How Children Come to Care About Reputation: The tendency to assume that others could evaluate one’s behavior and the default preference to elicit positive instead of negative evaluations

Evaluative Audience Perception (EAP): How Children Come to Care About Reputation. Sara Valencia Botto, Philippe Rochat. Child Development Perspectives, July 7 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12335

Abstract: Despite the fact that reputational concerns are central to human psychology, we know little about when and how children come to care about the evaluation of others. In this article, we review recent studies on reputational concerns in early childhood, and propose that evaluative audience perception (EAP) is necessary to understand the developmental origins of reputation. Specifically, we argue that EAP’s two defining components—the tendency to assume that others could evaluate one’s behavior and the default preference to elicit positive instead of negative evaluations—lay the foundation for the development of reputational concerns. We provide evidence suggesting that EAP would emerge by 24 months and conclude by suggesting possible developmental models of EAP.

Is Empathy the Default Response to Suffering? A Meta-analytic Evaluation of Perspective-taking’s Effect on Empathic Concern

McAuliffe, William H., Evan C. Carter, Juliana Berhane, Alexander Snihur, and Michael E. McCullough. 2019. “Is Empathy the Default Response to Suffering? A Meta-analytic Evaluation of Perspective-taking’s Effect on Empathic Concern.” PsyArXiv. March 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/bwxm9

Abstract: We conducted a series of meta-analytic tests on experiments in which participants read perspective-taking instructions—i.e., written instructions to imagine a distressed persons’ point of view (“imagine-self” and “imagine-other” instructions), or to inhibit such actions (“remain-objective” instructions)—and afterwards reported how much empathic concern they experienced after learning about the distressed person. If people spontaneously empathize with others, then participants who receive remain-objective instructions should report less empathic concern than do participants who do not receive instructions; if people can deliberately increase how much empathic concern they experience, then imagine-self and imagine-other instructions should increase empathic concern relative to not receiving any instructions. Random-effects models revealed that medium-sized differences between imagine and remain-objective instructions were driven by remain-objective instructions. The results were robust to most corrections for bias. Our conclusions were not qualified by the study characteristics we examined, but most theoretically relevant moderators have not yet been thoroughly studied.

The effects of psychotherapy for depression are small; unadjusted meta-analyses of psychotherapies overestimate the effects considerably: only 23% of the studies are of low risk of bias

Was Eysenck right after all? A reassessment of the effects of psychotherapy for adult depression. P. Cuijpers, E. Karyotaki, M. Reijnders and D. D. Ebert. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, Volume 28, Issue 1, February 2019, pp. 21-30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796018000057

Abstract
Aims; In the 1950s, Eysenck suggested that psychotherapies may not be effective at all. Twenty-five years later, the first meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials showed that the effects of psychotherapies were considerable and that Eysenck was wrong. However, since that time methods have become available to assess biases in meta-analyses.

Methods: We examined the influence of these biases on the effects of psychotherapies for adult depression, including risk of bias, publication bias and the exclusion of waiting list control groups.

Results: The unadjusted effect size of psychotherapies compared with control groups was g = 0.70 (limited to Western countries: g = 0.63), which corresponds to a number-needed-to-treat of 4.18. Only 23% of the studies could be considered as a low risk of bias. When adjusting for several sources of bias, the effect size across all types of therapies dropped to g = 0.31.

Conclusions: These results suggest that the effects of psychotherapy for depression are small, above the threshold that has been suggested as the minimal important difference in the treatment of depression, and Eysenck was probably wrong. However, this is still not certain because we could not adjust for all types of bias. Unadjusted meta-analyses of psychotherapies overestimate the effects considerably, and for several types of psychotherapy for adult depression, insufficient evidence is available that they are effective because too few low-risk studies were available, including problem-solving therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy and behavioural activation.

Check also Modest, yet progressive: Effective therapists tend to rate therapeutic change less positively than their patients. Max Ziem & Juergen Hoyer. Psychotherapy Research, Jun 21 2019, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/06/the-more-modest-therapists-estimation.html

And Rethinking psychotherapy. Dan J. Stein, Judith K. Bass, Stefan G. Hofmann, Mark van Ommeren. In Global Mental Health and Psychotherapy: Adapting Psychotherapy for Low- and Middle-Income Countries. 2019. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/03/rethinking-psychotherapy-it-is-perhaps.html

And Rolf Degen summarizing: After decades of research, we still don't have a clue about which specific components of psychotherapy are helpful for clients, or if there are even any...

The Role of Common Factors in Psychotherapy Outcomes. Pim Cuijpers, Mirjam Reijnders, and Marcus J.H. Huibers. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 15:- (Volume publication date May 2019). https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/01/rolf-degen-summarizing-after-decades-of.html

And:  Found little evidence that the accumulation of treatment development & testing across decades increased psychotherapies benefit, 1960-2017

Are Psychotherapies for Young People Growing Stronger? Tracking Trends Over Time for Youth Anxiety, Depression, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and Conduct Problems. John R. Weisz et al. Perspectives on Psychological Science, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/12/found-little-evidence-that-accumulation.html

And  Depression treatments: The effects are probably overestimated, relapse rates for patients who respond are very high (about 50% over 2 years), there is little evidence for long-term effectiveness, & there are the problems of publication bias, sponsorship bias, & others

The Challenges of Improving Treatments for Depression. Pim Cuijpers. JAMA. Published online November 30, 2018. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/11/depression-treatments-effects-are.html

And  Studies with the strongest research designs indicate that psychotherapy may be considerably less effective than we tend to believe; in fact, different psychotherapies may be equally ineffective

Insight Into Insight in Psychotherapy. Per Høglend. American Journal of Psychiatry, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/10/studies-with-strongest-research-designs.html

And  Psychotherapy: Rigorous training, supervision, trying the different methods, yield no improvement in more than forty years

The question of expertise in psychotherapy. Daryl Chow, Scott D. Miller, Mark A. Hubble. Journal of Expertise 2018. Vol. 1(2), https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/09/psychotherapy-rigorous-training.html

Gender differences in orthorexic eating behaviors: Women were more likely to report pathologically healthful eating than men

Gender differences in orthorexic eating behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analytic integration. Jana Strahler. Nutrition, July 4 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2019.06.015

Highlights
•    This meta-analysis determines the size of gender differences in pathologically healthful eating.
•    Data from 67 studies including 39’255 participants is summarized.
•    Women were more likely to report pathologically healthful eating than men.
•    Similar effects sizes between general population and high-risk samples were shown.
•    Differences were inconsistently and minimally related to sample's mean age or year of publication.

Abstract
Objective: Besides the ongoing debate about the epidemiological and clinical relevance of pathologically healthful eating, a phenomenon called orthorexia nervosa (ON), there is not much consensus about gender differences in prevalence rates. This study, therefore, provides a systematic review and meta-analytic combination of derived data to better conceptualize the presence and size of gender differences in the prevalence and levels of orthorexic eating behaviors and ON.

Research method: Sixty-seven publications were included in the synthesis providing data from k=89 subsamples (39’255 participants, 67.7% women) for meta-analytic procedures. Separate analyses were conducted for each measurement tool. The impact of four moderators proposed to explain gender differences was examined: sample composition (general population vs. special interest in health population; subgroup analysis), and in a meta-regression sample's mean age, year of publication, and gender distribution.

Results: The results showed significant gender differences in only one of four instruments in use. Studies measuring orthorexic behaviors showed that women were significantly more likely to report pathologically healthful eating than men (small effect size). Studies employing tools to assess tendencies towards healthy eating indicated similar levels in women and men. Subgroup and moderator analyses showed comparable effects sizes in general population and high-risk samples, and that the gender difference was inconsistently and minimally related to the sample's mean age, year of publication, or gender distribution.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that, depending on the instrument in use, tendencies towards healthy eating are comparable between the genders while pathologically healthful eating is slightly more pronounced in women. Future studies will have to adopt valid criteria for diagnosing Orthorexia nervosa and investigate additional factors contributing to pathological healthful eating and ON.

Level of evidence: Level IIa, Systematic review (with homogeneity) of cohort studies.

A balanced review of the literature & evaluation of the data indicate that adult neurogenesis in human brain is improbable; the focus of research should be the preservation of neurons, not replacement

A balanced evaluation of the evidence for adult neurogenesis in humans: implication for neuropsychiatric disorders. Alvaro Duque, Reynold Spector. Brain Structure and Function, July 5 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-019-01917-6

Abstract: There is a widespread belief that neurogenesis exists in adult human brain, especially in the dentate gyrus, and it is to be maintained and, if possible, augmented with different stimuli including exercise and certain drugs. Here, we examine the evidence for adult human neurogenesis and note important limitations of the methodologies used to study it. A balanced review of the literature and evaluation of the data indicate that adult neurogenesis in human brain is improbable. In fact, in several high-quality recent studies in adult human brain, unlike in adult brains of other species, neurogenesis was not detectable. These findings suggest that the human brain requires a permanent set of neurons to maintain acquired knowledge for decades, which is essential for complex high cognitive functions unique to humans. Thus, stimulation and/or injection of neural stem cells into human brains may not only disrupt brain homeostatic systems, but also disturb normal neuronal circuits. We propose that the focus of research should be the preservation of brain neurons by prevention of damage, not replacement.

Keywords: Adult neurogenesis Neural stem cells Memory Bromodeoxyuridine Homeostasis Neuronal protection DNA repair/methylation

Rolf Degen summarizing: People who were made feel morally superior actually acted more morally - but only in public, not in private, exposing our penchant for moral hypocrisy

Self-enhancement in moral hypocrisy: Moral superiority and moral identity are about better appearances. Mengchen Dong, Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Paul A. M. van Lange. PLOS, July 5, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219382

Abstract: People often consider themselves as more moral than average others (i.e., moral superiority) and present themselves as more moral than they actually are (i.e., moral hypocrisy). We examined whether feelings of moral superiority—as a manifestation of self-enhancement motives—motivates people’s hypocritical behavior, that is, their discrepant moral performances in public versus private settings. In three studies (total N = 1,151), participants distributed two tasks (one favorable and one unfavorable) between themselves and an anonymous partner, with the option of using an ostensibly fair randomizer (e.g., a self-prepared coin). We found that when experiencing feelings of moral superiority (vs. non-superiority), people, especially those who highly identified with moral values (Studies 1 and 2), were less likely to directly give themselves the favorable task, but they were not less likely to cheat in private after using the randomizer (Studies 1 to 3). Both self-enhancement motives and moral identity have implications for hypocritical behavior, by motivating public moral appearances but not private moral integrity.

Many of us today are inclined toward socialism (explicit cooperation) & against laissez-faire capitalism (implicit cooperation) because the first was much more genetically beneficial during previous generations of our species

Evolutionary psychology, economic freedom, trade and benevolence. John Levendis, Robert B. Eckhardt and Walter Block. Review of Economic Perspectives, Volume 19: Issue 2, Jun 26 2019. https://doi.org/10.2478/revecp-2019-0005

Abstract: Our thesis is that the reason many of us today are inclined toward socialism (explicit cooperation) and against laissez-faire capitalism (implicit cooperation) is because the first type of behavior was much more genetically beneficial during previous generations of our species. There is, however, a seemingly strong argument against this hypothesis: evidence from human prehistory indicates that trade (implicit cooperation) previously was widespread. How, then, can we be hard-wired in favor of socialism and against capitalism if our ancestors were engaged in market behavior in past millennia? Although trade which is self-centered and beneficial (presumably mutually beneficial to all parties in the exchange) did indeed appear hundreds of thousands of years ago, benevolence was established in our hard-wiring very substantially earlier, literally hundreds of millions of years ago, and is therefore far more deeply integrated into the hu-man psyche.

Keywords: Benevolence, capitalism, evolutionary psychology, hard-wiring, profit and loss, selfishness
JEL Classification: Z1, Z10, Z14

These correlational findings speak against the Pollyanna hypothesis: Happiness does not seem to preclude caring about local and global issues

Do happy people care about society’s problems? Kostadin Kushlev, Danielle M. Drummond, Samantha J. Heintzelman & Ed Diener. The Journal of Positive Psychology, Jul 4 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1639797  

ABSTRACT: Since ancient times, scholars, individuals, and societies have been preoccupied with the pursuit of happiness. But might individual happiness actually be bad for society and the world? A common concern – which we refer to as the Pollyanna hypothesis – is that happy people might be too happy to care enough about important current issues, thus being less likely to act on improving society and the world. In three studies, however, we found that feeling good predicted more, not less, action on current issues. We saw this pattern in the context of the 2017 far right rallies in Charlottesville, VA (Study 1), a wide range of social, political, and environmental issues chosen by participants (Study 2), and environmental action within a nationally representative sample (Study 3). These correlational findings speak against the Pollyanna hypothesis: Happiness does not seem to preclude caring about local and global issues.

KEYWORDS: Happiness, helping/pro-social behavior, well-being, emotion

Monkeys did better than bonobos spitting water into a vertical tube to make a peanut float upwards until it comes into reach (floating peanut task; FPT); great apes require visual feedback for initially solving the FPT

Innovative problem solving in great apes: the role of visual feedback in the floating peanut task. Sonja J. Ebel, Martin Schmelz, Esther Herrmann, Josep Call. Animal Cognition, July 5 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-019-01275-0

Abstract: Nonhuman great apes show remarkable behavioural flexibility. Some individuals are even able to use water as a tool: They spit water into a vertical tube to make a peanut float upwards until it comes into reach (floating peanut task; FPT). In the current study, we used the FPT to investigate how visual feedback, an end-state demonstration and a social demonstration affect task performance in nonhuman great apes in three experiments. Our results indicate that apes who had acquired the solution with a clear tube maintained it with an opaque one. However, apes starting with an opaque tube failed to solve the task. Additionally, facing the peanut floating on a water-filled tube (i.e., an end-state demonstration) promoted success independent on the availability of visual feedback. Moreover, experiencing how water was poured into the tube either by a human demonstrator or by a water tap that had been opened either by the ape or a human did not seem to be of further assistance. First, this study suggests that great apes require visual feedback for solving the FPT, which is no longer required after the initial acquisition. Second, some subjects benefit from encountering the end-state, a finding corroborating previous studies.

Keywords: Floating object task Innovation Primates Social learning Tool use

Reproductive Success, Relationship Orientation, and Sexual Behavior in Heterosexuals: Relationship With Chronotype, Sleep, and Sex

Reproductive Success, Relationship Orientation, and Sexual Behavior in Heterosexuals: Relationship With Chronotype, Sleep, and Sex. Ali Kasaeian et al. Evolutionary Psychology, July 4, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704919859760

Abstract: Following previous studies, chronotype was related to sexual attitudes and behavior. Evening people tend to be more promiscuous and follow short-term mating strategies and extra-pair matings (EPM), which might lead to a higher reproductive success. In this study, one aim was to assess reproductive success directly by asking for children, and, second, to obtain a higher sample size for the analysis of sexual behavior and chronotype than in previous studies. N = 1,843 heterosexual persons (551 men, 1,288 women, 4 without data) responded to our online survey. Five hundred fifty-nine persons were single and 1,281 in a relationship; 203 reported having children (1.9 ± 0.81). Age was positively related and age at first intercourse was negatively related to the number of children. People being later chronotypes had fewer children, and shorter sleep duration was linked with more children. Extroversion was correlated with number of children, as was the long-term relationship orientation. Sociosexual orientation and EPM were unrelated to number of children. Age at first intercourse was earlier in evening people, and unrestricted sociosexuality was higher in late chronotypes. Morning orientation correlated with long-term relationship orientation and eveningness with short-term relationship orientation. Number of sexual partners was lower in morning people. Men were more evening oriented, later chronotypes, and slept shorter. There were no differences in sociosexual behavior, but men were less restricted in attitude and desire. Men scored higher on short-term relationship orientation and women higher on long-term relationship orientation. This study confirmed previous results about chronotype and sexual behavior but provided the first evidence that morningness was related to higher reproductive success.

Keywords: chronotype, extroversion, morningness–eveningness, relationship orientation, sociosexuality

The likelihood of smiles and the duration of smiles increased with age; attribute this to greater expression of positive emotion in older people; women smiled more than men over all

Faded Smiles? A Largescale Observational Study of Smiling from Adolescence to Old Age. Daniel McDuff & Stephanie Glass. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8735803/

Abstract: A relatively large body of work exists examining sex differences in expressiveness; however, there remains little research of differences in expressiveness associated with aging. Observational studies of facial expressivity across ages are limited in part due to the poor scalability of traditional research methods. We collected over 17,000 videos of natural facial behavior using the Internet and performed a large observational study of smiling responses of people ages 18 to 70 years. Using automated facial coding we quantified the presence of smiles as people watched a set of controlled mundane online content. The likelihood of smiles and the duration of smiles increased with age. We attribute this to greater expression of positive emotion in older people. Women smiled more than men over all and gender differences increased significantly with age. We question whether results may be influenced by the effect of age on the accuracy of the automated smile detection; however, validation on a large set of human coded videos shows that the observed effects were not due to smile detection performance.

Keywords: Smile Detection, Aging, Large-scale, Psychology

Those who reported being hit on more often than hitting on others showed higher self-esteem scores, than those who reported being hit on fewer times relative to number of times hitting on others

Associations between Self-esteem and Experiences from Short-term Dating Contexts. Marthe Kristine Dingen. NTNU Psychology School, April 2019, https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2602701/Dingen,%20Marthe%20Kristine.pdf?sequence=1

Abstact: Sociometer theory holds that self-esteem is like a thermometer constantly monitoring our value as relational partners and how desired we are for social inclusion. Looking to sociometer theory we wanted to investigate the relationship between experiences from a short-term dating context and self-esteem. Based on predictions from sexual strategies theory we also asked the question of how this association may differ for men and women. Findings from the current study indicates that self-esteem in a Norwegian student population is, indeed related to experiences tied to short-term dating. Those who reported being hit on more often than hitting on others showed higher self-esteem scores, than those who reported being hit on fewer times relative to number of times hitting on others. The hypothesized sex-difference in effect is however not supported by the data, indicating that experiences from short-term dating is equally important for both men and women despite the existing sex difference in sexual strategies. Findings are discussed in light of Sociometer theory, previous researchon self-esteem and methodical limitations, as well as with regards to theoretical implications and implications for future research.

Death awareness: Terror management or cognitive adaptation to time management?

Death awareness: Terror management or cognitive adaptation to time management? X.T. Wang, Peng Wang. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: Death awareness refers to thinking about and recognizing the inevitability of one’s own death. According to the popular terror management theory, death awareness is a common source of many irrational defensive reactions to existential anxiety. However, an evolutionary perspective suggests that death awareness is an essential part of human-unique autonoetic consciousness, and should be viewed as a cognitive adaptation to the problems of resource management, mainly time management. In three studies, we explored proactive effects of death awareness, activated experimentally or experientially by the affliction of cancer. In Studies 1 and 2, compared to a control group, the participants who contemplated death underestimated the passage of time in a time-perception task and had a lower delay-discounting rate, indicated by a more future-oriented preference for a larger-and-delayed reward to a smaller-and-immediate reward. In Study 3, cancer patients, when compared with non-cancer patients with more curable diseases, overestimated the passage of time and had a higher delay discounting rate (more present-oriented) when making intertemporal choices. These findings do not support defensive reactions predicted from terror management theory. Instead, the results reveal a proactive time management pattern adapted to different types of death awareness: mortality reminder and cancer experience.

Activating pathogen threat consistently made dense social environments seem more crowded, & consistently generated more negative affect toward these environments; people were more likely to choose uncrowded environments

The infectiousness of crowds: Crowding experiences are amplified by pathogen threats. Iris M. Wang, Joshua M. Ackerman. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: In our everyday lives, we may find ourselves in situations where many people are congregated, like on a subway car during rush hour, or in a dance club on a Saturday night. People sometimes perceive these social situations as unpleasantly crowded. Previous work has demonstrated that incidental factors such as being hungry or hot increase perceptions of crowdedness. Yet, crowds afford additional threats and opportunities to individuals, ones that exist because other people can act as agents (even unwitting ones) of harm and safety. Here, we demonstrate that crowding perceptions and evaluations depend on specific, active threats for perceivers. Eight studies (combined N = 2056) test whether infectious disease threats, which are associated with crowded conditions, increase negative reactions and avoidant behavioral intentions. Across studies, activating pathogen threat consistently made dense social environments seem more crowded, and consistently generated more negative affect toward these environments. Finally, under pathogen threat, people were more likely to choose to inhabit uncrowded environments. These outcomes were threat-specific. That is, they were more influenced by pathogen threat relative to other threats of physical safety. These studies suggest that interpretations of social environments depend on the unique threats and opportunities those environments afford to individuals.

Mothers of very young children report more dates than fathers of very young children; single parents of children less than 5 report higher frequency of sexual activity & more first dates in the past 3 months than those of older children

Using conjoint analysis to assess men’s relationship interest in women with and without children. Viviana Weekes-Shackelford, Justin K Mogilski, Todd K. Shackelford. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: If the presence of children and remarriage (or re-mating) were recurrent features of human evolutionary history, mating psychology should contain features that address problems associated with the presence of children and re-mating and we should see this revealed in a variety of mating behaviors. Mothers of very young children (<2yrs) report more dates than fathers of very young children and single parents of children less than 5 report higher frequency of sexual activity and more first dates in the past 3 months than do parents of older children. Men and women with at least one genetic child with their partner also perform more frequent individual mate retention behaviors. Furthermore, women report different mate preferences before and after having children. The current research used conjoint analysis to explore men’s long- and short-term interest in women with and without children. Over 500 men were asked to rank profiles of potential mates that varied by the woman’s age, her child’s age, her child’s sex, and the father’s involvement. Findings add to a provisional framework for research on mating psychology after having children.