Most research has found that people exhibit altruism towards attractive people, suggesting altruistic behavior is driven by mate choice motivation

The role of prosocial behaviors in mate choice: A critical review of the literature. Manpal Singh Bhogal, Daniel Farrelly, Niall Galbraith. Current Psychology, May 27 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-019-00308-8

Abstract: Research has focused on the role of prosocial behaviors in mate choice, across both social and evolutionary psychology. Several studies provide strong support for the role of altruism in mate choice, whereby people find prosociality attractive in potential mates. As most research focuses on the role of altruism in mate choice, most research has found that people exhibit altruism towards attractive people, suggesting altruistic behavior is driven by mate choice motivation. Although studies have supported the notion that men’s altruism towards women is driven by mate choice, the findings are inconsistent, which may be due to the methodologies adopted by researchers. To our knowledge, this review paper is the first to critically review the literature concerning prosociality and mate choice. We provide an outline of the research thus far, methodological issues, and considerations for future research.

Keywords: Mate choice Prosocial behavior Sexual selection Game theory

Check also Further support for the role of heroism in human mate choice. Manpal Singh Bhogal & James E Bartlett. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/08/both-men-and-women-found-heroic-targets.html

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Inside The role of prosocial behaviors in mate choice: A critical review of the literature. Manpal Singh Bhogal, Daniel Farrelly, Niall Galbraith...

Altruism as a Desirable Trait in Long-Term Romantic Partners

Research suggests that prosocial traits such as altruism and cooperation are sexually selected traits (Miller 2000, 2007; Tessman 1995; Zahavi 1995), increasing one’s chances of securing mating opportunities (Gintis et al. 2001). Farrelly et al. (2007) suggest that investing in altruistic ventures is important to both sexes, as it provides valuable information when engaging with, and evaluating a potential mate. Being willing to share may signal commitment to a relationship, as well as signalling a generous nature, which may be of more importancetowomen,aswomenvalueaman’sabilitytogain and share resources (Tessman 1995), thus strengthening the argument that altruism acts as a courtship display and is a reliable indicator of mate quality (Miller 2007). Furthermore, according to Parental Investment Theory (Trivers 1972), women invest far more into offspring thanmen do, and therefore choose partners who display good partner/parental qualities. In support, altruistic men are expected to be better partners and fathers than non-altruistic men (Miller 2000, 2007). As a result, altruism contributes to one’s mating efforts and reproductive success, which according to Roberts (2015) has been ‘overlooked’ (p. 425) in the literature. Much of the research exploring the desirability of altruistic mates began with Barclay (2010), who manipulated altruism and non-altruism in a series of vignettes. He found that men and women (particularly women) found altruistic targets to be more desirable for longterm relationships compared to short-term relationships. Furthermore, using a modified version of Buss’s Mate Preferences Questionnaire (Buss 1989), Bhogal et al. (2019) found that women placed higher importance on altruism when seeking long-term, compared to shortterm relationships, signifying the powerful role of relationship length in preferences for altruistic partners. They also found that women placed greater importance on cooperativeness in a mate compared to men, although this preference was not influenced by relationship length. Research suggests that women prefer altruistic partners (Moore et al. 2013), and this preference is particularly important when seeking long-term relationships (Farrelly 2013; Farrelly et al.2016). Moore et al. (2013) found that altruistic targets were rated as more attractive than nonaltruistic targets. Farrelly (2013) found that both men and women valued altruistic mates when seeking long-term partners compared to short-term partners, a finding which has been recently replicated by Farrelly and King (2019). Farrelly et al. (2016) argue that altruism is a sign of phenotypic quality, as opposed to singularly relaying genetic quality. In support, Farrelly (2011) found that women valued cooperative partners when seeking long-term relationships more than when seeking a short-term relationship. Farrelly (2011) found that preferences did not differ across women’s menstrual cycle, thus suggesting altruism is attractive because it signals phenotypic rather than genetic quality. Furthermore, Farrelly et al. (2016) explored the role of altruism and physical attractiveness when seeking a longterm/short-term relationship. Women rated a series of attractive and unattractive male images, accompanied by scenarios, where they were asked to rate the desirability of men in 12 scenarios including varying levels of altruism. They found that women rated those who were altruistic as more desirable than non-altruistic, seeking longterm mates only. However, non-altruists were more desirable than altruists when women were seeking a shortterm mate. Perhaps this is because altruism signals one’s positive traits and is indicative of future behavior as a parent and partner rather than genetic quality (Farrelly 2011, 2013). However, Farrelly et al. (2016) argue that a limitation of using scenarios and hypothetical situations in research on mate choice, is that these descriptions may relay other qualities, apart from altruism alone, such as heroism or strength. In support, Kelly and Dunbar (2001) found that women rate brave men higher on desirability compared to altruistic men for short and long-term mates. This could be exploredinfutureresearch, asthere isa finelinebetween acts of heroism that are altruistic, and altruism in the form of generosity in economic games. To conceptualise the different explanations for the evolution of altruism, it is important to assess why prosocial tendencies appear to be so important in mate choice. Perhaps research should explore the costs related to the altruistic acts being displayed. For example, recent evidence has unpacked prosociality by exploring its varying facets, such as heroism (Margana et al. 2019) and trustworthiness (Ehlebracht et al. 2018). Margana et al. (2019) found that women were attracted to attractive, heroic men more so than attractive, altruistic men. This preference was stronger when seeking long-term relationships compared to short-term relationships, providing further support that research must unpack the varying facets of prosocial behavior and mate choice. Thus far, research has largely focused on altruistic and cooperative behavior in mate choice settings, largely ignoring other forms of prosociality (also see Norman and Fleming 2019). In addition to unpacking prosociality, research seldom focuses on high vs low cost altruism in relation to mate choice. For example, Fitzgerald et al. (2010) argue that differences in self-reported altruism are influenced by whether the altruistic act is of small or of high cost to the altruist. Future research shouldtakethis into account, as there also appear to be differences in self-reported altruism and hypothetical scenarios (see Tables 1 and 2 for the varying resources and stakes used across the research reviewed here1). Although much of the research has found that women express an interest in dating altruistic men, recent findings suggest that in Chinese students, women advertised themselves as altruistic, and men were attracted to altruistic traits in women (Guo et al. 2017). Interestingly, they found the preference for altruistic mates was not influenced by whether they were seeking a short-term or long-term partner, thus suggesting there maybecultural differences in preferences for altruism in mate choice, which to our knowledge have not been fully explored in the literature. Perhaps future research could explore cultural influences on mate preferences for prosocial behaviors in mate choice, as most research exploring these constructs has been conducted in Western cultures. Cultural influences could be prevalent whereby it is against the norm to be non-altruistic, which is more prevalent in Eastern, collectivist cultures compared to Western, individualistic cultures (Yama 2018). One final discussion point for this section relates to mutual mate choice (Snowdon 2013). Farrelly and King (2019) argue that researchers must explore the role of mutual mate choice in the evolution of altruism rather than focusing solely on female mate choice. Although most research discussed (particularly those finding a sex difference in preferences for altruism outlined in Table 1) finds that women prefer altruistic mates to a greater extent compared to men, there is emerging literature which suggests that altruism has not only evolved via female choice, but via mutual mate choice. Mutual mate choice refers to when men and women both exercise similar choice and control over the traits they seek in a romantic partner (Farrelly and King 2019). The argument here relates to the fact that altruism signals good parental and partner qualities, which can also be important to men, particularly as men and women engage in bi-parental care (Phillips et al. 2008). For example, Farrelly and King (2019) recently found that when asking participants to state how desirable altruistic targets are as potential mates, desirability ratings are very similar. This pattern has also been found in Farrelly (2013) whereby, although women rated altruistic targets as more desirable compared to men, men still rated altruistic women as desirable partners. This signifies the point that although altruism is more important to women in mate choice, this does not necessarily mean men are also not attracted to altruistic tendencies in women. So far, we have discussed research exploring the desirability of prosocial behaviors in mate choice. We will now discuss the literature aiming to investigate whether men and women display prosocial acts, or public displays of altruism towards potential mates, using a variety of experimental designs, stimuli, and monetary resources.

Feral horses: Kin and non-kin of both sexes showed unusual interest in a dying foal; however, horses appeared to avoid dead conspecifics

Feral horses’ (Equus ferus caballus) behavior toward dying and dead conspecifics. Renata S. Mendonça et al. Primates, May 27 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-019-00728-x

Abstract: In the rapidly expanding field of comparative thanatology, reports from a wide range of taxa suggest that some aspects of a concept of death may be shared by many non-human species. In horses, there are only a few anecdotal reports on behaviors toward dead conspecifics, mostly concerning domestic individuals. Here, we describe the case of a 2-month-old, free-ranging male foal that died around 12 h after being found severely injured due to a presumed wolf attack, focusing on other individuals’ reactions to the dying foal. We also placed camera traps near horse carcasses to investigate reactions by other horses. Kin and non-kin of both sexes showed unusual interest in the dying foal. However, horses appeared to avoid dead conspecifics. Recording individual reactions to dead and dying conspecifics in naturalistic settings will enhance our knowledge about death-related behaviors in horses, allowing comparisons with other species that have been more thoroughly studied, to understand the evolutionary basis of these behaviors.

Keywords: Horse Death-related behaviors Thanatology Awareness of death Wolf attacks Injured individual

20 years of earnings data on Finnish twins: About 40% of the variance of women’s & little more than half of men’s lifetime labour earnings are linked to genetic factors; shared environment contribution is negligible

Heritability of lifetime earnings. Ari Hyytinen & Pekka Ilmakunnas & Edvard Johansson & Otto Toivanen. The Journal of Economic Inequality, May 14 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-019-09413-x

Abstract: Using twenty years of earnings data on Finnish twins, we find that about 40% of the variance of women’s and little more than half of men’s lifetime labour earnings are linked to genetic factors. The contribution of the shared environment is negligible. We show that the result is robust to using alternative definitions of earnings, to adjusting for the role of education, and to measurement errors in the measure of genetic relatedness.

Keywords Earnings inequality . Heritability . Twins . Genetics

Enlightened One-Party Rule? Ideological Differences between Chinese Communist Party Members and the Mass Public on gender equality, political pluralism, and openness to international exchange

Enlightened One-Party Rule? Ideological Differences between Chinese Communist Party Members and the Mass Public. Chengyuan Ji, Junyan Jiang. Political Research Quarterly, May 22, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919850342

Abstract: A popular view of nondemocratic regimes is that they draw followers mainly from those with an illiberal, authoritarian mind-set. We challenge this view by arguing that there exist a different class of autocracies that rule with a relatively enlightened base. Leveraging multiple nationally representative surveys from China over the past decade, we substantiate this claim by estimating and comparing the ideological preferences of Chinese Communist Party members and ordinary citizens. We find that party members on average hold substantially more modern and progressive views than the public on issues such as gender equality, political pluralism, and openness to international exchange. We also explore two mechanisms that may account for this party–public value gap—selection and socialization. We find that while education-based selection is the most dominant mechanism overall, socialization also plays a role, especially among older and less educated party members. Our findings caution against the simple, dichotomous characterization of political regimes and underscore an important tension between modernization and democratization in developing societies.

Keywords: ideology, mass-elite comparison, modernization, item response theory, authoritarian regime, China

Candidates presented to jobs as retail salespersons, servers, kitchen staff, janitors, or security guards: No discrimination at the callback stage against Indigenous Peoples, nor applicants from Indian reservations

Employment Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a Field Experiment. Patrick Button, Brigham Walker. NBER Working Paper No. 25849. May 2019. https://www.nber.org/papers/w25849

Abstract: We conducted a resume correspondence experiment to measure discrimination in hiring faced by Indigenous Peoples in the United States (Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians). We sent employers realistic 13,516 resumes for common jobs (retail sales, kitchen staff, server, janitor, and security) in 11 cities and compared callback rates. We signaled Indigenous status in one of four different ways. We almost never find any differences in callback rates, regardless of the context. These findings hold after numerous robustness checks, although our checks and discussions raise multiple concerns that are relevant to audit studies generally.

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Conclusion
Our results from a large-scale field experiment of hiring discrimination where we sent 13,516 job applications of on-average identical applicants who were either Indigenous or white to jobs as retail salespersons, servers, kitchen staff, janitors, or security guards show a lack of discrimination at the callback stage, in net, against Indigenous Peoples. We also do not find bias against Native American applicants from Indian reservations.We do not find discrimination even when we estimate separately by city, occupation, or occupation and gender.

Don’t you want me, baby? Cardiac and Electrocortical Concomitants of Romantic Interest and Rejection: Rejection is associated with big cardiac deceleration (congruent with social pain)

Don’t you want me, baby? Cardiac and Electrocortical Concomitants of Romantic Interest and Rejection. F M van der Veen, A Burdzin, S J E Langeslag. Biological Psychology, May 25 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.05.007

Highlights
•    Romantic rejection is associated with cardiac deceleration.
•    Romantic match is associated with enhanced P3 amplitude.
•    Online dating can be used as a tool to experimentally induce romantic rejection and match.
•    Effects of real romantic evaluation are comparable to effects of virtual social evaluation.

Abstract: Online dating has become a very popular way to find a romantic partner. In the present study, we examined whether romantic interest and rejection in such a setting would evoke differential electrocortical and cardiac responses. For this purpose a database was created, similar to a dating website, where the participants’ personal information and photos were placed. Heterosexual, single participants (N = 61) evaluated the profiles of opposite-sex potential romantic partners and decided whether they would like to date this person or not. Subsequently, participants passively viewed (34 analyzable volunteers participated in the EEG session; 10 male; mean age = 20) the pictures of the potential partners together with their own judgment about the “dateability” of the potential partner, and the potential partner’s judgment of the “dateability” of the participant. After viewing the pictures participants received the email addresses to contact their matches. Electrocortical and cardiac responses to these “match” or “non-match” judgments were measured. A significantly larger P3 response was found when participants received a positive evaluation as compared to negative evaluations. This is in line with an explanation in terms of reward. A significantly larger cardiac deceleration was found when participants received a negative evaluation as compared to positive evaluations, which is in line with an explanation in terms of social pain. Findings are discussed in terms of activation of different parts of the anterior cingulate cortex.

The Declining Labor Market Prospects of Less-Educated Men

The Declining Labor Market Prospects of Less-Educated Men. Ariel Binder, John Bound. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 33, Number 2, Spring 2019, Pages 163–190. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.33.2.163

During the last 50 years, labor market outcomes for men without a college education in the United States worsened considerably. Between 1973 and 2015, real hourly earnings for the typical 25–54 year-old man with only a high school degree declined by 18.2 percent,1 while real hourly earnings for college-educated men increased substantially. Over the same period, labor-force participation by men without a college education plummeted. In the late 1960s, nearly all 25–54 year-old men with only a high school degree participated in the labor force; by 2015, such men participated at a rate of 85.3 percent.

In this article, we examine secular change in the US labor market since the 1960s. We have two distinct but related objectives. First, we assemble an overview of developments in the wage structure, focusing on the dramatic rise in the college wage premium. Second, we examine possible explanations for the decline in labor-force participation among less-educated men. One hypothesis has been that declining labor market activity is connected with declining wages in this population. While such a connection indicates a reduction in labor demand, we point out that the canonical neoclassical framework, which emphasizes a labor demand curve shifting inward across a stable labor supply curve, does not reasonably account for this development. This is because wages have not declined consistently over the sample period, while labor-force participation has. Moreover, the uncompensated elasticity of labor supply necessary to align wage changes with participation changes, during periods when both were declining, is implausibly large.

We then examine two oft-discussed developments outside of the labor market: rising access to Social Security Disability Insurance (DI), and the growing share of less-educated men with a prison record. Rising DI program participation can account for a nontrivial share of declining labor-force participation among men aged 45–54, but appears largely irrelevant to declining participation in the 25–44 year-old group. Additionally, we document that most nonparticipating men support themselves primarily on the income of other family members, with a distinct minority depending primarily on their own disability benefits. The literature has not progressed far enough to admit a reasonable quantification of the impact of rising exposure to prison on the labor-force participation rate, but recent estimates suggest that sizable effects are possible. We flag this as an important area for further research.

The existing literature, in our view, has not satisfactorily explained the decline in less-educated male labor-force participation. This leads us to develop a new explana-tion. As others have documented, family structure in the United States has changed dramatically since the 1960s, featuring a tremendous decline in the share of less-educated men forming and maintaining stable marriages. We additionally show an increase in the share of less-educated men living with their parents or other relatives. Providing for a new family plausibly provides a man with incentives to engage in labor market activity: conversely, a reduction in the prospects of forming and maintaining a stable family removes an important labor supply incentive. At the same time, the possibility of drawing income support from existing relatives creates a feasible labor-force exit. We suspect that changing family structure shifts male labor supply incentives inde-pendently of labor market conditions, and that, in addition, changing family structure may moderate the effect of a male labor demand shock on labor-force participation. Because male earning potential is an important determinant of new marriage formation, a persistent labor demand shock that reduces male earning potential could impact male labor-force participation through its effects on the marriage market.

Much prior research has addressed US labor market trends over the last half century, including several recent reviews of male employment (Moffitt 2012; Council of Economic Advisors 2016; Abraham and Kearney 2018). Our aim is not to review the literature, but rather to point out where we think consensus has developed and where we think important questions remain unanswered. In the synthesis that emerges, the phenomenon of declining prime-age male labor-force participation is not coherently explained by a series of causal factors acting separately. A more reasonable interpreta-tion, we argue, involves complex feedbacks between labor demand, family structure, and other factors that have disproportionately affected less-educated men.

[...]

Conclusion
During the last 50 years, the earnings of prime-age men in the United States have stagnated and dispersed across the education distribution. At the same time, the labor-force participation rates of men without a college education have steadily declined. While wage and participation trends are often linked for this population, we have argued that this connection cannot solely be the result of an inward labor demand shift across a stable and elastic labor supply curve. The uncompensated labor supply elasticities implied by the twin declines of wages and participation during the 1970s, 1980s, and 2000s appear too large to be plausible. Moreover, labor-force participation continued to decrease in the 1990s while wages were rising. While the increasing availability of disability benefits and the increase in the fraction of the population with prior incarceration exposure may help explain some of the participation decline, we doubt either factor can explain the bulk of the decline.

We have argued that more plausible explanations for the observed patterns involve feedbacks from male labor demand shocks, which often involve substantial job displacement, to worker adjustment frictions and to family structure. Marriage rates, and corresponding male labor supply incentives, have also fallen for reasons other than changing labor demand. Moreover, we have noted interactions between labor demand and disability benefit take-up, and between mass incarceration and family structure. These factors have all converged to reduce the feasibility and desirability of stable employment, leading affected men—who may not often be eligible for disability or other benefits—to participate sporadically in the labor market and depend primarily on family members for income support.

We attribute more free will to agents who behave immorally compared to a neutral control; also, when expectations for norm adherence are violated, we infer that an agent expressed their free will to do so

Monroe, Andrew E., and Dominic Ysidron. 2019. “Do Moral Judgements Motivate Free Will Belief?.” PsyArXiv. May 25. doi:10.31234/osf.io/8wu4g

Abstract: Free will is often appraised as a necessary input to for holding others morally or legally responsible for misdeeds. Recently, however, Clark and colleagues (2014), argued for the opposite causal relationship. They assert that moral judgments and the desire to punish motivate people’s belief in free will. In three experiments—two exact replications (Studies 1 & 2b) and one close replication (Study 2a) we seek to replicate these findings. Additionally, in a novel experiment (Study 3) we test a theoretical challenge derived from attribution theory, which suggests that immoral behaviors do not uniquely influence free will judgments. Instead, our nonviolation model argues that norm deviations, of any kind—good, bad, or strange—cause people to attribute more free will to agents, and attributions of free will are explained via desire inferences. Across replication experiments we found no evidence for the original claim that witnessing immoral behavior causes people to increase their belief in free will, though we did replicate the finding that people attribute more free will to agents who behave immorally compared to a neutral control (Studies 2a & 3). Finally, our novel experiment demonstrated broad support for our norm-violation account, suggesting that people’s willingness to attribute free will to others is malleable, but not because people are motivated to blame. Instead, this experiment shows that attributions of free will are best explained by people’s expectations for norm adherence, and when these expectations are violated people infer that an agent expressed their free will to do so.

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Need for Theoretical Reinterpretation
Study 3 presents a theoretical challenge to the motivated free will belief viewpoint. Clark et al. (2014) predicate their conclusions on the claim that observing immoral behaviors activates a desire to punish the wrongdoers, and thereby causes people to inflate their belief in free will as a means to justify their desire to punish. This critical role of a desire to punish requires that the effect on free will beliefs be unique to people’s response to immoral behaviors—other norm violations, such as strange or morally good behaviors, would not engender such a desire to punish. However, in three experiments (Studies 2a, 2b, 3) we found that the desire to punish failed to mediate the effect of immoral behavior on people’s general belief in free will. Most critically, Study 3 revealed that norm violation more generally, not immorality specifically, explained variations in people’s free will judgments. Agents who committed an immoral act, a praiseworthy act, or simply strange act were judged as having more free will than agent who performed a morally neutral act. Importantly, whereas all three norm-violating behaviors (blameworthy, praiseworthy, and strange behavior) significantly differed from the control behavior, blameworthy behaviors did not differ from the praiseworthy or the strange behavior.

Together these findings argue for a non-moral explanation for free will judgments with norm-violation as the key driver. This account explains people’s tendency to attribute more free will to behaving badly agents because people generally expect others to follow moral norms, and when they don’t, people believe that there must have been a strong desire to perform the behavior. In addition, a norm-violation account is able to explain why people attribute more free will to agents behaving in odd or morally positive ways. Any deviation from what is expected causes people to attribute more desire and choice (i.e., free will) to that agent. Thus our findings suggest that people’s willingness to ascribe free will to others is indeed malleable, but considerations of free will are being driven by basic social cognitive representations of norms, expectations, and desire. Moreover, these data indicate that when people endorse free will for themselves or for others, they are not making claims about broad metaphysical freedom. Instead, if desires and norm-constraints are what affect ascriptions of free will, this suggests that what it means to have (or believe) in free will is to be rational (i.e., making choices informed by desires and preferences) and able to overcome constraints.

Preferences for beards when judging fathering potential were strongest among mothers; they prefered beards when judging fathering potential but not attractiveness, which may reflect selection for direct benefits

Mothers are sensitive to men's beards as a potential cue of paternal investment. Barnaby J. W. Dixson, Siobhan Kennedy-Costantini, Anthony J. Lee, Nicole L. Nelson. Hormones and Behavior, Volume 113, July 2019, Pages 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.04.005

Highlights
•    The first study to test if motherhood is associated with preferences for men's beards.
•    Preferences for beards when judging fathering potential were strongest among mothers.
•    Parous women prefered beards when judging fathering potential but not attractiveness.
•    Women's preferences for men's beards may reflect selection for direct benefits.

Abstract: Mating strategy theories assert that women's preferences for androgen dependent traits in men are stronger when the costs of reduced paternal investment are lowest. Past research has shown that preferences for facial masculinity are stronger among nulliparous and non-pregnant women than pregnant or parous women. In two studies, we examine patterns in women's preferences for men's facial hair – likely the most visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic of men's secondary sexual traits – when evaluating men's masculinity, dominance, age, fathering, and attractiveness. Two studies were conducted among heterosexual pregnant women, mothers, non-contractive and contraceptive users. Study 1 used a between-subjects sample (N = 2103) and found that mothers had significantly higher preferences for beards when judging fathering than all other women. Pregnant women and mothers also judged beards as more masculine and older, but less attractive, than non-contractive and contraceptive users. Parous women judged beards higher for age, masculinity and fathering, but lower for attractiveness, than nulliparous women. Irrespective of reproductive status, beards were judged as looking more dominant than clean-shaven faces. Study 2 used a within-subjects design (N = 53) among women surveyed during pregnancy and three months post-partum. Judgments of parenting skills were higher for bearded stimuli during pregnancy among women having their first baby, whereas among parous women parenting skills judgments for bearded stimuli were higher post-partum. Our results suggest that mothers are sensitive to beardedness as a masculine secondary sexual characteristic that may denote parental investment, providing evidence that women's mate preferences could reflect sexual selection for direct benefits.

Check also Mating Strategies and the Masculinity Paradox: How Relationship Context, Relationship Status, and Sociosexuality Shape Women’s Preferences for Facial Masculinity and Beardedness. Rebecca E. Stower et al. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Apr 23 2019. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/04/mating-strategies-and-masculinity.html

Rewritable fidelity: Male voles readily form new pair-bonds; repeated pair-bond dissolution didn't negatively impact affect nor behavior toward pups; older males spent less time with strange females

Rewritable fidelity: How repeated pairings and age influence subsequent pair-bond formation in male prairie voles. William M. Kenkel et al. Hormones and Behavior, Volume 113, July 2019, Pages 47-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.04.015

Highlights
•    Male prairie voles readily form new pair-bonds at least ten times.
•    Repeated pair-bond dissolution did not negatively impact affect.
•    Male voles did not show experience-related changes in paternal behavior.
•    Older males associated less with strange females.

Abstract: The prairie vole has proven a valuable animal model for the neurobiological study of social monogamy and pair bonding. Previous research has focused almost exclusively on virgin prairie voles forming pair-bonds for the first time – a paradigm with limited relevance to human social behavior. In the present study, we used stud males to assess the impact of repeated pair-bond formation and dissolution on the behaviors and neurobiology relevant to subsequent pair-bond formation. Stud males were tested for behavioral and neurobiological effects of repeated pair-bonding after the 1st, 5th, and 10th pairing. Aged breeder males that experienced minimal pair-bond dissolution were included to control for the effects of aging. Results showed that male prairie voles readily form new pair-bonds after repeated pair-bond dissolution. In terms of social monogamy, old age was associated with males spending less time in close social contact with unfamiliar females. There were no effects of age nor number of lifetime pairings on depressive-like behavior or paternal behavior toward pups. Within the brain, the patterns of oxytocin (OTR) and vasopressin type 1a (V1aR) receptors were largely unaffected, with the following exceptions: 1) males with only a single pairing had higher OTR densities in the paraventricular thalamus and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis; 2) there was an age-related increase in the density of OTR in the caudate putamen and an age-related decline in the density of V1aR in the cortical amygdala. The present findings have translational relevance to human social behavior in the context of aging and social experience.

Preregistration... Comparing Dream to Reality: We observed deviations from the plan in all studies, and, more importantly, in all but one study, at least one of these deviations was not fully disclosed

Claesen, Aline, Sara L. B. T. Gomes, Francis Tuerlinckx, and wolf vanpaemel. 2019. “Preregistration: Comparing Dream to Reality.” PsyArXiv. May 9. doi:10.31234/osf.io/d8wex

Abstract: Doing research inevitably involves making numerous decisions that can influence research outcomes in such a way that it leads to overconfidence in statistical conclusions. One proposed method to increase the interpretability of a research finding is preregistration, which involves documenting analytic choices on a public, third-party repository prior to any influence by data. To investigate whether, in psychology, preregistration lives up to that potential, we focused on all articles published in Psychological Science with a preregistered badge between February 2015 and November 2017, and assessed the adherence to their corresponding preregistration plans. We observed deviations from the plan in all studies, and, more importantly, in all but one study, at least one of these deviations was not fully disclosed. We discuss examples and possible explanations, and highlight good practices for preregistering research.

Rolf Degen summarizing: Men respond to all kinds of womanly stimuli with a rise in testosterone, which may not even subside with age

Human reproductive behavior, life history, and the Challenge Hypothesis: A 30-year review, retrospective and future directions. Peter B. Gray et al. Hormones and Behavior, May 25 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.04.017

Highlights
•    Reviews research on human life histories and the Challenge Hypothesis.
•    We conducted a citation analysis of 400 Google Scholar citations in the human literature, identifying key patterns.
•    We review findings within several domains: competition, courtship and sexual behavior, and partnerships and paternal care.
•    We discuss extensions of the Challenge Hypothesis to juvenile and senescent life stages.
•    We discuss how research on testosterone administration provides causal insight into effects of testosterone in humans.

Abstract: The Challenge Hypothesis (Wingfield et al., 1990) originally focused on adult male avian testosterone elevated in response to same-sex competition in reproductive contexts. The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate how the Challenge Hypothesis has shaped ideas about human life histories. We conduct a citation analysis, drawing upon 400 Google Scholar citations in the human literature to identify patterns in this body of scholarship. We cover key factors, such as context and personality traits, that help explain variable testosterone responses such as winning/losing to adult competitive behavior. Findings from studies on courtship and sexual behavior indicate some variation in testosterone responses depending on factors such as motivation. A large body of research indicates that male testosterone levels are often lower in contexts of long-term committed partnerships and nurturant fathering and aligned with variation in male mating and parenting effort. As the Challenge Hypothesis is extended across the life course, DHEA and androstenedione (rather than testosterone) appear more responsive to juvenile male competitive behavior, and during reproductive senescence, baseline male testosterone levels decrease just as male life history allocations show decreased mating effort. We discuss how research on testosterone administration, particularly in older men, provides causal insight into effects of testosterone in humans, and how this “natural experiment” can be viewed in light of the Challenge Hypothesis. We synthesize central concepts and findings, such as an expanded array of costs of testosterone that inform life history tradeoffs between maintenance and reproductive effort, and we conclude with directions for future research.

People are unable to self-project into deteriorated versions of themselves; this is not based on similarity in mind or body, as say philosophical & psychological theories

De Freitas, Julian, and George Alvarez. 2019. “Struggling to Imagine Ourselves.”  PsyArXiv. May 11. doi:10.31234/osf.io/c4wqg

Abstract: The uniquely human ability to imagine alternate versions of ourselves draws on specialized neural networks and plays a critical role in planning and decision making. But is there any constraint on our ability to self-project into a remembered or anticipated version of ourselves? And if so, might this constraint also affect our ability to relate to others? Here we show that people are unable to self-project into deteriorated versions of themselves. This psychological roadblock is not based on similarity in mind or body, as current philosophical and psychological theories predict, but on an overlapping cognitive template— in order to feel that someone is you, you have to attribute to them a shared essence. Moreover, individual differences in how people identify with different versions of themselves predict their ethical opinions, including endorsement of abortion or assisted death, suggesting that the capacity for self-projection also constrains people’s moral judgments about others.

An association between women's physical attractiveness and the length of their reproductive career in a nationally representative sample

An association between women's physical attractiveness and the length of their reproductive career in a prospectively longitudinal nationally representative sample. Satoshi Kanazawa. American Journal of Human Biology, May 23 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23256

Abstract
Objectives: Why is physical attractiveness more important for women's mate value in long‐term mating than in short‐term mating? This article replicates Bovet et al.'s (Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 2018; 31:229–238) recent finding that physically attractive women have a later expected age of menopause.

Methods: I analyzed the prospectively longitudinal, nationally representative sample of women in the National Child Development Study, applying t‐test and multiple regression analyses.

Results: Analyses showed that girls rated physically attractive at age 7 underwent menarche 3.12 months earlier than other girls, and they had 32% smaller odds of having undergone menopause before age 51. The results suggest that more physically attractive women have longer reproductive careers, explaining why physical attractiveness may be a more important determinant of women's mate value in long‐term mating than in short‐term mating.

Conclusions: Women's physical attractiveness predicts the timing of menarche and menopause, thereby the length of their reproductive careers.

A Different Take on the Big Bang Theory: Examining the Influence of Asperger Traits on the Perception and Attributional Confidence of a Fictional TV Character Portraying Characteristics of Asperger Syndrome

A Different Take on the Big Bang Theory: Examining the Influence of Asperger Traits on the Perception and Attributional Confidence of a Fictional TV Character Portraying Characteristics of Asperger Syndrome. Brenda Rourke & Rory McGloin. Atlantic Journal of Communication, Volume 27, 2019 - Issue 2, Pages 127-138. Feb 26 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2019.1574797

ABSTRACT: Research shows that media figures can influence the construction of one’s personal and social identity. However, there are few studies that examine representations of stigmatized groups with developmental disorders, such as those with autism spectrum disorders. This research examines the effect of a viewer’s scores on the autism quotient (AQ) and their relationship with homophily and attributional confidence towards Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, who is suspected of having Asperger’s syndrome (AS). Guided by uncertainty reduction theory the results indicated a positive relationship between the dimensions of the AQ and homophily with Sheldon, and a positive relationship between higher scores on the AQ and attributional confidence towards Sheldon. The implications of identification with fictional television characters for individuals with AS, and the application of the AQ in future research are discussed relative to the current findings.

KEYWORDS: Asperger’s syndrome, uncertainty reduction, homophily, empathy, attributional confidence