Trigger warnings are not helpful for trauma survivors; it is less clear whether trigger warnings are explicitly harmful

Jones, Payton J., Benjamin W. Bellet, and Richard J. McNally. 2019. “Helping or Harming? The Effect of Trigger Warnings on Individuals with Trauma Histories.” OSF Preprints. July 10. doi:10.31219/osf.io/axn6z

Abstract
Objective: Trigger warnings alert trauma survivors about potentially disturbing forthcoming content. However, most empirical studies on trigger warnings indicate that they are either functionally inert or cause small adverse side effects. These evaluations have been limited to either trauma-naïve participants or mixed samples. Accordingly, we tested whether trigger warnings would be psychologically beneficial in the most relevant population: survivors of serious trauma.
Method: Our experiment was a preregistered replication and extension of a previous one (Bellet, Jones, & McNally, 2018); 451 trauma survivors were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive trigger warnings prior to reading potentially distressing passages from world literature. They provided their emotional reactions to each passage; self-reported anxiety was the primary dependent variable. 
Results: We found no evidence that trigger warnings were helpful for trauma survivors, for those who self-reported a PTSD diagnosis, or for those who qualified for probable PTSD, even when survivors' trauma matched the passages’ content. We found substantial evidence that trigger warnings countertherapeutically reinforce survivors' view of their trauma as central to their identity. Regarding replication hypotheses, the evidence was either ambiguous or substantially favored the hypothesis that trigger warnings have no effect.
Conclusions: Trigger warnings are not helpful for trauma survivors. It is less clear whether trigger warnings are explicitly harmful. However, such knowledge is unnecessary to adjudicate whether to use trigger warnings – because trigger warnings are consistently unhelpful, there is no evidence-based reason to use them.

Chemophobia: Most laypeople are unaware of the similarities between natural & synthetic chemicals in terms of certain toxicological principles; view of “chemical substances” are mostly negative

“Chemophobia” Today: Consumers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Chemicals. Rita Saleh, Angela Bearth, Michael Siegrist. Risk Analysis, July 9 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13375

Abstract: This mixed‐methods study investigated consumers’ knowledge of chemicals in terms of basic principles of toxicology and then related this knowledge, in addition to other factors, to their fear of chemical substances (i.e., chemophobia). Both qualitative interviews and a large‐scale online survey were conducted in the German‐speaking part of Switzerland. A Mokken scale was developed to measure laypeople's toxicological knowledge. The results indicate that most laypeople are unaware of the similarities between natural and synthetic chemicals in terms of certain toxicological principles. Furthermore, their associations with the term “chemical substances” and the self‐reported affect prompted by these associations are mostly negative. The results also suggest that knowledge of basic principles of toxicology, self‐reported affect evoked by the term “chemical substances,” risk‐benefit perceptions concerning synthetic chemicals, and trust in regulation processes are all negatively associated with chemophobia, while general health concerns are positively related to chemophobia. Thus, to enhance informed consumer decision-making, it might be necessary to tackle the stigmatization of the term “chemical substances” as well as address and clarify prevalent misconceptions.

Those who reported engaging in extramarital sex at baseline were significantly more likely to be separated or divorced 2 years later; extramarital sex with a close personal friend made things much worse

Extramarital Sex and Marital Dissolution: Does Identity of the Extramarital Partner Matter? Lindsay T. Labrecque, Mark A. Whisman. Family Process, July 9 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12472

Abstract: Panel data from married adults (N = 1,853) in the General Social Survey, a probability sample of the adult household population of the United States, were used to evaluate (a) the longitudinal association between extramarital sex and marital dissolution 2 years later, (b) whether probability of marital dissolution differed as a function of the type of relationship people reported having with their extramarital sex partner, and (c) the degree to which these associations were incremental to participants’ level of marital satisfaction at baseline. Compared to people who reported not engaging in extramarital sex, those who reported engaging in extramarital sex at baseline were significantly more likely to be separated or divorced 2 years later. Furthermore, the association between having extramarital sex with a close personal friend and marital dissolution was particularly strong. These associations remained statistically significant after adjusting for marital satisfaction. Results suggest that the identity of the extramarital sex partner and the type of relationship a person has with him or her has important implications for probability of marital dissolution above and beyond the contribution of marital satisfaction.

Beliefs about the manifestation of personality traits in facial features: Those with stronger beliefs are more confident in their inferences & rely more on them when making decisions

Jaeger, Bastian, Anthony M. Evans, Marielle Stel, and Ilja van Beest. 2019. “Who Judges a Book by Its Cover? The Prevalence, Structure, and Correlates of Physiognomic Beliefs.” PsyArXiv. July 10. doi:10.31234/osf.io/8dq4x

Abstract: The question of whether personality can be inferred from faces is contentiously debated. We propose that, irrespective of the actual accuracy of trait inferences from faces, lay beliefs about the manifestation of personality traits in facial features (i.e., physiognomic beliefs) have important consequences for social cognition and behavior. In five studies (N = 3,861), we examine the prevalence, structure, and correlates of physiognomic beliefs. We find that belief in physiognomy is common among students (Study 1) and in a large, representative sample of the Dutch population (Study 2). Physiognomic beliefs are relatively stable over time and associated with an intuitive thinking style (Study 3). However, the strength of physiognomic beliefs varies across different personality dimensions: sociability is believed to be more reflected in facial appearance than morality or competence (Studies 1-5). Crucially, individual differences in belief strength predict how people form and use first impressions. People with stronger physiognomic beliefs are more confident in their trait inferences (Study 4) and rely more on them when making decisions (Study 5). Yet, this increased confidence is not explained by superior accuracy of personality inferences, and the endorsement of physiognomic beliefs is associated with overconfidence (Study 4). Overall, there is widespread belief in physiognomy among laypeople, and individual differences in belief strength relate to various social-cognitive processes and behaviors.

Attractiveness is positively related to World Cup performance in male, but not female, biathletes

Attractiveness is positively related to World Cup performance in male, but not female, biathletes. Tim W Fawcett Jack Ewans Alice Lawrence Andrew N Radford. Behavioral Ecology, arz097, July 10 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arz097

Abstract: Whole-organism performance capacity is thought to play a key role in sexual selection, through its impacts on both intrasexual competition and intersexual mate choice. Based on data from elite sports, several studies have reported a positive association between facial attractiveness and athletic performance in humans, leading to claims that facial correlates of sporting prowess in men reveal heritable or nonheritable mate quality. However, for most of the sports studied (soccer, ice hockey, American football, and cycling), it is not possible to separate individual performance from team performance. Here, using photographs of athletes who compete annually in a multi-event World Cup, we examine the relationship between facial attractiveness and individual career-best performance metrics in the biathlon, a multidisciplinary sport that combines target shooting and cross-country skiing. Unlike all previous studies, which considered only male athletes, we report relationships for both sportsmen and sportswomen. As predicted by evolutionary arguments, we found that male biathletes were judged more attractive if (unknown to the raters) they had achieved a higher peak performance (World Cup points score) in their career, whereas there was no significant relationship for female biathletes. Our findings show that elite male athletes display visible, attractive cues that reliably reflect their athletic performance.

Europe: Even minor forms of criminal justice contact may affect health; police-initiated contact was associated with worse health & wellbeing; stronger effect when police treatment was unsatisfactory

The thin blue line of health: Police contact and wellbeing in Europe. Valerio Baćak, Robert Apel. Social Science & Medicine, July 9 2019, 112404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112404

Highlights
•    Even minor forms of criminal justice contact may affect health.
•    Police-initiated contact was associated with worse health and wellbeing.
•    Adverse associations were pronounced when police treatment was unsatisfactory.

Abstract: Increasing evidence suggests that even minor forms of contact with the criminal justice system—such as being stopped by police—may be implicated in poor health. Police use of force can increase the risk of physical injury, whereas interactions accompanied by abusive rhetoric or threats can lead to psychological and emotional harm. Police contact may also have no health consequences for individuals or even be linked to good health because of an increased sense of public safety and confidence in law enforcement. This is the first study that explores whether contact with law enforcement is related to health and wellbeing in Europe. We estimated multilevel models with data from 26 countries that participated in the 2010 round of the European Social Survey. Across all outcomes—self-rated health, functional limitations, happiness, loneliness, and emotional wellbeing—having been approached, stopped or contacted by police was associated with worse health and wellbeing, especially when police treatment was perceived as unsatisfactory.

Absolute pitch: Myths, evidence and relevance to music education and performance

Absolute pitch: Myths, evidence and relevance to music education and performance. Jill Carden, Tony Cline. Psychology of Music, July 9, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735619856098

Abstract: The assumed extreme rarity of absolute pitch (AP), sometimes known as “perfect pitch”, is not supported by empirical evidence. Instead, studies indicate a prevalence of at least 4% for music students, making AP of potential importance to everyday music education. Considerable scientific curiosity about AP exists, though rarely have research findings been practically applied to music education. This review looks at the evidence of the origins of AP and of the distinct neurological, language and cognitive features of possessors, and considers the relevance of these to music students. The absence of systematically gathered data from those with AP about their experiences is discussed, and implications for the educational needs of this group considered.

Keywords: Absolute pitch, music, education

Life Events and Prosocial Behaviors Among Young Adults: Considering the Roles of Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern

Life Events and Prosocial Behaviors Among Young Adults: Considering the Roles of Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern. Alexandra N. Davis, Ashley Martin-Cuellar & Haley Luce. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, Jul 8 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2019.1632785

Abstract: The authors examined the altruism born of suffering model in a culturally diverse sample of young adults. They hypothesized that major life events would interact with perspective taking to predict empathic concern, which would predict multiple types of prosocial behaviors among young adults. The sample included 202 young adults (M age = 20.94 years; 76.5% girls; 36.5% White, 50.5% Latino) who reported on their exposure to major life events, perspective taking and empathic responding, and tendency to engage in six forms of prosocial behaviors. Life events indirectly, positively predicted prosocial behaviors via empathic concern. Empathic concern and perspective taking also interacted to predict empathic responding. The results demonstrated links that support the altruism born of suffering model, suggesting that life stressors might not always be negative and might promote resilience and social connection among young adults under specific conditions.

Keywords: Life events, perspective taking, empathic concern, prosocial behaviors

Defaults may not directly get people to behave as intended, such as saving more, eating healthy food or donating to charity

Abstract: Defaults may not directly get people to behave as intended, such as saving more, eating healthy food or donating to charity. Rather, defaults often only put people on the ‘right’ path, such as joining a savings plan, buying healthy food or pledging money to charity. This an issue because getting more people to take those first steps does not necessarily motivate them to go on with further steps. Indeed, the default does little to help them understand the benefit of doing so. This can greatly reduce the impact of the default. We test this idea in a charitable giving experiment where people first can promise to give to charity (‘pledge’) and then can go on to donate. We find that participants pledge more often when that is the default, but those who pledge in that case are less likely to take further steps to donate than those who pledge when pledging is against the default. We interpret this in terms of motivation and transaction costs. Some people pledge only to avoid the psychological costs of going against the default. Those people are closest to indifference between donating or not and are therefore less motivated to go on to donate. We also show that the intrinsic motivation of pledgers is lower when pledging is the default and that making pledges the default does not change attitudes to charities.

Author proposes that depression, addictions, self-harm are evolutionary, adaptive solutions to avoid suicide

Adaptation to the Suicidal Niche. C. A. Soper. Evolutionary Psychological Science, July 9 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-019-00202-3

Abstract: Primarily a precis of the book The Evolution of Suicide (Soper 2018), this article argues that behaviorally modern humans are specifically adapted to survive in what the author calls the “suicidal niche,” an ecological arena characterized by the endemic fitness threat of deliberate self-killing. A “pain-and-brain” model of suicide’s evolution is proposed, which explains suicide as a noxious by-product of two adaptations combined: the aversiveness of pain, which demands that the organism act to end or escape it, and the cognitive sophistication of the mature human brain, which offers self-killing as an effective means to satisfy that demand for escape. These “pain” and “brain” primary adaptations are posited to be both sufficient conditions for suicide and universal among mature humans, which suggests that the fitness threat of suicide would have posed a predictable and severe adaptive problem in the evolution of our species. Adaptive solutions, which emerged to address the problem, are hypothesized to be psychological and sometimes culturally informed mechanisms that either dull the “pain” motivation for suicide or deny the “brain” means to conceive and enact suicide—or, most likely, a combination of the two strategies. Evolved antisuicide defenses may account for many otherwise puzzling aspects of human behavior and psychology, including susceptibilities to depression, addictions, self-harm, and certain other common psychiatric symptoms, which the author posits to be protective, autonomic responses to suicidogenic pain. The precision of human adaptation to the suicidal niche makes it unlikely that deliberate self-killings can, even in principle, be predicted with useful accuracy at the individual level.

Keywords: Suicide Suicidology Evolution Evolutionary psychology Human evolution Suicidal niche Depression Addiction Mental disorder Positive psychology Fender Keeper Cognitive floor

Alcohol Consumption in Later Life and Mortality in the United States: Results from 9 Waves of the Health and Retirement Study

Alcohol Consumption in Later Life and Mortality in the United States: Results from 9 Waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Katherine M. Keyes et al. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, July 5 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.14125

Abstract
Background: Alcohol consumption in later life has increased in the past decade, and the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality is controversial. Recent studies suggest little, if any, health benefit to alcohol. Yet most rely on single–time point consumption assessments and minimal confounder adjustments.

Methods: We report on 16 years of follow‐up from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) cohorts born 1931 to 1941 (N = 7,904, baseline mean age = 61, SD = 3.18). Respondents were queried about drinking frequency/quantity. Mortality was established via exit interviews and confirmed with the national death index. Time‐varying confounders included but were not limited to household assets, smoking, body mass index, health/functioning, depression, chronic disease; time‐invariant confounders included baseline age, education, sex, and race.

Results: After adjustment, current abstainers had the highest risk of subsequent mortality, consistent with sick quitters, and moderate (men: HR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.91; women: HR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.63 to 1.07) drinking was associated with a lower mortality rate compared with occasional drinking, though smokers and men evidenced less of an inverse association. Quantitative bias analyses indicated that omitted confounders would need to be associated with ~4‐fold increases in mortality rates for men and ~9‐fold increases for women to change the results.

Conclusions: There are consistent associations between moderate/occasional drinking and lower mortality, though residual confounding remains a threat to validity. Continued efforts to conduct large‐scale observational studies of alcohol consumption and mortality are needed to characterize the changing patterns of consumption in older age.

Life-Course Criminal Trajectories of Mafia Members

Life-Course Criminal Trajectories of Mafia Members. Gian Maria Campedelli et al. Crime & Delinquency, July 7, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128719860834

Abstract: Through a novel data set comprising the criminal records of 11,138 convicted mafia offenders, we compute criminal career parameters and trajectories through group-based trajectory modeling. Mafia offenders report prolific and persistent careers (16.1 crimes over 16.5 years on average), with five distinct trajectories (low frequency, high frequency, early starter, moderate persistence, high persistence). While showing some similarities with general offenders, the trajectories of mafia offenders also exhibit significant differences, with several groups offending well into their middle and late adulthood, notwithstanding intense criminal justice sanctions. These patterns suggest that several mafia offenders are life-course persisters and career criminals and that the involvement in the mafias is a negative turning point extending the criminal careers beyond those observed in general offenders.

Keywords: criminal careers, developmental trajectories, life course, organized crime

Replicable: People regard themselves as better than the average, thinking of themselves as better described by positive character traits than the others

Alicke (1985): Pre-registered replication and extension. Pui Yan Mok, Gilad Feldman. Preprint, June 2019. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30198.04164

Abstract: People seem to regard themselves as better than the average other. To revisit this phenomenon, we conducted a pre-registered replication and extension of Alicke's (1985) study on the effect of trait dimensions for self versus average other judgments, collecting data from American Amazon Mechanical Turk workers in two waves (N = 670; N = 903). For more effective analyses, we switched to a correlational design after pre-testing the data. We successfully replicated the effect of trait desirability for the self-ratings in relation to average other ratings, such that participants rated more desirable traits as more descriptive of themselves than of the average American (original: ηp2 = .78, 95% CI [.73, .81]; replication: sr2 = .54, 95% CI [.43, .65]). In line with the original findings, we found that the effect was stronger for traits of higher controllability (original: ηp2 = .21, 95% CI [.12, .28]; replication: sr2 = .07, 95% CI [.02, .12]). As an extension, we measured commonness, the degree to which a trait is frequently displayed among the average American. The extension revealed that more desirable traits were rated as more common (sr2 = .04, 95% CI [-.01, .09]) and this held for the average American (sr2 = .41, 95% CI [.31, .52]) but not the self (sr2 = .00, 95% CI [-.01, .01]). Three decades after the original study, the better-than-average effect appears to remain robust. We discuss implications for future research.

The Impact of Shared Book Reading on Children’s Language Skills: Negligible

Noble, Claire, Giovanni Sala, Michelle Lowe, Jamie Lingwood, Caroline F. Rowland, Fernand Gobet, and Julian Pine. 2018. “The Impact of Shared Book Reading on Children’s Language Skills: A Meta-analysis.” PsyArXiv. October 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/cu7bk

Abstract: Shared book reading is thought to have a positive impact on young children’s language development, with shared reading interventions often run in an attempt to boost children’s language skills. However, despite the volume of research in this area, a number of issues remain outstanding. The current meta-analysis explored whether shared reading interventions are equally effective (a) across a range of study designs; (b) across a range of different outcome variables; and (c) for children from different SES groups. It also explored the potentially moderating effects of intervention duration, child age, use of dialogic reading techniques, person delivering the intervention and mode of intervention delivery. Our results show that, while there is an effect of shared reading on language development, this effect is smaller than reported in previous meta-analyses (g ̅ = 0.215, p < .001). They also show that this effect is moderated by the type of control group used and is negligible in studies with active control groups (g ̅ = 0.021, p = .783). Finally, they show no significant effects of differences in outcome variable (ps ≥ .400), socio-economic status (p = .654), or any of our other potential moderators (ps ≥ .103), and non-significant effects for studies with follow-ups (g ̅ = 0.145, p = .070). On the basis of these results, we make a number of recommendations for researchers and educators about the design and implementation of future shared reading interventions.

Individuals become more religious if an earthquake recently hit close by; this may help explain why religiosity has not vanished as some scholars once predicted

Acts of God? Religiosity and Natural Disasters Across Subnational World Districts
Jeanet Sinding Bentzen. The Economic Journal, uez008, May 16 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uez008

Abstract: Religious beliefs potentially influence individual behavior. But why are some societies more religious than others? One possible answer is religious coping: Individuals turn to religion to deal with unbearable and unpredictable life events. To investigate whether coping can explain global differences in religiosity, I combine a global dataset on individual-level religiosity with spatial data on natural disasters. Individuals become more religious if an earthquake recently hit close by. Even though the effect decreases after a while, data on children of immigrants reveal a persistent effect across generations. The results point to religious coping as the main mediating channel, but alternative explanations such as mutual insurance or migration cannot be ruled out entirely. The findings may help explain why religiosity has not vanished as some scholars once predicted.