Cognition in the fast lane: Ravens’ gaze duration are half as short as humans’ when choosing objects; their vision picks up more information per time unit

Bobrowicz, K., & Osvath, M. (2019). Cognition in the fast lane: Ravens’ gazes are half as short as humans’ when choosing objects. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 6(2), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.06.02.01.2019

Abstract: Time cannot be directly perceived; instead, its flow is inferred from the influx of sensory information. To prevent sensory overload, attentional mechanisms split up information into processable units. This portioning remains imperceptible to the individual. However, the length of these units still influences the speed of perception and the speed at which behaviors are performed. Previous studies have focused on establishing the length of these units in various mammalian species – mainly humans – by measuring different types of behaviors, including gaze. However, no such studies have been conducted on birds. We measured duration of ravens’ (Corvus corax) single gazes towards selectable objects before a choice was made, and compared it with that of humans in a similar set up. The raven gaze durations were approximately half those of humans (which fell slightly short of previously established ranges). We hypothesize that these differences are mainly due to the much higher so-called flicker-fusion-frequency in birds, which makes their vision faster in the sense that it picks up more information per time unit than mammalian vision does. We further discuss that the speed of perception might influence the general speed of cognitive processing in more complex tasks as well, and suggest that the addition of a temporal component in comparative cognitive studies might be informative.

KeywordsTime constant, Raven, Moment, Temporal processing, Cognition, Visual perception

A partner’s attractiveness enhances the perceived leadership of CEOs and this effect is mediated by CEO’s attractiveness; however, female CEOs’ leadership was downgraded in the presence of an attractive partner

Show Me Your Partner and I’ll Let You Know if You are a Leader. Ipek Kocoglu and Murad A. Mithani. Academy of Management ProceedingsVol. 2019, No. 1, Aug 1 2019. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2019.13175abstract

Abstract: We integrate the research on evolutionary leadership with the evolutionary psychology of mate choice to investigate if the perception of an individual’s leadership capability is affected by the attractiveness of their partner. We argue that attractive partners signal unobservable leadership qualities, and accordingly, individuals are likely to be viewed more leader-like in the presence of an attractive partner than when seen alone. Study 1 found that a partner’s attractiveness enhances the perceived leadership of CEOs and this effect is mediated by CEO’s attractiveness. However, the benefits were limited to male CEOs. Female CEOs’ leadership was downgraded in the presence of an attractive partner. In study 2, we found that while the penalty for female CEOs increased when they were synthetically coupled with an attractive male, the spillover of partner’s attractiveness was positive for females that were perceived to be significantly more attractive than their partners. Our findings suggest that indirect cues that emanate from the partner are critical for leadership assessment. They invoke attributions that enhance the perceived leadership of males but largely disapprove of females as leaders.

Paying Back People Who Harmed Us but Not People Who Helped Us: Direct Negative Reciprocity Precedes Direct Positive Reciprocity in Early Development

Paying Back People Who Harmed Us but Not People Who Helped Us: Direct Negative Reciprocity Precedes Direct Positive Reciprocity in Early Development. Nadia Chernyak et al. Psychological Science, August 5, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619854975

Abstract: The principle of direct reciprocity, or paying back specific individuals, is assumed to be a critical component of everyday social exchange and a key mechanism for the evolution of cooperation. Young children know the norm of reciprocity, but it is unclear whether they follow the norm for both positive and negative direct reciprocity or whether reciprocity is initially generalized. Across five experiments (N = 330), we showed that children between 4 and 8 years of age engaged in negative direct reciprocity but generalized positive reciprocity, despite recalling benefactors. Children did not endorse the norm of positive direct reciprocity as applying to them until about 7 years of age (Study 4), but a short social-norm training enhanced this behavior in younger children (Study 5). Results suggest that negative direct reciprocity develops early, whereas positive reciprocity becomes targeted to other specific individuals only as children learn and adopt social norms.

Keywords: direct reciprocity, altruism, social groups, cognitive development, social norms, open data, open materials

Over the last 15 years, households have increasingly concentrated its spending on a few preferred products; not “superstar” products of large market shares; households increasingly focus spending on different products from each other

The Rise of Niche Consumption. Brent Neiman, Joseph Vavra. University of Chicago, July 2019. https://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/brent.neiman/research/NV.pdf

Abstract: We show that over the last 15 years, the typical household has increasingly concentrated its spending on a few preferred products. However, this is not driven by “superstar” products capturing larger market shares. Instead, households increasingly focus spending on different products from each other. As a result, aggregate spending concentration has in fact decreased over this same period. We use a novel heterogeneous agent model to conclude that increasing product variety is a key driver of these divergent trends. When more products are available, households can select a subset better matched to their particular tastes, and this generates welfare gains not reflected in government statistics. Our model features heterogeneous markups because producers of popular products care more about maximizing profits from existing customers, while producers of less popular niche products care more about expanding their customer base. Surprisingly, however,our model can match the observed trends in household and aggregate concentration without any resulting change in aggregate market power.

Keywords: Product Concentration, Niche Products, Market Power, Markups, Long-tail

On the potential distortions of highly cited papers in emerging research fields: A critical appraisal

On the potential distortions of highly cited papers in emerging research fields: A critical appraisal. Edoardo G. Ostinelli, Orsola Gambini and Armando D'Agostino. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 42, 2019, e77. July 15 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X18002807

Abstract: Citation-based metrics are increasingly used as a proxy to define representative, considerable, or significant papers. We challenge this belief by taking into account factors that may play a role in providing citations to a manuscript and whether/how those highly cited studies could shape a scientific field. A different approach to summarisation of relevant core publications within a topic is proposed.

One reason for the high usage of sexually explicit material might be the rewarding property demonstrated in many studies showing an activation of the reward system during the presentation; no sex differences

No Sex Difference Found: Cues of Sexual Stimuli Activate the Reward System in both Sexes. Rudolf Stark et al. Neuroscience, August 5 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.07.049

Highlights
•    SEM cues resulted in similar neural activations as the presentation of SEM
•    The neural responses towards cues did not differ between men and women
•    There were some sex differences in the neural responses towards SEM
•    The nucleus accumbens response was unaffected by person characteristics

Abstract: Sexually explicit material (SEM) is increasingly used in western societies. One reason for this high usage might be the rewarding property of SEM demonstrated in many brain imaging studies showing an activation of the reward system during the presentation of SEM. It is not yet well understood why women use SEM to a remarkably lesser extent than men. Maybe men react stronger to stimuli – so called SEM cues –, which signal the presentation of SEM and are therefore more vulnerable to use SEM than women. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating the sex specific neural correlates towards SEM and SEM cues. We were further interested in whether person characteristics as trait sexual motivation, extent of SEM use in the last month, and age at onset of goal-oriented SEM use affect the neural responses to SEM and SEM cues. The trials of the fMRI experiment consisted of an expectation phase with SEM or neutral cues and a presentation phase with SEM or neutral stimuli, respectively. Analyses showed that the reward circuitry was activated by SEM, but also by SEM cues. There were some sex differences in hemodynamic responses to SEM during the presentation phase, but not during the expectation phase to SEM cues in any of the regions of interest. The influence of the investigated person characteristics was only small if existent. The results suggest that sex specific cue processing cannot explain sex differences in the use of SEM.

Urban China: Tenure change from renter to owner significantly increased subjective well-being; the effect was unaffected by the financial burdens of new homeowners

Does happiness dwell in an owner-occupied house? Homeownership and subjective well-being in urban China. Xian Zheng, Zi-qing Yuan, XiaolingZhang. Cities, Volume 96, January 2020, 102404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102404

Highlights
• We investigated the causal effect of homeownership on subjective well-being.
• The causal relationship was estimated using the difference-in-differences approach.
• Tenure change from renter to owner significantly increased subjective well-being.
• The causal effect was unaffected by the financial burdens of new homeowners.

Abstract: This study investigates the causal relationship between homeownership and subjective well-being based on household-level panel data collected from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2011 and 2013. The extent to which homeownership contributes to the changes in subjective well-being is estimated, focusing on the heterogeneous effects across socioeconomic and demographic groups. Evidence from the identification strategies indicates that homeownership has a positive impact on subjective well-being. Moreover, the results are robust to different specifications and unaffected by the financial constraints faced by new homeowners. Our findings have useful implications for policymakers to stimulate homeownership rates to promote subjective well-being.

Keywords: Subjective well-beingHomeownershipDifference-in-DifferencesUrban China

1. Introduction

The analysis of well-being is the cornerstone of neoclassical welfare
economics, with abundant empirical literature concerning the determinants
of self-reported happiness, life satisfaction, or subjective
well-being (SWB) (Dolan, Peasgood, & White, 2008).1 As a representative
and multidimensional indicator of individual utility or
welfare, SWB is determined by the fundamental aspects of life from a
macroscopic perspective (Benjamin, Heffetz, Kimball, & Szembrot,
2014).
Housing satisfaction is one of the most decisive domains accounting
for life cycle satisfaction (Van Praag, Frijters, & Ferrer-i-Carbonell,
2003); in the words of John Howard Payne (1781–1852), “Be it ever so
humble, there is no place like home”. Intuitively, homeownership exerts
an indirect influence on overall life satisfaction through housing
satisfaction. Previous studies mainly investigate the determinants of
housing satisfaction, including housing tenure, hedonic characteristics,
individual and household attributes, neighborhood conditions, and
social interactions. In particular, homeownership has gained increasing
attention due to its potential implications for both individuals and societies.
An extensive literature provides empirical evidence supporting
a positive relationship between homeownership and SWB (Diaz-
Serrano, 2009; Dietz & Haurin, 2003; Guven & Sørensen, 2012; Ruprah,
2010; Stillman & Liang, 2010; Zumbro, 2014), whereas other studies
report a contradictory negative or insignificant relationship
(Bucchianeri, 2011; Elsinga & Hoekstra, 2005a; Parker, Watson, &
Webb, 2011).
Theoretical disputes and welfare concerns motivate our investigation
of the relationship between homeownership and SWB. For decades,
it was taken for granted that homeownership is related to welfare improvement
due to its private and social benefits. However, homeownership
is assumed to decrease SWB when the heavy financial
burden of mortgages, constraints on mobility, and uncertainty of
housing prices are considered. Many question whether homeownership
can ultimately increase SWB in consideration of housing affordability.
Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of homeownership on
SWB in consideration of both benefits and potential drawbacks.
In light of this debate, we evaluate whether homeownership increases,
decreases, or has no effect on SWB. An increased understanding
of the relationship between homeownership and SWB will be beneficial
for policymakers to develop sustainable housing policies. Furthermore,
discovering the factors through which homeownership affects SWB is
crucial. In this way, policymakers can advance policies and take initiatives
to facilitate SWB according to an appropriate micro-mechanism.
Consequently, the relationship between homeownership and
SWB is an important issue in need of further research.
China's housing market provides an appealing testing ground for
analyzing the homeownership-happiness puzzle for several reasons. On
the one hand, from the standpoint of housing systems, China is usually
considered as a home-owning society rather than a cost-rental society.
In such a setting, renting is not regarded as a good alternative to
homeownership. Renting usually involves residential uncertainty or
instability of individual life conditions. In particular, renters are unable
to fulfill widely-accepted family values and practices (Elsinga &
Hoekstra, 2005b). By contrast, the homeowners reap the benefits of
social identity in marriage markets and other aspects. Accordingly, an
enthusiastic preference for homeownership has been deeply rooted in
Chinese tradition since ancient times. On the other hand, market-oriented
reform of the welfare housing system in 1998 dramatically
fueled the willingness of households to gain privatized homeownership
and increased the homeownership rate (Chen & Wen, 2017). Additionally,
China's housing market is substantially influenced by local
governments' profit-oriented land financing activities. Along with a
series of socioeconomic reforms and acceleration in urbanization,
housing prices have been soaring in recent years, especially in first-tier
cities. Given the high housing prices and price-to-rent ratios, unaffordability
poses one of the biggest challenge in the so-called superstar
cities (Chen, Hu, & Lin, 2019; Gyourko, Mayer, & Sinai, 2013). The
literature concerning the homeownership-happiness puzzle in China
continues to grow, and some studies question whether the overwhelming
financial burden can offset the positive effects of homeownership
(J. Chen & Deng, 2014; R. Chen, 2010; Cheng, King, Smyth,
& Wang, 2016; Cheng & Smyth, 2015a; Hu, 2013).
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2
presents a literature review. Section 3 provides a theoretical framework
regarding the relationship between homeownership and SWB. The data
sources and descriptive statistical analysis used are presented in Section
4, followed by the empirical strategy in Section 5. Section 6 reports the
empirical results and robustness checks, while Section 7 summarizes
and concludes the paper.

Austin, Denver, & Portland have thriving 21st century economies, but families with children struggle to take advantage of what they offer; there is a link between gentrification & loss of children over time

Is there room for children in booming western cities? Empirical evidence from Austin, Denver, and Portland. JakeWegmann. Cities, Volume 96, January 2020, 102403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102403

Highlights
• Austin, Denver, and Portland have thriving 21st century economies.
• However, families with children struggle to take advantage of what they offer.
• There is a link between gentrification and loss of children over time.
• Single-family and missing middle housing types are key for retaining children.
• They and other cities need to specifically prioritize housing needs of children.

Abstract: Austin, Denver, and Portland are all booming cities in or on the edge of the American West. Their thriving economies and natural and urban amenities have attracted large numbers of in-migrants. As housing prices rise, families with children in particular face diminished choices about where to live. This article asks three questions: How have the child populations of Austin, Denver, and Portland fared in recent decades? Is there a link between gentrification and a decrease in family households with children? And finally, to what extent do various housing types associate with more or fewer of these households? In brief, Austin, Denver, and Portland have fared reasonably well in maintaining family life, but neighborhoods with master-planned brownfield or greenfield developments appear to have accounted for a disproportionate share of the growth in their child populations, helping to offset sharp losses in gentrifying neighborhoods closer to the cities' urban cores. As these opportunities begin to diminish in all three cities, the strong association between compact single-family and “missing middle,” or middle density, housing types and households with children suggests pathways for these three cities and others like them to retain such households, by using policy to encourage these development types.

Keywords: ChildrenMissing middle housingAffordable housingGentrificationAmerican west

Does exposure to richer and poorer neighborhoods influence wellbeing? Individuals with higher income than that of neighbors are more satisfied with life

Does exposure to richer and poorer neighborhoods influence wellbeing? Donggen Wang, Tim Schwanen, Zidan Mao. Cities, Volume 95, December 2019, 102408, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102408

Highlights
• Examines the impacts of individuals' income vis-à-vis that of neighbors on life satisfaction
• Studies the effect of individuals' income vis-à-vis that of visited areas on emotional wellbeing
• Data are derived from an activity-travel diary survey conducted in 2010 in Hong Kong
• Individuals with higher income than that of neighbors are more satisfied with life
• Individuals' income vis-à-vis that of visited areas is a positive predictor of emotional wellbeing

Abstract: Geographical differences in wellbeing have attracted increased attention in the science of happiness literature and recent research has become particularly interested in high-resolution spatial differentiation within cities. This study contributes to this literature by analyzing the relationships between subjective wellbeing and relative income at the neighborhood level using activity-travel survey data from 2010 in Hong Kong. In contrast to previous studies, the analysis concentrates not only on life satisfaction but also on pleasure derived from daily activities in the city, and considers relative income in people's residential neighborhood and the neighborhoods where they conduct different types of daily activity. The results suggest that social comparisons with regard to income matter to life satisfaction as well as emotional wellbeing, that the effects occur for both the residential neighborhood and the urban places where daily activities are undertaken, and that downward income comparisons tend to have stronger effects on wellbeing than upward comparison. One theoretical implication that follows from the analysis is that the impact of social comparison in the science of happiness needs to be theorized as dynamic, mobile and contingent upon people's daily trajectories through time and urban space.

Keywords: Hong KongIncomeLife satisfactionNeighborhoodPleasureSocial comparisonWellbeing

Let There Be Variance: Individual Differences in Consecutive Self‐control in a Laboratory Setting and Daily Life

Let There Be Variance: Individual Differences in Consecutive Self‐control in a Laboratory Setting and Daily Life. Mario Wenzel et al. European Journal of Personality, June 23 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2208

Abstract: The large body of research used to support ego‐depletion effects is currently faced with conceptual and replication issues, leading to doubt over the extent or even existence of the ego‐depletion effect. By using within‐person designs in a laboratory (Study 1; 187 participants) and an ambulatory assessment study (Study 2; 125 participants), we sought to clarify this ambiguity by investigating whether prominent situational variables (such as motivation and affect) or personality traits can help elucidate when ego depletion can be observed and when not. Although only marginal ego‐depletion effects were found in both studies, these effects varied considerably between individuals, indicating that some individuals experience self‐control decrements after initial self‐control exertion and others not. However, neither motivation nor affect nor personality traits such as trait self‐control could consistently explain this variability when models were applied that controlled for variance due to targets and the depletion manipulation (Study 1) or days (Study 2) as well as for multiple testing. We discuss how the operationalization and reliability of our key measures may explain these null effects and demonstrate that alternative metrics may be required to study the consequences of the consecutive exertion of self‐control.

These results show that upright animals, regardless of whether they are predators or prey, attract attention in humans, & this could allow humans to rapidly evaluate predatory threats or the flight readiness of hunted game

Animals in Upright Postures Attract Attention in Humans. Jessica L. Yorzinski, Richard G. Coss. Evolutionary Psychological Science, August 5 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-019-00209-w

Abstract: Individual predators differ in the level of risk they represent to prey. Because prey incur costs when responding to predators, prey can benefit by adjusting their antipredator behavior based on the level of perceived risk. Prey can potentially assess the level of risk by evaluating the posture of predators as an index of predators’ motivational state. Like other prey species, humans might evaluate predator body posture as a prominent cue for assessing danger. We tested whether human participants adjusted their visual attention based on the postures of predators by presenting participants with photographic arrays of predators (lions) that varied in postures while we recorded the participants’ gaze behavior. The participants searched for a standing lion (representing a high-risk target) among an array of reclining lions (representing low-risk distractors) or searched for a reclining lion among an array of standing lions. They also searched through similar arrays consisting of non-threatening prey (impalas) standing or reclining, rather than predators. Participants detected standing lions and impala faster than reclining lions and impala. Surprisingly, they detected standing lions at similar latencies as standing impala. They detected the reclining lions and impala more slowly because they spent more time looking at the standing lion and impala distractors and looked at more of those distractors. These results show that upright animals, regardless of whether they are predators or prey, attract attention in humans, and this could allow humans to rapidly evaluate predatory threats or the flight readiness of hunted game.

Keywords: Attention Humans Delayed disengagement Posture Predator detection

Is Well-being Associated with the Quantity and Quality of Social Interactions? Introverts may experience greater boosts in social connectedness, relative to extraverts, when engaging in deeper conversations

Sun, Jessie, Kelci Harris, and Simine Vazire. 2019. “Is Well-being Associated with the Quantity and Quality of Social Interactions?.” PsyArXiv. August 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/xdvsa

Abstract: Social relationships are often touted as critical for well-being. However, the vast majority of studies on social relationships have relied on self-report measures of both social interactions and well-being, which makes it difficult to disentangle true associations from shared method variance. To address this gap, we assessed the quantity and quality of social interactions using both self-report and observer-based measures in everyday life. Participants (N = 256, 3,206 observations) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive audio recorder, and completed experience sampling method (ESM) self-reports of their momentary social interactions, happiness, and feelings of social connectedness, four times each day for one week. Observers rated the quantity and quality of participants’ social interactions based on the EAR recordings from the same time points. Quantity of social interactions was robustly associated with greater well-being in the moment and on average, whether they were measured with self-reports or observer reports. Conversational (conversational depth and self-disclosure) and relational (knowing and liking one’s interaction partners) aspects of social interaction quality were also generally associated with greater well-being, but the effects were larger and more consistent for self-reported (vs. observer-reported) quality variables, within-person (vs. between-person) associations, and for predicting social connectedness (vs. happiness). Finally, although most associations were similar for introverts and extraverts, our exploratory results suggest that introverts may experience greater boosts in social connectedness, relative to extraverts, when engaging in deeper conversations. This study provides compelling multi-method evidence supporting the link between more frequent and deeper social interactions and well-being.

From 2018: Genetic Endowments and Wealth Inequality

From 2018: Genetic Endowments and Wealth Inequality. Daniel Barth, Nicholas W. Papageorge, Kevin Thom. NBER Working Paper No. 24642, May 2018. https://nicholaswpapageorge.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/genes_wealth.pdf

Abstract: We show that genetic endowments linked to educational attainment strongly and robustly predict wealth at retirement. The estimated relationship is not fully explained by flexibly controlling for education and labor income. We therefore investigate a host of additional mechanisms that could help to explain the gene-wealth gradient, including inheritances, mortality, savings, risk preferences, portfolio decisions, beliefs about the probabilities of macro economic events, and planning horizons. The associations we report provide preliminary evidence that genetic endowments related to human capital accumulation are associated with wealth not only through educational attainment and labor income, but also through a facility with complex financial decision-making. Our study illustrates how economic research seeking to understand sources of inequality can benefit from recent advances in behavioral genetics linking specific observed genetic endowments to economic outcomes.
Keywords: Wealth, Inequality, Portfolio Decisions, Beliefs, Education and Genetics

Genetic & environmental sources of individual differences in homophobic tendencies towards gay men: A large proportion of genetic factors (82%) contribute to individual differences in homophobia

Sources of Individual Differences in Sociopolitical Orientations: Findings from Combining Behavior Genetic with Multi-Rater Approaches. Alexandra Zapko-Willmes. Kumulative Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Dr. rer. nat. im Fach Psychologie, Universität Bielefeld. Oct 2018. http://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/29325

Summary
In the three studies constituting this dissertation, behavior genetic and multi-rater approaches were combined to contribute to the understanding of sources of interindividual differences in broad and narrow dimensions of sociopolitical orientations. For this purpose, all studies employed structural equation modeling designs based on cross-sectional twin family and multi-rater data from the Jena Twin Study of Social Attitudes (JeTSSA; studies 1 and 2) and the Study of Personality Architecture and Dynamics (SPeADy; study 3).

Study 1 was aimed at validating and extending previous self-report studies on genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in homophobic tendencies towards gay men across multiple rater perspectives. In line with our hypotheses, we found a large proportion of genetic factors (82%) to contribute to individual differences in homophobia, with unique environmental factors (18%) explaining the remaining variance. Moreover, we found variance specific for self-reports to be partially attributable to genetic factors (20%), confirming past findings that suggested that self-reports may underlie genetic influences. Results indicate the importance of univariate behavior genetic investigations.

Study 2 was conducted to examine, whether differences in experienced parenting affect present differences in twin sibling’s right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) via a “truly” environmental pathway as opposed to a genetic mediation. We integrated genetically informed and phenotypic multi-rater models to investigate whether and how the association is confounded due to shared genetic and environmental sources of both variables. We considered offspring’s, mothers’, and fathers’ retrospective ratings of two parenting dimensions and offspring’s self- and informant reports on their RWA. Our hypotheses were generally not confirmed. An evocative genotype-environment correlation likely explained the positive link between parental responsiveness and differences in offspring’s RWA. In other words, the offspring’s genetically influenced RWA score (and associated behavior) affected their experienced parental emotional warmth and support, with a higher RWA score associated with more highly experienced responsiveness. In contrast, we found an effectively environmental positive association between differences in experienced parental demandingness and differences in twin sibling’s RWA. Parental RWA, while not associated with parental responsiveness, partly explained the link between experienced demandingness and differences in offspring’s RWA.  Findings underlined the additional insight gained through multiple raters on the environmental as well as characteristic.

Finally, study 3 examined the convergence of basic value orientations and foci of moral concern as two abstract dimensions of sociopolitical orientations. We expected the dimensions to converge based on common underlying world beliefs. The value orientation towards conservation versus openness to change was expected to converge with a moral focus on organization versus opportunity due to the underlying belief in a dangerous world. The value orientation self-transcendence versus self-enhancement was expected to converge with a moral focus on social versus individual outcomes due to the underlying (lack of) belief in a competitive world. We combined multi-rater with twin family data to investigate four criteria of convergence (structural, age-related, source-related, and the link with a key personality trait). For both expected links, we found the dimensions to be systematically linked, but reflect distinct characteristics, suggesting that they reflect characteristics of different personality layers. We discussed the role of specific motives and environmental factors contributing to differences in foci of moral concern.


Introduction
According to an old saying and etiquette rule1, one should avoid conversations about political topics, alluding to the inevitably ensuing disputes fueled by individual differences in social and political views. When viewed through historic and current events, these interindividual differences may have major individual-level, group-level, societal, and even global consequences beyond mere heated disputes. Individual preferences regarding social and political issues, subsumed under the term sociopolitical orientations, have been linked to various forms of prejudice (Altemeyer, 1996; Asbrock, Sibley, & Duckitt, 2010; Duckitt & Farre, 1994; Ekehammar, Akrami, Gylje, & Zakrisson, 2004; Hodson & Dhont, 2015), support for radical right parties (Aichholzer & Zandonella, 2016; Cornelis & Van Hiel, 2015; but see also Dunn, 2015), endorsement of human rights and associated behavior (Cohrs, Maes, Moschner, & Kielmann, 2007), and post-9/11 attitudes (Crowson, DeBacker, & Thoma, 2005, 2006), to name a few. Furthermore, its impact could be recently observed in the context of political participation and voting behavior in the Brexit referendum (Golec de Zavala, Guerra, & Simão, 2017) as well as the US presidential election (Choma & Hanoch, 2017; Womick, Rothmund, Azevedo, King, & Jost, 2018).

These findings corroborate the importance of research on the factors that contribute to individual differences in sociopolitical orientations. An important piece of this puzzle is the identification of the biological and environmental roots of these characteristics. These roots have long been regarded as being essentially – even exclusively – environmental; Genetic explanations were largely disregarded in favor of socialization explanations (e.g., Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950; Altemeyer, 1988). However, behavior genetic studies (e.g., Eaves & Eysenck, 1974; Eaves et al., 1999; Kandler, Bleidorn, & Riemann, 2012; Martin et al., 1986) have shown that environmental factors shared between twin siblings (which would reflect a large portion of the argued socialization) are not as crucial as previously assumed, and that genetic and idiosyncratic environmental effects are substantial. After decades of neglecting genetic explanations, there is no longer a “nature versus nurture” debate when it comes to sources of individual differences in sociopolitical orientations, as well as other personality characteristics2 and virtually all complex human dispositions (Polderman et al., 2015). Rather, nature and nurture are agreed to be interwoven with each other (Plomin, DeFries, & Loehlin, 1977; Scarr & McCartney, 1983). 

In this work, I sought to contribute to the understanding of the sources of interindividual differences in sociopolitical orientations. Sociopolitical orientations were studied at various levels of content-related abstraction (Section I), ranging from specific dimensions (i.e., homophobia; study 1), to broad, less specific dimensions that capture individual global social and political preferences (i.e., right-wing authoritarianism; study 2) to even more abstract motivational and affective-cognitive dimensions (i.e., value orientations and foci of moral concern; study 3). I employed both behavior genetic and multi-rater models to overcome methodological limitations (Section II) of past univariate (study 1) and multivariate (study 2) behavior genetic research, and to gain insight into the convergence of two conceptually related dimensions of sociopolitical orientations (study 3).

Homosexual consumers show negative responses to heterosexual imagery; doesn't happen in the opposite direction

Consumer Responses to Homosexual Imagery in Advertising: A Meta-Analysis. Martin Eisend & Erik Hermann. Journal of Advertising, Jul 17 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2019.1628676 

Abstract: Rising support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, paired with the considerable buying power of this group, has triggered increasing interest from marketers in the gay and lesbian market. Many companies have developed advertising with homosexual imagery to better target this group as well as the mainstream market. The findings on the persuasive effects of homosexual imagery are mixed and do not provide insights on whether and when homosexual imagery in advertising supports persuasion. To resolve the inconsistencies in findings of prior research, this article presents a meta-analysis on the effects of homosexual imagery. The integrated effect size suggests that the net persuasive effect between homosexual and heterosexual imagery does not differ. We find, however, that homosexual consumers show negative responses to heterosexual imagery. Furthermore, the moderator analysis suggests that incongruence between imagery, consumer characteristics, cultural values, explicitness of imagery, endorser gender, and product type results in unfavorable responses to homosexual advertising imagery. These findings provide guidelines for future research and implications for advertisers who intend to address consumers of various sexual orientations.