Do Women Really Desire Casual Sex? Analysis of a Popular Adult Online Dating/Liaison Site

Do Women Really Desire Casual Sex? Analysis of a Popular Adult Online Dating/Liaison Site, by Michelle Escasa-Dorne and William Jankowiak. In Focality and Extension in Kinship. Essays in memory of Harold W Scheffler. Warren Shapiro (Ed.). https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n4128/pdf/book.pdf

A large body of evidence supports general expectations concerning sex differences in perceptions of sexual behaviour and psychology. An early compilation of various surveys, primarily from the United States (US), suggests that men prefer young, healthy and physically attractive partners, whereas women seek ambitious, generous and socially and economically successful partners when evaluating potential mates (Symons 1979). Related research finds males more than females utilise prostitutes, consume pornography, require less time before consenting to sex and sex with a stranger, and display higher rates of sex with farm animals (Gray and Garcia 2013; Mealey 2000). Differences are further manifested in men having more spontaneous thoughts about sex, a greater variety of sexual fantasies, greater frequency of wanting intercourse and with a larger number of partners, and higher participation in masturbation (even in societies that strongly discourage it) (Baumeister, Catanese and Vohs 2001: 242). In contrast, women give greater weight to cues of emotional intimacy with someone who is open to establishing an ongoing relationship (Buss 2003; Regan and Berscheid 1999; Schmitt, Shackelford and Buss 2001).

Sexual selection theory and data on sexuality suggest that heterosexual women’s short-term sexual strategies may be motivated by accumulation of resources (Buss 2008; Hrdy 1999; Symons 1979; Townsend 1998), mate switching (Betzig 1989), or out of a desire to evaluate a prospective long-term mate (Buss 2008; Buss and Schmitt 1993; Greiling and Buss 2000; Meston and Buss 2007) rather than motivation to find momentary sexual pleasure. However, the emergent research on bisexual women finds they have on average more sexual partners than heterosexual or lesbian women. This research also finds that bisexual women often have higher testosterone levels than women in the general population (Lippa 2006).

The higher testosterone levels may contribute to bisexual women having a stronger sex drive and thus desire to seek out more opportunities for short-term sexual encounters. Another exception is female swingers, or married women, who seek out sexual variety within spouse exchange contexts (Jankowiak and Mixson 2008). In this setting, women engage in casual sexual encounters that allow for the possibility of a physiological release, while also signalling to themselves and others that they are sexually attractive and therefore desirable (see Gangestad and Simpson 2000). Previous literature has also noted that extra-pair mating may be the stimulus necessary to activate women’s short-term mating strategies (Pillsworth and Haselton 2006). Clearly, some women do engage in short-term mating encounters.

[...]

Conclusion

Adult Friend Finder is the world’s largest online dating site. Its home page advertises itself as being a site where men and women can find good opportunities to find like-minded people interested in casual sexual encounters. We found the site functions, however, more as a dating site in which heterosexual women, in spite of their sexually suggestive profiles, prefer to form some type of ongoing relationship.3 Straight women often tease an interest in a ‘hook up’ encounter or willingness to enter into a casual sexual tryst when most have no intention of doing so. With the exception of a few heterosexual women (who were not bicurious or bisexual), our study found most heterosexual women are not interested in short-term mating for the primary purpose of seeking sexual pleasure. What American women’s profiles repeatedly emphasise is the desire to form some type of ongoing relationship. This raises the never-ending question: Is the qualified caution found in women’s profiles the result of lingering cultural restraint, or is it further evidence of the presence of underlying evolutionary derived sex differences? Clearly, we need renewed scholarly effort.

Conservatives Report Greater Meaning in Life Than Liberals

Conservatives Report Greater Meaning in Life Than Liberals. David B. Newman et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618768241

Abstract: Conservatives report greater life satisfaction than liberals, but this relationship is relatively weak. To date, the evidence is limited to a narrow set of well-being measures that ask participants for a single assessment of their life in general. We address this shortcoming by examining the relationship between political orientation and well-being using measures of life satisfaction, affect, and meaning and purpose in life. Participants completed well-being measures after reflecting on their whole life (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2), at the end of their day (Study 3), and in the present moment (Study 4). Across five studies, conservatives reported greater meaning and purpose in life than liberals at each reporting period. This finding remained significant after adjusting for religiosity and was usually stronger than the relationships involving other well-being measures. Finally, meaning in life was more closely related to social conservatism than economic conservatism.

Keywords: meaning in life, well-being, political orientation, ecological momentary assessment, satisfaction with life

Surveillance cues do not enhance altruistic behavior among anonymous strangers in the field if unaware of experimenters' vigilance

Surveillance cues do not enhance altruistic behavior among anonymous strangers in the field. Erik Koornneef et al. PLoS One, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325144787_Surveillance_cues_do_not_enhance_altruistic_behavior_among_anonymous_strangers_in_the_field

Abstract: The degree of altruistic behavior among strangers is an evolutionary puzzle. A prominent explanation is the evolutionary legacy hypothesis according to which an evolved reciprocity-based psychology affects behavior even when reciprocity is impossible, i.e., altruistic behavior in such instances is maladaptive. Empirical support for this explanation comes from laboratory experiments showing that surveillance cues, e.g., photographs of watching eyes, increase altruistic behavior. A competing interpretation for this evidence, however, is that the cues signal the experimenter's expectations and participants, aware of being monitored, intentionally behave more altruistically to boost their reputation. Here we report the first results from a field experiment on the topic in which participants are unaware they are being monitored and reciprocity is precluded. The experiment investigates the impact of surveillance cues on a textbook example of altruistic behavior-hand hygiene prior to treating a 'patient'. We find no evidence surveillance cues affect hand hygiene, despite using different measures of hand-hygiene quality and cues that have been previously shown to be effective. We argue that surveillance cues may have an effect only when participants have reasons to believe they are actually monitored. Thus they cannot support claims altruistic behavior between strangers is maladaptive.

From 2014: Undergraduates reported that the average university student (a) saw dating infidelity as more acceptable and (b) engaged in unfaithful acts more frequently than they themselves did

From 2014: Pluralistic ignorance and misperception of social norms concerning cheating in dating relationships. Susan Boon, Sarah Watkins, Rowan Sciban. Personal Relationships, https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12044

Abstract: Two studies tested the hypothesis that beliefs about infidelity in dating relationships reflect pluralistic ignorance, a misperception in which people mistakenly believe that their own personal attitudes and behavior differ from others' when they do not. Consistent with pluralistic ignorance findings in other domains, undergraduates reported that the average university student (a) saw dating infidelity as more acceptable and (b) engaged in unfaithful acts more frequently than they themselves did. Neither type of infidelity (sexual, emotional, both sexual and emotional, or unspecified; Study 1, N = 176) nor motivated reasoning (i.e., defensiveness; Study 2, N = 359) moderated this pattern of results. Possible sources of misperceived norms concerning fidelity in dating relationships and the implications of such misperceptions are discussed.

Washington, D.C., harbors the greatest share of psychopaths in the US, "a fact that can be readily explained either by its very high population density or by the type of person who may be drawn a literal seat of power."

Murphy, Ryan, Psychopathy by U.S. State (May 26, 2018). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3185182

Abstract: Rentfrow et al. (2013) constructs a cross-section of the “Big Five” personality traits and demonstrates their relationship with outcomes variables for the continental United States and the District of Columbia. Hyatt et al. (Forthcoming) creates a means of describing psychopathy in terms of the Big Five personality traits. When these two findings are combined, a state-level estimate of psychopathy is produced. Among the typical predictions made regarding psychopathy, the variable with the closest univariate relationship with this new statistical aggregate is the percentage of the population in the state living in an urban area. There is not a clear univariate relationship with homicide rates.

Keywords: Psychopathy, Personality Psychology, Geographical Psychology, Big Five Personality Traits
JEL Classification: R19, D91

Rolf Degen summarizes (https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1007554998866149377): Washington, D.C., harbors the greatest share of psychopaths in the US, "a fact that can be readily explained either by its very high population density or by the type of person who may be drawn a literal seat of power."

A widely held belief about human communication is that specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors signal deception; review of experiments shows this is a mistake

Scientific Evidence and Cue Theories in Deception Research: Reconciling Findings From Meta-Analyses and Primary Experiments. Timothy R. Levine. International Journal of Communication, Vol 12 (2018), http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7838

Abstract: A widely held belief about human communication is that specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors signal deception. This belief is held as folk wisdom across many cultures. It is also often portrayed as accepted social scientific knowledge in academic works. Explanations for why specific behaviors signal deception fall under the umbrella label of “cue theories.” This commentary essay reviews the extensive social scientific theory and research on the utility of deception cues for detecting deception. Oddly, conclusions from meta-analyses do not align with the findings of the primary studies that comprise the meta-analyses. The divergent conclusions from meta-analyses and primary studies challenge both the validity of cue-based lie detection and what counts as the critical unit of scientific evidence in research. The implications for social science theory and research are discussed. Suggestions for improved applied lie detection are also provided.

Keywords: lying, nonverbal communication, meta-analysis, significance testing

Key elements of the ARPA model for research funding are: organizational flexibility on an administrative level, & significant authority given to program directors to design programs, select projects & actively manage projects

Funding Breakthrough Research: Promises and Challenges of the "ARPA Model". Pierre Azoulay, Erica Fuchs, Anna Goldstein, Michael Kearney. NBER Working Paper No. 24674. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24674

Abstract: From its 1958 origin in defense, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) model for research funding has, in the last two decades, spread to other parts of the US federal government with the goal of developing radically new technologies. In this paper, we propose that the key elements of the ARPA model for research funding are: organizational flexibility on an administrative level, and significant authority given to program directors to design programs, select projects and actively manage projects. We identify the ARPA model’s domain as mission-oriented research on nascent S-curves within an inefficient innovation system. Finally, we describe some of the challenges to implementing the ARPA model, and we comment on the role of ARPA in the landscape of research funding approaches.

Not Cool, Dude: Perceptions of Solicited vs. Unsolicited Sext Messages from Men and Women

Not Cool, Dude: Perceptions of Solicited vs. Unsolicited Sext Messages from Men and Women. Sarah J. Matthews et al. Computers in Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.06.014

Highlights:
•    This experimental study investigated perceptions of sext messaging situations.
•    Men and women were judged differently for the sext messages they sent.
•    When sending solicited messages, men and women were judged equally.
•    For unsolicited messages, women were judged as more appropriate than were men.
•    Our results provide evidence for the importance of consent in sext messaging.

Abstract: We examined the extent to which gender of sext message sender and type of sext message affects people’s perceptions of sext messages. As part of a 2 x 2 between-subjects design, 122 undergraduates (61 women, 61 men) at a predominantly White liberal arts university in Texas read a vignette in which either a female or a male target sent a solicited or unsolicited sext message to an opposite-sex acquaintance; participants then reported their perceptions of the situation and the sender of the sext message. As predicted, women who sent unsolicited sext messages were rated as more appropriate than were men who sent unsolicited sext messages; by contrast, women and men who sent solicited sext messages were perceived as equally appropriate. These findings suggest that hypermasculinity in the form of a man sending an unsolicited sext message to a woman may be more likely to be judged as a form of sexual harassment that makes the female receiver feel uncomfortable or threatened. By contrast, cultural ideals of hegemonic masculinity seem to dictate that men should react positively to sexual advances from women, regardless of whether such advances are solicited or not.

Keywords: sexting; sext messages; gender; solicited; unsolicited

Neuroticism was related to sexual dissatisfaction, negative emotions, & symptoms of sexual dysfunction; extraversion was related to sexual activity & risky sexual behavior; agreeableness & conscientiousness were negatively related to sexually aggressive behavior & sexual infidelity

Linking big five personality traits to sexuality and sexual health: A meta-analytic review. Allen, Mark S.,Walter, Emma E. Psychological Bulletin, Jun 07 , 2018, http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fbul0000157

This meta-analytic review addresses whether the major dimensions of trait personality relate to components of human sexuality. A comprehensive literature search identified 137 studies that met inclusion criteria (761 effect sizes; total n = 420,595). Pooled mean effects were computed using inverse-variance weighted random effects meta-analysis. Mean effect sizes from 100 separate meta-analyses provided evidence that personality relates to theoretically predicted components of sexuality and sexual health. Neuroticism was positively related to sexual dissatisfaction (r+ = .18), negative emotions (r+ = .42), and symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r+ = .16). Extraversion was positively related to sexual activity (r+ = .17) and risky sexual behavior (r+ = .18), and negatively related to symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r+ = −.17). Openness was positively related to homosexual orientation (r+ = .16) and liberal attitudes toward sex (r+ = .19). Agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively related to sexually aggressive behavior (r+ = −.20; r+ = −.14) and sexual infidelity (r+ = −.18; r+ = −.17). Less robust evidence indicated that extraversion related negatively, and neuroticism positively, to child sexual abuse, and that openness related negatively to homophobic attitudes. Random effects metaregression identified age, gender, and study quality as important moderators of pooled mean effects. These findings might be of interest to health care professionals developing health care services that aim to promote sexually healthy societies.

People catch themselves spontaneously thinking about their secrets far more frequently than they encounter social situations that require active concealment of those; independent of concealment frequency, the frequency of mind-wandering to secrets predicts lower well-being

Slepian, M. L., Chun, J. S., & Mason, M. F. (2017). The experience of secrecy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 1-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000085

Abstract: The concept of secrecy calls to mind a dyadic interaction: one person hiding a secret from another during a conversation or social interaction. The current work, however, demonstrates that this aspect of secrecy is rather rare. Taking a broader view of secrecy as the intent to conceal information, which only sometimes necessitates concealment, yields a new psychology of secrecy. Ten studies demonstrate the secrets people have, what it is like to have a secret, and what about secrecy is related to lower well-being. We demonstrate that people catch themselves spontaneously thinking about their secrets—they mind-wander to them—far more frequently than they encounter social situations that require active concealment of those secrets. Moreover, independent of concealment frequency, the frequency of mind-wandering to secrets predicts lower well-being (whereas the converse was not the case). We explore the diversity of secrets people have and the harmful effects of spontaneously thinking about those secrets in both recall tasks and in longitudinal designs, analyzing more than 13,000 secrets across our participant samples, with outcomes for relationship satisfaction, authenticity, well-being, and physical health. These results demonstrate that secrecy can be studied by having people think about their secrets, and have implications for designing interventions to help people cope with secrecy.

Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force? When adjusting for crime, we find no systematic evidence of anti-Black disparities in fatal shootings, fatal shootings of unarmed citizens, or fatal shootings involving misidentification of harmless object

Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force? Analyses of Officer-Involved Fatal Shootings in 2015–2016. Joseph Cesario, David Johnson, William Terrill. Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618775108

Abstract: Is there evidence of a Black–White disparity in death by police gunfire in the United States? This is commonly answered by comparing the odds of being fatally shot for Blacks and Whites, with odds benchmarked against each group’s population proportion. However, adjusting for population values has questionable assumptions given the context of deadly force decisions. We benchmark 2 years of fatal shooting data on 16 crime rate estimates. When adjusting for crime, we find no systematic evidence of anti-Black disparities in fatal shootings, fatal shootings of unarmed citizens, or fatal shootings involving misidentification of harmless objects. Multiverse analyses showed only one significant anti-Black disparity of 144 possible tests. Exposure to police given crime rate differences likely accounts for the higher per capita rate of fatal police shootings for Blacks, at least when analyzing all shootings. For unarmed shootings or misidentification shootings, data are too uncertain to be conclusive.

Keywords: deadly force, police use of force, officer-involved shootings, fatal shootings, race bias, racial disparity, Black Lives Matter

Healthy or wealthy? Attractive individuals induce sex-specific food preferences

Healthy or wealthy? Attractive individuals induce sex-specific food preferences. Tobias Otterbring. Food Quality and Preference, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.02.014

Highlights
•    Attractive men decrease women’s preferences for unhealthy foods.
•    Attractive men increase women’s preferences for healthy foods.
•    Women’s level of restrained eating moderates this effect.
•    Attractive women increase men’s preferences for expensive foods and beverages.
•    Men’s desire to display status mediates this effect.

Abstract: Research shows that the mere presence of others and their physical appearance can influence people’s meal choices and food intake. Studies also suggest that such effects are sex-specific and depend on whether the eating occasion includes same-sex or opposite-sex individuals. In five experiments (N = 530; 49% female), the author investigates whether mate attraction, induced by exposure to attractive opposite-sex individuals, has a differential effect on the foods and beverages that men and women prefer to consume. The results revealed that prior exposure to attractive (versus less attractive) men decreased women’s willingness to spend money on unhealthy foods, and increased their inclination to spend money on healthy foods. Restrained eating moderated this effect, which means that women who scored high (versus low) on restrained eating were particularly motivated to spend money on healthy foods after exposure to an attractive male individual. On the contrary, exposure to attractive (versus less attractive) women did not influence men’s consumption preferences for healthy or unhealthy foods. However, men were more motivated to spend money on expensive drinking and dining options after exposure to an attractive female individual, and their desire to display status mediated this effect. Importantly, none of these effects occurred after exposure to attractive same-sex individuals, which provides converging evidence that mate attraction is the fundamental motive underlying these findings. Taken together, this research reveals how, why, and when appearance-induced mate attraction leads to sex-specific consumption preferences for various foods and beverages.

The idea that speaking in a certain way can make people do things –persuasion on steroids, so to say– is understandably fascinating; its use by pick-up artists is examined

In other words: ‘The language of attraction’ used by pick-up artists. Daria Dayter and Sofia Rüdiger. English Today, https://doi.org/10.1017/S026607841800007X

Extract: The idea that speaking in a certain way can make people do things – persuasion on steroids, so to say – is understandably fascinating. This holy grail of communication studies is sought after by ‘professional persuaders’, politicians and copywriters, but also in non-professional situations. One example of wishful thinking of what is possible when it comes to the power of language is the Pick-up Artist (PUA) paradigm. PUAs are a community of self-designated or aspiring seduction experts; and it should come as no surprise that most members are men. While it is possible for PUAs to meet face-to-face, for example, at workshops organized by the so-called gurus (at no little cost to the students of pick-up), much of the interaction between the members takes place in PUA Internet forums and similar online venues.

Cognitive and affective mental states penetrate visual processing, and can affect the system’s behaviour, structure and perceptual content

Cognitive penetration of early vision in face perception. Ariel S. Cecchi. Consciousness and Cognition, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.06.005

Highlights
•    Cognitive and affective mental states penetrate visual processing.
•    This influence can affect the system’s behaviour, structure and perceptual content.
•    Psychological evidence is not sufficient to argue for the penetration of perception.
•    Psychological evidence is not necessary to argue for the penetration of perception.
•    The penetration of visual perception needs to be assessed by neuroscientific evidence.
•    A neurocientific study appears to show higher influences in early visual content.
•    It is concluded that this study shows a case of cognitive penetration of early vision.
•    Alternative explanations to this conclusion are considered and rejected.

Abstract: Cognitive and affective penetration of perception refers to the influence that higher mental states such as beliefs and emotions have on perceptual systems. Psychological and neuroscientific studies appear to show that these states modulate the visual system at the visuomotor, attentional, and late levels of processing. However, empirical evidence showing that similar consequences occur in early stages of visual processing seems to be scarce. In this paper, I argue that psychological evidence does not seem to be either sufficient or necessary to argue in favour of or against the cognitive penetration of perception in either late or early vision. In order to do that we need to have recourse to brain imaging techniques. Thus, I introduce a neuroscientific study and argue that it seems to provide well-grounded evidence for the cognitive penetration of early vision in face perception. I also examine and reject alternative explanations to my conclusion.

Keywords: Visual perception; Early vision; Late vision; Cognitive penetration; Affective penetration; Penetrability of visual perception; Face perception

False intentions are more abstractly depicted than true intentions

Drawing what lies ahead: False intentions are more abstractly depicted than true intentions. Sofia Calderon, Erik Mac Giolla, Karl Ask, Pär Anders Granhag. Applied Cognitive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3422

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine how people mentally represent and depict true and false statements about claimed future actions—so‐called true and false intentions. On the basis of construal level theory, which proposes that subjectively unlikely events are more abstractly represented than likely ones, we hypothesized that false intentions should be represented at a more abstract level than true intentions. Fifty‐six hand drawings, produced by participants to describe mental images accompanying either true or false intentions, were rated on level of abstractness by a second set of participants (N = 117) blind to the veracity of the intentions. As predicted, drawings of false intentions were rated as more abstract than drawings of true intentions. This result advances the use of drawing‐based deception detection techniques to the field of true and false intentions and highlights the potential for abstractness as a novel cue to deceit.

Why Does the Cortex Reorganize after Sensory Loss? Don't know, but possibilities besides compensation include unmasking of dormant inputs, and mitigation of potentially harmful physiological changes in deafferented cortical tissue

Why Does the Cortex Reorganize after Sensory Loss? Amy Kalia Singh et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.004

Highlights

Neuroimaging studies have revealed that after loss of their primary sensory inputs, cortical areas often come to exhibit responses to inputs from other sensory modalities.

These cortical changes are sometimes, but not always, accompanied by enhancements in behavioral abilities in the encroaching modalities, seemingly to compensate for the missing modality.

We lack a comprehensive account of why cortical reorganization happens after sensory loss. Possibilities besides compensation include unmasking of dormant inputs, and mitigation of potentially harmful physiological changes in deafferented cortical tissue.

Abstract: A growing body of evidence demonstrates that the brain can reorganize dramatically following sensory loss. Although the existence of such neuroplastic crossmodal changes is not in doubt, the functional significance of these changes remains unclear. The dominant belief is that reorganization is compensatory. However, results thus far do not unequivocally indicate that sensory deprivation results in markedly enhanced abilities in other senses. Here, we consider alternative reasons besides sensory compensation that might drive the brain to reorganize after sensory loss. One such possibility is that the cortex reorganizes not to confer functional benefits, but to avoid undesirable physiological consequences of sensory deafferentation. Empirical assessment of the validity of this and other possibilities defines a rich program for future research.

Keywords: cortical reorganization; plasticity; sensory loss; multimodal activations; sensory compensation

The cost of believing in psychology bull***t: Neuro-Linguistic Programming, still taught to the police though long since debunked, makes people misperceive facial expressions

The Impact of Beliefs Concerning Deception on Perceptions of Nonverbal Behavior: Implications for Neuro-Linguistic Programming-Based Lie Detection. Flavia Spiroiu. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11896-018-9278-9

Abstract: Regularly employed in a forensic context, the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) model purports that the behavioral distinction between somebody who is remembering information and somebody who is constructing information lies in the direction of their eye movements. This strategy reflects numerous current approaches to lie detection, which presume that nonverbal behavior influences perceptions and judgments about deception. The present study emphasized a reverse order by investigating whether beliefs that an individual is deceptive influence perceptions of the respective individual’s nonverbal behavior as indicated by observed eye movement patterns. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to either a group informed that right eye movements indicate constructed and thus deceptive information or a group informed that left eye movements indicate constructed and thus deceptive information. Each participant viewed six investigative interviews depicting the eye movement patterns of mock suspects labeled as deceptive or truthful. The interviews were structured according to different right/left eye movement ratios. Results revealed that participants reportedly observed the deceptive suspects displaying significantly more eye movements in the direction allegedly indicative of deception than did the truthful suspects. This result occurred despite the fact that the actual eye movement ratios in both deceptive/truthful sets of interviews were identical and the eye movements were predominantly in the opposite direction of that allegedly indicative of deception. The results are discussed in the context of encoding-based cognitive-processing theories. Limitations on the generality of the results are emphasized and the applicability (or lack thereof) of NLP-based lie detection in forensic contexts is discussed.

Rolf Degen summarizes (https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1006783239195971584):

The cost of believing in psychology bullshit: Neuro-Linguistic Programming, still taught to the police though long since debunked, makes people misperceive facial expressions.

Crush on You: Romantic Crushes Increase Consumers’ Preferences for Strong Sensory Stimuli

Crush on You: Romantic Crushes Increase Consumers’ Preferences for Strong Sensory Stimuli. Xun (Irene) Huang, Ping Dong, Meng Zhang. Journal of Consumer Research, ucy053, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucy053

Abstract: What influences consumers’ preferences for strong versus weak sensory stimuli? In this paper, we find converging evidence that when the experience of a romantic crush is salient, consumers have an enhanced preference for options that elicit strong sensory stimulation (e.g., loud music, strongly flavored food). We demonstrate this effect across seven studies using a broad array of products and services as stimuli. We further show that these consumers have a heightened motivation to achieve greater sensations from the desired person, but cannot act in a way that directly satisfies this motivation, leading them to be more likely to turn to products and services for the desired sensations. Moreover, we find that the effect is specific to the experience of a romantic crush and cannot be generalized to other interpersonal experiences (e.g., passionate love, stable romantic relationship, unmet sexual desire).

Keywords: romantic crush, sensations, sensory intensity, interpersonal relationship

Pavlov's Reflex before Pavlov: Early Accounts from the English, French and German Classic Literature

Pavlov's Reflex before Pavlov: Early Accounts from the English, French and German Classic Literature. S Jarius S, B Wildemann. European Neurology, 2017;77:322-326. https://doi.org/10.1159/000475811

Abstract: The concept of classical conditioning (CC), strongly connected with the name and work of the Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), has become the foundation of the modern science of learning and, in particular, of the influential theories of Watson and Skinner and the entire school of behaviourism. In this paper, we give a number of forgotten accounts of CC in the English, French, and German classic literature that pre-date Pavlov's reports by decades or even centuries. These instances are taken from works of the 16th, 18th, and 19th centuries - authored by some of the finest writers of England (Sterne, Locke), France (Rabelais), and Germany (Jean Paul) - and indicate that the psychological mechanisms now described as CC were known long before Pavlov and his successors elaborated on them in a systematic way.

False memory production in one experimental paradigm won't predict susceptibility to false memories in other paradigms

Patihis, L., Frenda, S. J., & Loftus, E. F. (2018). False memory tasks do not reliably predict other false memories. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 5(2), 140-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cns0000147

Abstract: Several laboratory techniques have been developed over the last few decades that reliably produce memory distortions. However, it is unclear whether false memory production in one experimental paradigm will predict susceptibility to false memories in other paradigms. In Experiment 1, 202 undergraduates participated in a misinformation experiment and semiautobiographical tasks involving three measures of memory distortion (suggestion, imagination, emotion). We established high internal consistency in individual differences measures and statistically significant experimental effects where we would expect them (e.g., the misinformation effect). However, false memory production in one task did not predict false memories in other paradigms. In Experiment 2, 163 adults participated in a misinformation experiment, a false memory word list task (Deese–Roediger–McDermott), and semiautobiographical false news story tasks. Again we found no consistent predictive relationships among various false memories. In both studies, no individual differences predicted memory distortion susceptibility consistently across tasks and across experiments. At this time, false memory production in a given laboratory task does not appear to adequately predict false memories in other tasks, a finding with implications for using these tasks to predict memory distortion in real world situations.

Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused

Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused. Bernt Bratsberg and Ole Rogeberg. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 11, 2018. 201718793. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718793115

Significance: Using administrative register data with information on family relationships and cognitive ability for three decades of Norwegian male birth cohorts, we show that the increase, turning point, and decline of the Flynn effect can be recovered from within-family variation in intelligence scores. This establishes that the large changes in average cohort intelligence reflect environmental factors and not changing composition of parents, which in turn rules out several prominent hypotheses for retrograde Flynn effects.

Abstract: Population intelligence quotients increased throughout the 20th century—a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect—although recent years have seen a slowdown or reversal of this trend in several countries. To distinguish between the large set of proposed explanations, we categorize hypothesized causal factors by whether they accommodate the existence of within-family Flynn effects. Using administrative register data and cognitive ability scores from military conscription data covering three decades of Norwegian birth cohorts (1962–1991), we show that the observed Flynn effect, its turning point, and subsequent decline can all be fully recovered from within-family variation. The analysis controls for all factors shared by siblings and finds no evidence for prominent causal hypotheses of the decline implicating genes and environmental factors that vary between, but not within, families.


Check also: Woodley of Menie, M. A., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., Fernandes, H. B. F., & Figueredo, A.-J. (2017). What Causes the Anti-Flynn Effect? A Data Synthesis and Analysis of Predictors. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/12/anti-flynn-effects-what-causes-secular.html

Men are more supportive of Islamic veiling than women, but women with more sons are more supportive of veiling and more likely to wear veils than women with fewer sons; men were more religious if they had more sons

Who suppresses female sexuality? An examination of support for Islamic veiling in a secular Muslim democracy as a function of sex and offspring sex. Khandis R. Blake, Maleke Fourati, Robert C. Brooks. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.006

Abstract: Whether it is men or women who suppress female sexuality has important implications for understanding gendered relations, ultimately providing insight into one widespread cause of female disadvantage. The question of which sex suppresses female sexuality more avidly, however, neglects that our interests are never ambiguously masculine or feminine; each of us has a combination of male and female kin which alters how much of our future fitness derive from each sex. Here we exploit a nationally representative sample of 600 Tunisians to test whether support for Islamic veiling—a proxy for female sexual suppression—is more common amongst one sex than the other, and is affected by the relative sex of one's offspring (i.e., the number of sons relative to daughters). We find that men are more supportive of Islamic veiling than women, but women with more sons are more supportive of veiling and more likely to wear veils than women with fewer sons. All effects were robust to the inclusion of religiosity, which was weaker amongst men and unrelated to the number of sons a woman had. The number of daughters affected neither religiosity nor support for veiling, but did increase women's likelihood of wearing contemporary, fashionable Tunisian veils compared with no head covering. We further found that men were more religious if they had more sons. Overall, these findings highlight that far from being the fixed strategy of one sex or the other, female sexual suppression manifests facultatively to promote one's reproductive interests directly or indirectly by creating conditions beneficial to one's descendent kin. These results show that both men and women can suppress female sexuality, although the function in either case appears more closely aligned with male rather than female interests.

Keywords: Sexual suppression; Male control theory; Female control theory; Female sexuality; Inclusive fitness

Religious disbelief was related to cognitive flexibility; lower frequency of religious service attendance was related to cognitive flexibility; religious affiliation and engagement may shape & be shaped by cognitive control styles towards flexibility versus persistence

Cognitive flexibility and religious disbelief. Leor Zmigrod et al. Psychological Research, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-018-1034-3

Abstract: Cognitive flexibility is operationalized in the neuropsychological literature as the ability to shift between modes of thinking and adapt to novel or changing environments. Religious belief systems consist of strict rules and rituals that offer adherents certainty, consistency, and stability. Consequently, we hypothesized that religious adherence and practice of repetitive religious rituals may be related to the persistence versus flexibility of one’s cognition. The present study investigated the extent to which tendencies towards cognitive flexibility versus persistence are related to three facets of religious life: religious affiliation, religious practice, and religious upbringing. In a large sample (N = 744), we found that religious disbelief was related to cognitive flexibility across three independent behavioural measures: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Remote Associates Test, and Alternative Uses Test. Furthermore, lower frequency of religious service attendance was related to cognitive flexibility. When analysing participants’ religious upbringing in relation to their current religious affiliation, it was manifest that current affiliation was more influential than religious upbringing in all the measured facets of cognitive flexibility. The findings indicate that religious affiliation and engagement may shape and be shaped by cognitive control styles towards flexibility versus persistence, highlighting the tight links between flexibility of thought and religious ideologies.

The core cognitive architecture responsible for cumulative culture and technological progress also supports the propagation of rituals: our socially motivated propensity for engaging in high‐fidelity imitation

The Social Glue of Cumulative Culture and Ritual Behavior. Mark Nielsen. Child Development Perspectives, https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12297

Abstract: Cumulative culture, where innovations are incorporated progressively into a population's stock of skills and knowledge, generating more sophisticated repertoires, is a core aspect of human cognition underpinning the technological advances that characterize our species. Cumulative culture relies on our proclivity for high‐fidelity imitation, a characteristic that emerged phylogenetically early in our evolutionary history and emerges ontogenetically early in our development. Commensurate with this proclivity to copy others comes a tradeoff that behaviors that are functionally irrelevant will be easily maintained and transmitted. Rituals are an expression of this. In this article, I argue that the core cognitive architecture responsible for cumulative culture and technological progress also supports the propagation of rituals: our socially motivated propensity for engaging in high‐fidelity imitation.

Liberals see God as relatively more feminine, more African American, and more loving than conservatives, who see God as older, more intelligent, and more powerful. All participants see God as similar to themselves on attractiveness, age, and, to a lesser extent, race

The faces of God in America: Revealing religious diversity across people and politics. Joshua Conrad Jackson, Neil Hester, Kurt Gray. PLOS, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198745

Abstract: Literature and art have long depicted God as a stern and elderly white man, but do people actually see Him this way? We use reverse correlation to understand how a representative sample of American Christians visualize the face of God, which we argue is indicative of how believers think about God’s mind. In contrast to historical depictions, Americans generally see God as young, Caucasian, and loving, but perceptions vary by believers’ political ideology and physical appearance. Liberals see God as relatively more feminine, more African American, and more loving than conservatives, who see God as older, more intelligent, and more powerful. All participants see God as similar to themselves on attractiveness, age, and, to a lesser extent, race. These differences are consistent with past research showing that people’s views of God are shaped by their group-based motivations and cognitive biases. Our results also speak to the broad scope of religious differences: even people of the same nationality and the same faith appear to think differently about God’s appearance.

There is an inverse relation between cognitive ability and number of children; the effect is stronger among females than males; the effect appears to be increasing in strength over time. Notable limitations of the current literature are reviewed

A systematic review of the state of literature relating parental general cognitive ability and number of offspring. Charlie L. Reeve, Michael D. Heeney, Michael A. Woodley of Menie. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 134, 1 November 2018, Pages 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.05.036

Highlights
•    The relationship between general cognitive ability and reproduction is reviewed.
•    There is an inverse relation between cognitive ability and number of children.
•    The effect is stronger among females than males.
•    The effect appears to be increasing in strength over time.
•    Notable limitations of the current literature are reviewed.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the relationship between general cognitive ability and fertility among modern humans. Our goals were to (a) evaluate the state of the extant literature, and (b) provide a quantitative summary of effect sizes to the extent possible (given the limitations of the literature). A thorough search identified 17 unique datasets that passed the inclusion criteria. Using a Random Effects Model to evaluate the data, the overall weighted effect was r = −0.11, although the data also indicated a sex effect (stronger correlations among females than males), and a race effect (stronger correlations among Black and Hispanic populations compared to Whites). Importantly, the data suggest the correlation has been increasing in strength throughout the 20th century (and early 21st). Finally, we discovered several notable limitations of the extant literature; limitations that currently prohibit a psychometric meta-analysis. We discuss these issues with emphasis on improving future primary studies to allow for more effective meta-analytic investigations.

Keywords: Intelligence; Cognitive ability; ‘g’; Reproductive success; Meta-analysis; Dysgenic trend

What's in a blush? Physiological blushing reveals narcissistic children's social‐evaluative concerns.

What's in a blush? Physiological blushing reveals narcissistic children's social‐evaluative concerns. Eddie Brummelman, Milica Nikolic, Susan M. Bögels. Psychophysiology, https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13201

Abstract: Physiological responses can reveal emotional states that individuals are unwilling to admit to others. Here, we studied what blushing reveals about the emotional states of narcissistic children. Narcissistic children (i.e., those high on the personality trait of narcissism) have a pervasive sense of grandiosity. We theorized that narcissistic children are so invested in their sense of grandiosity that even modest praise can make them feel depreciated. Because narcissistic children may not admit this feeling to others, we measured their physiological blushing: an involuntary reddening of the face that occurs when individuals anticipate being depreciated. Unlike other emotional expressions, blushing cannot be faked. Children (N = 105, ages 7–12) completed the Childhood Narcissism Scale and were then invited to sing a song on stage. They were randomly assigned to receive inflated praise (e.g., “You sang incredibly well!”), modest praise (“You sang well!”), or no praise for their performance. Blushing was recorded using photoplethysmography and temperature sensing. Afterward, children were asked how much they thought they had blushed. As predicted, narcissistic children—unlike nonnarcissistic children—blushed when they received modest praise, not when they received inflated praise. Specifically, they showed increased blood volume pulse (i.e., fast changes in blood volume with each heartbeat). Strikingly, when asked, narcissistic children denied blushing, perhaps to hide their vulnerabilities. Thus, blushing revealed social‐evaluative concerns that narcissistic children wished to keep private.