be able to provide an explanatory framework for the mix of positive, null and negative effects that could maximize the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions.

Between 1950 & 1959, the highest earning 1 percent of Americans paid an effective tax rate of 42 percent. By 2014, it was only down to 36.4 percent

Did the Rich Really Pay Much Higher Taxes in the 1950s? The Answer Is a Little Complicated. Jordan Weissmann. Slate,  Aug 07, 2017. https://slate.com/business/2017/08/the-history-of-tax-rates-for-the-rich.html

American progressives like to remember the mid–20th century as a time when the only thing higher than a Cadillac’s tail fin was the top marginal tax rate (which, during the Eisenhower years peaked above 90 percent for the very rich). Uncle Sam took 90 cents on the dollar off the highest incomes, and—as any good Bernie Sanders devotee will remind you—the economy thrived.

Conservatives, however, often try to push back on this version of history, pointing out that those staggeringly high tax rates existed mostly on paper; relatively few Americans actually paid them. Recently, the Tax Foundation’s Scott Greenberg went so far as to argue that “taxes on the rich were not that much higher” in the 1950s than today. Between 1950 and 1959, he notes, the highest earning 1 percent of Americans paid an effective tax rate of 42 percent. By 2014, it was only down to 36.4 percent—a substantial but by no means astronomical decline.

[https://compote.slate.com/images/c26acb08-3169-4978-80ce-0186380d5b00.png]

Greenberg is not pulling his numbers out of thin air. Rather, he’s drawing them directly from a recent paper by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman in which the three economists—all well-loved by progressives—estimate the average tax rates Americans at different income levels have actually paid over time. Their historical measure includes federal, state, and local levies—including corporate, property, income, estate, sales, and payroll taxes. And lest you think Greenberg is misrepresenting anything, here’s Piketty & co.’s own graph (rates on rich folks are shown in green).

[https://compote.slate.com/images/fe0a06f5-a089-4f6a-97c7-65238fc05a97.png Source: Piketty, Saez, and Zucman]

There are a few obvious reasons why the taxes the rich actually paid in the 1950s were so much lower than the confiscatory top rates that sat on the books. For one, the max tax rates on investment income were far lower than on wages and salaries, which gave a lot of wealthy individuals some relief. Tax avoidance may have also been a big problem. Moreover, there simply weren’t that many extraordinarily rich households. Those fabled 90 percent tax rates only bit at incomes over $200,000, the equivalent of more than $2 million in today’s dollars. As Greenberg notes, the tax may have only applied to 10,000 families.

To Greenberg, the takeaway from this is simple: Progressives should stop fixating on the tax rates from 60 years ago. “All in all, the idea that high-income Americans in the 1950s paid much more of their income in taxes should be abandoned. The top 1 percent of Americans today do not face an unusually low tax burden, by historical standards.”

I’m not convinced. Effective tax rates on 1 percenters may not have fallen by half, as some on the left might be tempted to imagine. But they are down by about 6 percentage points1 at a time when the wealthy earn a vastly larger share of the national income. That drop represents a lot of money. Moreover, as Greenberg admits, tax rates on top 0.1 percent have fallen by about one-fifth since their 1950s heights. That rather severely undercuts the idea that taxes on the wealthy haven’t fallen “much.”

 Moreover, there may be reasons to support higher taxes beyond their ability to raise revenue. One popular theory among left-leaning intellectuals right now—advanced by Piketty, Saez, and their protegée Stefanie Stantcheva—is that high tax rates actually ease income inequality by discouraging CEOs and professionals from demanding exorbitantly high pay for their services.* In other words, thanks to high tax rates, people didn’t bother trying to get as rich. After all, there’s no point in bargaining for a giant bonus if the government is going to clip off most of it. I wouldn’t say the theory has been accepted as a consensus fact at this point, but it’s certainly alive and being taken seriously.

So the real tax rates rich Americans paid in the 1950s may not have been so stratospherically high as some progressives assume. But they also may have helped create a more egalitarian society. That seems worth considering.

[Full text and links in the article above]

There may be a variety of reasons why more democratic states are engaged in higher levels of international trade; a larger concern for consumer interests, however, is likely not among them

The Absence of Consumer Interests in Trade Policy. Timm Betz and Amy Pond. The Journal of Politics, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/701493

Abstract: Why are some countries more open to trade than others? Prominent explanations emphasize differences in the influence of voters as consumers. Consumers benefit from lower prices. Because governments in democracies are more responsive to voters, they should implement lower tariffs. We develop and evaluate an implication of this line of argument. If lower tariffs are a response to consumer interests, lower tariffs should be concentrated on products most relevant to consumers. Using data on consumption shares across product categories, we report evidence that consumer interests do not account for lower tariffs. Governments place higher tariffs on goods with higher consumption shares, and we find no evidence that this relationship attenuates under more democratic institutions. There may be a variety of reasons why more democratic states are engaged in higher levels of international trade. A larger concern for consumer interests, however, is likely not among them.

Keywords: trade, consumers, democracy, tariffs, contract enforcement

Human foetuses and newborns smile first during sleep, before they smile while awake and interacting with caregivers; adults may have true smiling and laughing, a true inner mirth, during sleep

Smiling asleep: A study of happy emotional expressions during adult sleep. Marion Clé et al. Journal of Sleep Research, https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12814

Abstract: Human foetuses and newborns smile first during sleep, before they smile while awake and interacting with caregivers. Whether smiling persists during adult sleep, and expresses inner joy, is yet unknown. Smiles were looked for during night‐time video‐polysomnography combined with electromyography of the zygomatic and orbicularis oculi muscles in 100 controls, 22 patients with sleepwalking and 52 patients with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder. Autonomous reactions (heart rate and level of vasoconstriction) and the presence of rapid eye movements were examined during smiles and laughs. On visual examination of the face video clips synchronous with zygomatic contraction, 8% of controls smiled while asleep (7% in REM sleep and 1% in non‐REM sleep). Some patients with sleepwalking also smiled and laughed during N2 sleep and N3 parasomnia. Half of the patients with REM sleep behaviour disorder smiled and one‐third laughed, mostly during REM sleep. The 173 happy faces included mild smiles (24.8%), open‐mouth smiles (29.5%) and laughs (45.7%). More than half of the smiles were the Duchenne (genuine) type, including an active closure of the eyelids. Approximately half of the smiles and laughs were temporally associated with rapid eye movements. There was no increased heart rate variability during smiles and laughs. Two scenic behaviours including smiles and laughs suggested that the happy facial expression was associated with a happy dreaming scenario. Smiling and laughing occasionally persist during adult sleep. There are several lines of evidence suggesting that these happy emotional expressions reflect a true inner mirth.

Greed: A majority of participants reported an excessive desire for money or materials (clothes, books, &c, 68%); also non-material items (time, love, &c, 32pct)

Understanding greed as a unified construct. Glenn W. Lambie, Jaimie Stickl Haugen. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 141, 15 April 2019, Pages 31-39, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.12.011

Abstract: The concept of greed is a popular topic since the economic crisis of 2008. Much of the psychological research relating to greed aligns greed as a situation-specific trait as opposed to a dispositional trait. Thus, there is a need to enhance our understanding of greed as a disposition and explore individual differences that may influence behavior. Since individuals conceptualize greed in various ways, there is a lack in understanding of the construct. We propose a unified definition of greed and outline the extant research on dispositional greed, focusing on existing greed assessments. Considering our working definition of greed, we advocate that there is a need for future research to enhance definitional clarity, including the development of an additional greed assessment that more accurately encapsulates this complex construct.

Increased fruit & vegetable consumption can enhance mental well-being; both increasing frequency & increasing quantity matter; a hump-shaped relationship appeared between age & fruit & vegetable consumption

Lettuce be happy: A longitudinal UK study on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and well-being. Neel Ocean, Peter Howley, Jonathan Ensor. Social Science & Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.12.017

Highlights
•    Increased fruit & vegetable consumption can enhance mental well-being.
•    Increasing frequency and increasing quantity of consumption both matter.
•    The relationship is robust to different measures of well-being.
•    A hump-shaped relationship appeared between age and fruit and vegetable consumption.

Abstract
Rationale: While the role of diet in influencing physical health is now well-established, some recent research suggests that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables could play a role in enhancing mental well-being. A limitation with much of this existing research is its reliance on cross-sectional correlations, convenience samples, and/or lack of adequate controls.

Objective: We aim to add to the emerging literature on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and well-being by using longitudinal data from a study in the United Kingdom (UK).

Method: We employ panel data analytical techniques on three waves collected between 2010 and 2017 (i.e., following the same individuals over time) in the UK Household Longitudinal Survey. We also control for time-variant confounders such as diet, health, and lifestyle behaviours.

Results: Fixed effects regressions show that mental well-being (GHQ-12) responds in a dose-response fashion to increases in both the quantity and the frequency of fruit and vegetables consumed. This relationship is robust to the use of subjective well-being (life satisfaction) instead of mental well-being. We also document a hump-shaped relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and age.

Conclusion: Our findings provide further evidence that persuading people to consume more fruits and vegetables may not only benefit their physical health in the long-run, but also their mental well-being in the short-run.

The increase in homebuilding construction concentration in the past decade has led to lower production volume, fewer units in the production pipeline, & greater unit price volatility

Cosman, Jacob and Quintero, Luis, Market Concentration in Homebuilding (November 28, 2018). Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Research Paper No. 18-18. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3303984

Abstract: We investigate the impact of increasing concentration in local residential construction markets on housing production. We show that the increase in concentration in the past decade has led to lower production volume, fewer units in the production pipeline, and greater unit price volatility. Our results imply that the greater concentration has decreased the annual value of new housing production by $106 billion. Because housing is a determinant of the business cycle these findings provide further evidence that the secular decline in competitive intensity in the American economy is altering macroeconomic dynamics.

25% of the prosopagnosia sample scored in the tone deaf range; these subjects were impaired in pitch processing, but not rhythm; face recognition ability significantly predicted pitch processing ability

Perception Of Musical Pitch In Developmental Prosopagnosia. Sherryse L.Corrow et al. Neuropsychologia, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.12.022

Highlights
•    Some prosopagnosic subjects showed deficits in pitch processing relative to controls
•    Individually, 25% of the prosopagnosia sample scored in the tone deaf range
•    These subjects were impaired in pitch processing, but not rhythm
•    Face recognition ability significantly predicted pitch processing ability

Abstract

Studies of developmental prosopagnosia have often shown that developmental prosopagnosia differentially affects human face processing over non-face object processing. However, little consideration has been given to whether this condition is associated with perceptual or sensorimotor impairments in other modalities. Comorbidities have played a role in theories of other developmental disorders such as dyslexia, but studies of developmental prosopagnosia have often focused on the nature of the visual recognition impairment despite evidence for widespread neural anomalies that might affect other sensorimotor systems.

We studied 12 subjects with developmental prosopagnosia with a battery of auditory tests evaluating pitch and rhythm processing as well as voice perception and recognition. Overall, three subjects were impaired in fine pitch discrimination, a prevalence of 25% that is higher than the estimated 4% prevalence of congenital amusia in the general population. This was a selective deficit, as rhythm perception was unaffected in all 12 subjects. Furthermore, two of the three prosopagnosic subjects who were impaired in pitch discrimination had intact voice perception and recognition, while two of the remaining nine subjects had impaired voice recognition but intact pitch perception.

These results indicate that, in some subjects with developmental prosopagnosia, the face recognition deficit is not an isolated impairment but is associated with deficits in other domains, such as auditory perception. These deficits may form part of a broader syndrome which could be due to distributed microstructural anomalies in various brain networks, possibly with a common theme of right hemispheric predominance.

What Laypeople Think the Big Five Trait Labels Mean: Lay beliefs corresponded generally well with standard Big Five inventories’ content, but there were notable disjunctions between beliefs and the standards

What Laypeople Think the Big Five Trait Labels Mean. Judith A.Hall et al. Journal of Research in Personality, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.12.007

Highlights
•    Laypeople were able to describe how they apply the Big Five traits in daily life.
•    Each trait had 9 to 13 facets that varied in their centrality to the trait.
•    Lay beliefs corresponded generally well with standard Big Five inventories’ content.
•    But there were notable disjunctions between lay beliefs and inventories’ content.

Abstract: We asked what laypeople think the commonly used Big Five trait labels mean, and how well their beliefs match the content of standard Big Five scales. Study 1 established participants’ familiarity with the Big Five trait labels. In Studies 2 and 3, participants described persons high on the traits using a free response format. Responses were sorted into categories (facets), each of which earned a centrality index defined as the proportion of responses for the given trait that fell into that category. Studies 2 and 3 converged well. Comparisons with four standard Big Five inventories revealed substantial commonality but also notable areas of non-overlap consisting of content identified by laypeople that was not represented in the standard scales, as well as content in the standard scales that was not mentioned by laypeople.

Beauty ranking of mammalian species kept in the Prague Zoo: does beauty of animals increase the respondents’ willingness to protect them?

Beauty ranking of mammalian species kept in the Prague Zoo: does beauty of animals increase the respondents’ willingness to protect them? Eva Landová et al. The Science of Nature, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-018-1596-3

Abstract: Aesthetic preferences for animals correspond with the species’ presence in the worldwide zoos and influence the conservation priorities. Here, we investigated the relationship between the willingness of respondents to protect mammals and some attributed characteristics such as their aesthetic beauty. Further, several methodological aspects of measuring mammalian beauty were assessed. Animal beauty was associated not only with the respondents’ willingness to protect the species but also with its attributed dangerousness and usefulness. We found that the most preferred animals were carnivores and ungulates, whilst smaller species of rodents and afrosoricids were unpopular. The main characteristics determining that an animal will be ranked as beautiful were complex fur pattern and body shape. We demonstrated that the position of mammalian species along the ‘beauty’ axis is surprisingly stable, no matter the form (illustrations vs photographs), context of stimulus presentation (several number of stimuli per family vs one randomly selected species per family), or the method of beauty evaluation (relative order vs Likert’s scale).

Evolutionary Perspectives on Male Homosexuality: A Literature Review. Yasmina Mashmoushi, Mitan Mzouri

Evolutionary Perspectives on Male Homosexuality: A Literature Review. Yasmina Mashmoushi, Mitan Mzouri. Proceedings of Manitoba's Undergraduate Science and Engineering Research, Vol 4, issue 1, 2018, http://dx.doi.org/10.5203/pmuser.201841619

Abstract: This review provides a comprehensive coverage of the leading evolutionary hypotheses to date on male homosexuality (namely the sexual antagonism model, the tipping-point model, and the kin selection hypothesis). It does so by first (1), surveying prominent findings on the nature and biological causes of male homosexuality; second (2), discussing the effects of male homosexuality on individual fitness; and third (3), outlining the contending evolutionary theories on male homosexuality and critically evaluating each against current pertinent empirical evidence. This review reveals that male homosexuality is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon influenced by an interplay of genomic and environmental factors that may have had unique evolutionary trajectories. Thus, there is likely more than one evolutionary mechanism at play responsible for the maintenance of gay alleles in the human population. Current research largely supports the notion that gay alleles bestow fitness benefits on heterosexual carriers. The tipping-point model and sexual antagonism model, but not the kin selection hypothesis, are in line with current empirical evidence. Future research into the genomic underpinnings of sexual orientation in homosexual males and its genetic equivalents in heterosexual males and females may allow for further evaluation of these hypotheses.

Keywords: human evolution, evolutionary psychology, mating preferences, sexual orientation, homosexuality

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The tipping-point model of male homosexuality, popularized byEdwardMiller, posits that the group of alleles that code for a homosexual orientation in gay men confer strong fitness benefits in heterosexual men by coding in them a certain level of psychological femininity68. According to Miller, if only a few of these alleles are inherited by males, their reproductive success is enhanced via the expression of attractive, albeit feminine traits such as kindness, empathy, andsensitivity68. However, if too many of these alleles are inherited by males, a tipping-point is reached, at which even their mate preferences become feminized68. Miller came up with a simplified version of his theory to better illustrate it. He asks the reader to imagine that there are five different genes that each help code for an individual's place along a masculine-feminine continuum. Each of these five genes have two respective alleles: one that pulls the individual to the masculine side of the continuum and one that pulls the individual to the feminine side of the continuum. According to his simplified model, if a man inherits all five of the "feminine-pulling alleles", he will be homosexual and if he inherits less than five,he will not. Homosexuality would continue to persist in the human populationif a strong reproductive advantage is conferred on individuals possessing some copies of these feminine-pulling alleles. According to Miller, a low doseo f these feminine-pulling  alleles significantly enhances a heterosexual male carrier's reproductive success. But in the less common, spontaneous occasion that a significantly large dose of these feminine-pulling alleles is inherited, the male carrier’s sexual orientation is altered and his fitness adversely affected. Nonetheless, these alleles would continue to persist in the population if they confer an overall reproductive advantage on thei rmale carriers68. Consistent with the tipping-point hypothesis, homosexual men are reported to be more sensitive, kind, and empathetic than heterosexual men,which have been characteristically deemed to be feminine attributes70. Furthermore, studies have found that a higher level of psychological femininity in straight men is associated with a greater number of female partners, suggesting that psychological femininity is attractive to women71,72. This could be because psychological femininity indicates a nurturing disposition which could help rear offspring. In another study, researchers predicted that if the tipping-point model of male homosexuality were correct, then heterosexual men with a homosexual maletwin should have more attractive feminine-pulling alleles and thus more opposite-sex partners than members of heterosexual twin pairs15. The findings of this large community-based twin study(N=4904)supported this prediction; heterosexual males with a homosexual male twin had significantly more children, significantly more opposite sex partners, and were significantly younger at their first age of intercourse than members of heterosexual male twin pairs (p<0.001)15. The results of these and similar studies have made the tipping-point model one of the leading evolutionary theories on male homosexuality to date67.

Another possibility is that the alleles responsible for male homosexuality code for psychologically or physically feminizing traits in both men and women21,67. Thes exual antagonism model suggests that an allele that is detrimental tothe fitnessof one sex could be maintained in the populationso long as it is beneficial to thefitness of the other sex21. An allele that make sits bearer attracted to men and more feminine provides an obvious reproductive advantage to women, but an obvious reproductive disadvantage to men21. This allele would code for same-sex attraction if it appears in a male's genome but would maintainanet evolutionary benefit if this occurs rarely21. There is asignificant amount of evidence for this theory. Numerous studies have found significantly greater fecundity in the female matrilineal relatives of homosexual men (i.e. their mothers, aunts and grand-mothers)as compared to heterosexual men 21,73,74,75. Some other studies have also found that the female relatives of homosexual males have significantly fewer abortions and gestational complications than the female relatives of heterosexual males12,74. Moreover, homosexual men have been found to have an excess of matrilineal but not patrilineal male homosexual relatives as compared to heterosexual men21,73. According to researchers, even a modest increase in the reproductive capacity of females carrying these gay alleles could easily account fort heir maintenance at high levels in the population21,76.

Individuals in a politically homogeneous social networking site environment were more likely to unfriend/hide the political rivals; liberals are more prone to unfriending, as are the educated; the young hide

Social networking site as a Political Filtering Machine: Predicting the Act of Political Unfriending and Hiding on Social Networking Sites. Joseph Yoo, Margaret Yee Man Ng, Thomas Johnson. The Journal of Social Media in Society, Vol 7, No 2 (2018), http://thejsms.org/tsmri/index.php/TSMRI/article/view/359

Abstract: Social networking sites (SNSs) seem to have become a political filtering machine that allows users to classify their online friends based on their political ideologies. Hiding and unfriending on social media has turned into being a political gesture, discriminating individuals with opposite political views on SNSs. Unfriending activities during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and during the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement are two notable examples. Individuals have the tendency to consume politically congenial information and be surrounded by people who share the same views. The formation of echo chambers and the reason for relationship dissolution on SNSs can be explained by Social Identity Theory.

Through an online panel survey of 386 SNS users, this study examined how factors of political ideologies, social media and offline political participation and likeminded exposure on SNSs can predict hiding and unfriending/unfollowing on Twitter and Facebook. Results from ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis revealed that if individuals had been in a politically homogeneous SNS environment, they were more likely to unfriend, suggesting the reinforcement of echo chambers in SNSs. Both social media and offline political participations predicted the dissociative, indicating that unfriending and hiding could be regarded as a new form of online political participation to engage in political affairs.

Keywords: Political participation, Hiding, Unfriending, Relationship dissolution, like-minded exposure