Beliefs in paranormal phenomena will lead to equal amounts of respondents identifying as democrats & republicans & these beliefs in paranormal phenomena correlate with respondents feeling more fearful when it comes to real-world threats

Ferrari, Tyler James, "Paranormal Beliefs and their Effect on American Fears and Political Identification" (2018). Political Science Student Papers and Posters. 7. https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/polisci_student_work/7
Abstract: Urban legends and conspiracy theories have been a cornerstone of American culture for many years, and these stories and theories have permeated into many aspects of society, from tourism to pop culture, but how have these stories and theories affected politics? Conspiracy theories and urban legends all revolve around the distrust of institutions, ranging from governments to the media, but there is very little research to indicate how beliefs in these types of phenomena affect political self-identification, and fear in realworld disasters. This paper seeks to answer the following: How do paranormal and abnormal beliefs influence political identification? And how do these beliefs influence one's fear into "real-world" events like natural disasters and terrorism? While prominent scholars like Sunstein note the causes and solutions of conspiracy theories while noting the damage they can cause to a society, there is little work done to see what types of voters these people are, this is something this paper aims to find. This paper hypothesizes that beliefs in paranormal phenomena will lead to equal amounts of respondents identifying as democrats and republicans and these beliefs in paranormal phenomena correlate with respondents feeling more fearful when it comes to real-world threats. Using the Chapman Survey of American fears, this paper will analyze data involving beliefs in paranormal phenomena like bigfoot and aliens, beliefs that government is covering up the truth about certain events, along with respondent's political ideology and fear in real world events. It is expected that the results will match the hypotheses stated above, showing that even in an era of great partisanship, fear of the unknown and unexplained is a bipartisan affair.

Those on the left and right are equally narcissistic but differ in which dimensions drive it: the entitlement facet of narcissism is related to conservative positions, whereas exhibitionism is related to liberal values

Narcissism and Political Orientations. Peter K. Hatemi, Zoltán Fazekas. American Journal of Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12380

Abstract: The connections between narcissism and political orientations have been theorized by scholars and increasingly evoked by political parties, politicians, public intellectuals, and the media. Yet surprisingly little research has been undertaken to empirically asses the veracity of these claims. We address this lacuna by identifying the relationship between narcissism, political ideologies, and partisanship in a nationally representative sample taken days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Overall, we find those on the left and right are equally narcissistic. However, liberals and conservatives differ in which dimensions drive their narcissism. Specifically, we find that the entitlement facet of narcissism is uniformly related to more conservative positions, whereas exhibitionism is related to more liberal values, including political party identification. Narcissism, as a complex multidimensional construct, has an important role in understanding political ideology.

Questionable Research Practices prevalence in ecology: cherry picking statistically significant results 64%, p hacking 42%, and hypothesising after the results are known (HARKing) 51%. Such practices have been directly implicated in the low rates of reproducible results

Questionable research practices in ecology and evolution. Hannah Fraser et al. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200303

Abstract: We surveyed 807 researchers (494 ecologists and 313 evolutionary biologists) about their use of Questionable Research Practices (QRPs), including cherry picking statistically significant results, p hacking, and hypothesising after the results are known (HARKing). We also asked them to estimate the proportion of their colleagues that use each of these QRPs. Several of the QRPs were prevalent within the ecology and evolution research community. Across the two groups, we found 64% of surveyed researchers reported they had at least once failed to report results because they were not statistically significant (cherry picking); 42% had collected more data after inspecting whether results were statistically significant (a form of p hacking) and 51% had reported an unexpected finding as though it had been hypothesised from the start (HARKing). Such practices have been directly implicated in the low rates of reproducible results uncovered by recent large scale replication studies in psychology and other disciplines. The rates of QRPs found in this study are comparable with the rates seen in psychology, indicating that the reproducibility problems discovered in psychology are also likely to be present in ecology and evolution.

Predictors of Distinct Types of Solitude Experiences in Daily Life

By Myself and Liking It? Predictors of Distinct Types of Solitude Experiences in Daily Life. Jennifer C. Lay et al. Journal of Personality, https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12421

Abstract

Objective: Solitude is a ubiquitous experience, often confused with loneliness, yet sometimes sought out in daily life. This study aimed to identify distinct types of solitude experiences from everyday affect/thought patterns and to examine how and for whom solitude is experienced positively versus negatively.

Method: 100 community‐dwelling adults aged 50‐85 years (64% female, 56% East Asian, 36% European, 8% Other/Mixed heritage) and 50 students aged 18‐28 years (92% female, 42% East Asian, 22% European, 36% Other/Mixed) each completed approximately 30 daily life assessments over 10 days on their current and desired social situation, thoughts, and affect.

Results: Multilevel latent profile analysis identified two types of everyday solitude: one characterized by negative affect and effortful thought (negative solitude experiences) and one characterized by calm and the near‐absence of negative affect/effortful thought (positive solitude experiences). Individual differences in social self‐efficacy and desire for solitude were associated with everyday positive solitude propensity; trait self‐rumination and self‐reflection were associated with everyday negative solitude propensity.

Conclusions: This study provides a new framework for conceptualizing everyday solitude. It identifies specific affect/thought patterns that characterize distinct solitude experience clusters, and it links these clusters with well‐established individual differences. We discuss key traits associated with thriving in solitude.

Necrophilia in crows: Occasional contacts, which take a variety of aggressive and sexual forms, may result from an inability to mediate conflicting stimuli

Occurrence and variability of tactile interactions between wild American crows and dead conspecifics. Kaeli Swift, John M. Marzluff. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, September 5 2018, Volume 373, issue 1754, 10.1098/rstb.2017.0259

Abstract: Observations of some mammals and birds touching their dead provoke questions about the motivation and adaptive value of this potentially risky behaviour. Here, we use controlled experiments to determine if tactile interactions are characteristic of wild American crow responses to dead crows, and what the prevalence and nature of tactile interactions suggests about their motivations. In Experiment 1, we test if food or information acquisition motivates contact by presenting crows with taxidermy-prepared dead crows, and two species crows are known to scavenge: dead pigeons and dead squirrels. In Experiment 2, we test if territoriality motivates tactile interactions by presenting crows with taxidermy crows prepared to look either dead or upright and life-like. In Experiment 1, we find that crows are significantly less likely to make contact but more likely to alarm call and recruit other birds in response to dead crows than to dead pigeons and squirrels. In addition, we find that aggressive and sexual encounters with dead crows are seasonally biased. These findings are inconsistent with feeding or information acquisition-based motivation. In Experiment 2, we find that crows rarely dive-bomb and more often alarm call and recruit other crows to dead than to life-like crows, behaviours inconsistent with responses given to live intruders. Consistent with a danger response hypothesis, our results show that alarm calling and neighbour recruitment occur more frequently in response to dead crows than other stimuli, and that touching dead crows is atypical. Occasional contacts, which take a variety of aggressive and sexual forms, may result from an inability to mediate conflicting stimuli.

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Across both experiments, we observed n = 11 attempts to mate with a crow in dead posture (4.7% of N ¼ 234 trials), 90% of which were coupled with scolding and all of which took place before the end of May. Sexual behaviours around dead conspecifics are rare, but not unique to crows. Hetero and homosexual necrophilia have been observed across a wide variety of taxa. Sexual arousal in response to dead conspecifics has been documented in bottle nosed dolphins [4] and humpback whales (Magaptera novaeangliae; [34]). Mating attempts with dead conspecifics have been observed in Richardson's ground squirrel (Citellus richardsoni), mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), sand martins (Riparia riparia) cururu toads (Rhinella steuvax) and great ameivas (Ameiva ameiva; [35.39]). The copulation posture typical of dead birds has been proposed as the releasing factor for such inappropriate attempts to mate, particularly among monomorphic birds [37]. In Experiment 2, however, we show that crows attempted to mate both with a life-like crow in neutral standing posture and a dead crow with the wings tucked close to the body.  These observations call into question the validity of posture as the primary releasing factor for copulation events between crows and dead crows, and warrant further investigation.

Given the prevalence of scolding before, during or immediately following copulation events with dead, but not life-like, crows, alarm induced arousal, rather than reproductive attempts, might better explain copulation with dead crows. Increased sexual behaviour following alarm or excitement has been observed in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata; [40]), vermillion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus, [41]) and pied avocet (Recuruirostra avosetta; [42]). Following the death of a group member, sexual behaviour occurring outside the breeding season was observed in rhesus macaques [32]. Likewise, we observed mating attempts between presumed pairs following discovery of a dead crow. It is possible in this context that distress induces arousal resulting in copulation attempts between mates if possible, but in the immediate absence of the mate results in displacementmounting.  In rooks (Corvus frugilegus), sexual displays by males sometimes stimulate reverse mounting by females [43]. In our study, females witnessing male precopulatory behaviour prior to mounting the stimulus may be responsible for the two possible instances of reverse mounting.

In addition to the multiple mating attempts with the dead and life-like crows, we also observed one attempted copulation with the dead pigeon. Attempts to mate with live heterospecifics have been observed in a variety of species including seals and non-human primates [44,45]. Although these events are rare enough that determining causal factors remains difficult, restricted access to conspecific females has been commonly observed in these cases. Such information about the crow involved in this case is not known.

Children as young as 4 years old negatively evaluate & sanction free riders. Across six studies, we showed that these tendencies are robust, large in magnitude, tuned to intentional rather than unintentional noncontribution, & generally consistent across third- & first-party cases

In Defense of the Commons: Young Children Negatively Evaluate and Sanction Free Riders. Fan Yang et al. Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618779061

Abstract: Human flourishing depends on individuals paying costs to contribute to the common good, but such arrangements are vulnerable to free riding, in which individuals benefit from others’ contributions without paying costs themselves. Systems of tracking and sanctioning free riders can stabilize cooperation, but the origin of such tendencies is not well understood. Here, we provide evidence that children as young as 4 years old negatively evaluate and sanction free riders. Across six studies, we showed that these tendencies are robust, large in magnitude, tuned to intentional rather than unintentional noncontribution, and generally consistent across third- and first-party cases. Further, these effects cannot be accounted for by factors that frequently co-occur with free riding, such as nonconforming behaviors or the costs that free riding imposes on the group. Our findings demonstrate that from early in life, children both hold and enforce a normative expectation that individuals are intrinsically obligated to contribute to the common good.

Keywords: free riding, common good, norm enforcement, moral development, cooperation, open data, open materials, preregistered

Prestigious institutions had on average 65% higher grant application success rates & 50% larger award sizes, whereas less-prestigious institutions produced 65% more publications & had a 35% higher citation impact per dollar of funding

High cost of bias: Diminishing marginal returns on NIH grant funding to institutions. Wayne P. Wahls. bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/367847

Abstract: Scientific output is not a linear function of amounts of federal grant support to individual investigators. As funding per investigator increases beyond a certain point, productivity decreases. This study reports that such diminishing marginal returns also apply for National Institutes of Health (NIH) research project grant funding to institutions. Analyses of data (2006-2015) for a representative cross-section of institutions, whose amounts of funding ranged from $3 million to $440 million per year, revealed robust inverse correlations between funding (per institution, per award, per investigator) and scientific output (publication productivity and citation impact productivity). Interestingly, prestigious institutions had on average 65% higher grant application success rates and 50% larger award sizes, whereas less-prestigious institutions produced 65% more publications and had a 35% higher citation impact per dollar of funding. These findings suggest that implicit biases and social prestige mechanisms (e.g., the Matthew effect) have a powerful impact on where NIH grant dollars go and the net return on taxpayers investments. They support evidence-based changes in funding policy geared towards a more equitable, more diverse and more productive distribution of federal support for scientific research. Success rate/productivity metrics developed for this study provide an impartial, empirically based mechanism to do so.

The lure of death: suicide and human evolution

Humphrey N. 2018 The lure of death: suicide and human evolution. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 373: 20170269. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0269

Suicide used to be called self-murder, felo de se. In an evolutionary context, the term murder is not inappropriate. Human beings have always been murderers, killers of other living beings. First, of course, killers of animal prey for meat, but also killers of other men and women. While not every ancient human would have had first-hand experience of assassination, everyone would have known and talked about it. Then, at some point, the idea must have dawned. Here’s how the psychiatrist, Erwin Stengel has put it: ‘At some stage of evolution man must have discovered that he can kill not only animals and fellow-men but also himself. It can be assumed that life has never since been the same to him’ [1, p. 37].

The purpose of this paper is to consider just how radically life changed. I argue that the human mind must have had to evolve to a critical level of sophistication before anyone could arrive at the idea that ‘I can kill myself’. However, from then on, suicide would never have been far from people’s thoughts. When times were hard, some individuals would have been bound to see death as an attractive option. Yet killing themselves would usually—if not always—have been a maladaptive act. I explore how this played out historically, and what remedies, if any, were available.

[...]

But, now, to go deeper: when you think ‘I can kill myself’, who is this ‘self’ and what do you imagine will result from ‘killing’ it? Again, Stengel implies that early humans would have understood the inevitable consequences of self-killing from observing the killing of others. Bodily death, however caused, has effects that anyone can see and take on board. There’s the obvious bodily decay. But the most salient change is in the dead person’s role as an actor in the physical or social world. They will not be coming back. This is a fact of death that non-human animals with complex social lives can also understand up to a point. Frans de Waal describes how, when a group of chimpanzees in the Arnhem Zoo were shown a video film of the alpha-male, Nickie, who had died by drowning 2 years earlier, his erstwhile rivals panicked as if they had seen a ghost [2, p. 214]. By applying this to your own case, you would realize that you yourself once dead will no longer participate directly in the lives of others.

But we must go deeper still. For there is, of course, another meaning of ‘self’, and hence, the probability that self-killingwill have a still more significant result. When your body dies, what happens to your mind? Once you are no longer an actor in the public realm, can you no longer be a thinker or feeler in the private one? This is not of course something you or anyone else can discover from direct observation. But it is perhaps something you can deduce from circumstantial evidence. As a human, with a ‘theory of mind,’ you expect to be able to infer another person’s mental state from their outward behaviour. When, now, you observe that an individual’s body no longer behaves in any way at all—it neither acts spontaneously nor reacts to your probes—you have very good reason to suppose there is no longer anyone at home inside. True, absence of evidence is not entirely reliable as evidence of absence. But, in fact, you yourself have had plenty of direct experience of your own mind going absent at a time of pseudo-death. When you fall asleep, and your body becomes motionless and unresponsive, you know for a fact that your mind temporarily vanishes. You may remember how as a child you cried yourself to sleep and found blessed relief in the ensuing oblivion.

Contrary to theoretical models, experiences of victimization are not central to the development of sexual killers; instead, it is the adoption of various problematic behaviors in childhood that appear as most important

Stepping stones to sexual murder: the role of developmental factors in the etiology of sexual homicide. Eric Beauregard et al. Journal of Criminal Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JCP-02-2018-0010

Abstract:

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of a variety of developmental factors on sexual homicide offenders (SHOs), while taking into account other components of sexual homicide theoretical models.

Design/methodology/approach: A series of logistic regression models are performed using a total of 616 incarcerated adult male sexual offenders from Canada to distinguish between three groups of sexual offenders, SHOs, violent non-homicidal sex offenders (NHSOs) and NHSOs.

Findings: Results indicate that contrary to theoretical models, experiences of victimization are not central to the development of SHOs. Instead, it is the adoption of various problematic behaviors in childhood that appear as most important in the etiology of this particular type of sexual crime. This suggests that the various existing theoretical models of sexual homicide need to be revised and/or tested with additional empirical data.

Originality/value: This is the first study to look at developmental factors using two control groups of NHSOs and violent NHSOs.

Keywords: Theoretical model, Sex offender, Etiology, Sexual homicide, Developmental factor, Sexual murder

People are consistently more sensitive to action than to outcome value in judging the praiseworthiness of good deeds, but not harmful deeds. This observation echoes the finding that people are often insensitive to outcomes in their giving behavior

Yudkin, Daniel A., Annayah M. B. Prosser, and Molly Crockett. 2018. “Actions Speak Louder Than Outcomes in Judgments of Prosocial Behavior.” PsyArXiv. July 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/vbsp6

Abstract: Recently proposed models of moral cognition suggest that people’s judgments of harmful acts are influenced by their consideration both of those acts’ consequences (“outcome value”), and of the feeling associated with their enactment (“action value”). Here we apply this framework to judgments of prosocial behavior, suggesting that people’s judgments of the praiseworthiness of good deeds are determined both by the benefit those deeds confer to others and by how good they would feel to perform. Three experiments confirm this prediction. After developing a new measure to assess the extent to which praiseworthiness is influenced by action and outcome values, we show how these factors make significant and independent contributions to praiseworthiness. We also find that people are consistently more sensitive to action than to outcome value in judging the praiseworthiness of good deeds, but not harmful deeds. This observation echoes the finding that people are often insensitive to outcomes in their giving behavior. Overall, this research tests and validates a novel framework for understanding moral judgment, with implications for the motivations that underlie human altruism.

In both the U.S. & Denmark intelligence failed to predict standard party choice; this is due to opposing effects of intelligence on economic and social ideology

Different political systems suppress or facilitate the impact of intelligence on how you vote: A comparison of the U.S. and Denmark. Steven G.Ludeke, Stig H.R.Rasmussen. Intelligence, Volume 70, September–October 2018, Pages 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.06.003

Highlights
•    In both the U.S. and Denmark intelligence failed to predict standard party choice.
•    This was due to opposing effects of intelligence on economic and social ideology.
•    Denmark's multi-party system allows non-standard representations of party choice.
•    In Denmark, significant systematic intelligence differences observed between parties.

Abstract: Intelligence is rarely studied as a predictor of vote choice, and at first glance our data supports this neglect: In samples from the U.S. and Denmark (Ns = 1419 and 953), intelligence does not predict the standard operationalization of vote choice in which parties are placed on a single left-vs-right dimension. (Standardized coefficients predicting right-wing vote choice were 0.05 and −0.03, respectively.) However, this apparent non-effect in fact reflects approximately equal and opposite effects of intelligence on vote choice as transmitted through social and economic ideology. In both countries, higher ability predicts left-wing social and right-wing economic views. The impact of intelligence on vote choice is thus most visible in true multi-party systems like Denmark, in which parties do not simply pair similar levels of social and economic conservatism, but instead provide diverse combinations of social and economic ideology. Comparing the parties closest to representing authoritarian egalitarianism (social-right plus economic-left) and libertarianism (social-left plus economic-right), we observed a 0.9 SD intelligence gap.

We look at 3 different measures of political success—electoral success, years in office, & access to an elite political position—& find lower levels of agreeableness are systematically correlated with greater success

Nice guys finish last: personality and political success. Jeroen Joly, Stuart Soroka, Peter Loewen. Acta Politica, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41269-018-0095-z

Abstract: Is there a link between personality and the electoral and in-office success of politicians? Using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, we examine whether the Five-Factor Model personality traits are correlated with political success among Belgian elected officials. We look at three different measures of political success, corresponding to different stages of the political career—electoral success, years in office, and access to an elite political position—and find lower levels of agreeableness are systematically correlated with greater success. These results are in line with those found among American and European CEO’s (Boudreau et al. in J Vocat Behav 58(1):53–81, 2001). This study offers a unique insight in the type of personality voters and party leadership look for and reward among politicians.

Do we perceive fine details in the visual periphery? Here, we propose that phenomenology in the visual periphery can be characterized by an inflated sense of perceptual capacity, as observers overestimate the quality of their perceptual inputs

Inflation versus filling-in: why we feel we see more than we actually do in peripheral vision
Brian Odegaard, Min Yu Chang, Hakwan Lau, Sing-Hang Cheung. bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/263244

Abstract: Do we perceive fine details in the visual periphery? Here, we propose that phenomenology in the visual periphery can be characterized by an inflated sense of perceptual capacity, as observers overestimate the quality of their perceptual inputs. Distinct from the well-known perceptual phenomenon of "filling-in" where perceptual content is generated or completed endogenously, inflation can be characterized by incorrect introspection at the subjective level. The perceptual content itself may be absent or weak (i.e., not necessarily filled-in), and yet such content is mistakenly regarded by the system as rich. Behaviorally, this can be reflected by metacognitive deficits in the degree to which confidence judgments track task accuracy, and decisional biases for observers to think particular items are present, even when they are not. In two experiments using paradigms which exploit unique attributes of peripheral vision (crowding and summary statistics), we provide evidence that both types of deficits are present in peripheral vision, as observers' reports are marked by overconfidence in discrimination judgments and high numbers of false alarms in detection judgments. We discuss potential mechanisms which may be the cause of inflation and propose future experiments to further explore this unique sensory phenomenon.

Marital duration has a negative effect on married men’s physical pleasure of marital sex, & it has no effect on married women’s sexual satisfaction

Liu, C. (2018). A theory of sex difference in changes in marital sexual satisfaction. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000120

Abstract: This paper develops and empirically tests a theory of one of the most fundamental sex differences, namely, the sex difference in the changes in marital sexual satisfaction. Previous research reports mixed results on how sexual satisfaction changes over relationship duration. More theoretical and empirical research is needed to better understand how each sex’s sexual satisfaction changes over relationship duration. In this research, applying an evolutionary psychological perspective and human capital theory, I attempt to explain and predict how each sex’s marital sexual satisfaction changes over marital duration. Three testable hypotheses are derived and empirically tested with the National Health and Social Life Survey data. The results show that marital duration has a negative effect on married men’s physical pleasure of marital sex, and it has no effect on married women’s sexual satisfaction. Implications for other aspects of marital sex and for marriage as a social institution for channeling sex are drawn. The limitations of the research are discussed.

Unmarried men’s increased financial satisfaction was associated with decreased relationship satisfaction, and increased financial stress was associated with decreased relationship satisfaction for unmarried men and married women (actor effects)

Totenhagen, C. J., Wilmarth, M. J., Serido, J., & Betancourt, A. E. (2018). Do day-to-day finances play a role in relationship satisfaction? A dyadic investigation. Journal of Family Psychology, 32(4), 528-537. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000406

Abstract: Prior researchers have found consistent links between financial issues and relationship outcomes. Yet, because most research is cross-sectional or examines these constructs over longer periods of time (e.g., years), the microlevel processes of how and when these changes occur are unclear. In the present study, we use interdependence theory as a guide to examine the daily fluctuations of financial satisfaction and stress as well as their daily associations with relationship quality in married and unmarried heterosexual couples. Using a dyadic 14-day daily diary research design, we found both financial satisfaction and stress demonstrated significant within-person fluctuations, with women demonstrating greater volatility in financial satisfaction than men. Given that individuals varied in their perceptions of financial satisfaction and stress from day to day, we then examined how these fluctuations were associated with daily relationship satisfaction. We expected financial satisfaction would be positively associated with relationship satisfaction for both actors and partners, whereas financial stress would be negatively associated for both actors and partners. Hypotheses were partially supported. Unmarried women’s daily financial satisfaction was associated with increased relationship quality for both themselves (marginal) as well as their partners. An unexpected pattern for unmarried men’s financial satisfaction was found; their increased financial satisfaction was associated with decreased relationship satisfaction. Increased financial stress was associated with decreased relationship satisfaction for unmarried men and married women (actor effects). We discuss implications for research and practice.

Imagining their Future Selves: Children's Attitudes to Older People and their Expectations of Life at Age 70

Imagining their Future Selves: Children's Attitudes to Older People and their Expectations of Life at Age 70. Katrina Lloyd, Paula Devine, Gemma M. Carney. Children & Society, https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12289

Abstract: Studies eliciting the views of children on ageing are rare, particularly those that focus on imagining a future self as an ‘old’ person and how this might be linked to current attitudes to older people. To address this gap, 2,365 children participated in an online survey which included questions on ageing. Findings suggest that children who hold negative views about old people visualise poorer outcomes for themselves at age 70. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of an ageing population and the need to develop strategies to prevent the formation of prejudices against older people from an early age.

Traditional sex behaviors, older age of first intercourse and fewer sex partners, are related to conservative orientations; satisfaction with sex life is related to socially conservatives; adventurous and risky sex behaviors are related more to liberals

The relationship between sexual preferences and political orientations: Do positions in the bedroom affect positions in the ballot box? Peter K.Hatemi, Charles Crabtree, Rose McDermott. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 105, 15 January 2017, Pages 318-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.10.008

Highlights
•    Traditional sex behaviors (e.g., missionary sex) are related to conservative orientations.
•    Older age of first intercourse and fewer sex partners is associated with social conservativism.
•    Satisfaction with sex life is related to more socially conservative attitudes.
•    Adventurous sexual behaviors (e.g., sex toys) are related to more liberal orientations.
•    Risky-sex behaviors (e.g., sex with stranger), are related to more liberal orientations.

Abstract: Sex provides a strong and enduring drive in humans, infusing attitudes and influencing behavior far beyond its immediate activity. Issues involving sex are among the most prevalent and divisive in modern political discourse. However, little is known about whether the actual sexual behaviors of the public align with their political values. Using a web-based US sample, we assess the relationship between individual sexual practices and political preferences. We find that those who engage in more traditional sexual behaviors, such as missionary position sex and kissing, generally have more socially conservative attitudes, ideologies, and partisan leanings, while those who engage in more masturbation, more adventurous sex, such as using sex toys, and those who engage in more risky sex, such as having sex with someone they met on the same day, and who have more lifetime partners, generally hold more liberal positions. Though they engage in a narrower band of activities, those with more conservative orientations tend be more satisfied with their sex life. We also find substantial heterogeneity across political attitudinal dimensions. For example, individuals who hold more conservative outgroup/punishment attitudes appear similar to those who hold liberal social attitudes when it comes to risky sex behaviors.

Political-Party Affiliation as a Predictor of Usage of an Adultery Website: Democrats were least likely to use it, Libertarians were most likely, & Republicans, Greens, and unaffiliated voters were in-between

American Political-Party Affiliation as a Predictor of Usage of an Adultery Website. Kodi B. Arfer, Jason J. Jones. Archives of Sexual Behavior, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1244-1

Abstract: The more politically conservative Americans are, the more restrictive their sexual attitudes are. A natural follow-up question is how this difference in attitudes relates to actual behavior. But self-reports of sexual behavior may be compromised by a social desirability bias that is influenced by the very sexual attitudes at issue. We employed a non-self-reported measure of sexual behavior: usage of the adultery-focused dating website Ashley Madison. Linking an August 2015 leak of user data from Ashley Madison to 2012 voter registration rolls from five U.S. states, we found 80,000 matches between 200,000 Ashley Madison user accounts and 50 million voters. According to simple rates in the sample, and also to predictively validated regression models controlling for state, gender, and age, we found that Democrats were least likely to use Ashley Madison, Libertarians were most likely, and Republicans, Greens, and unaffiliated voters were in between. Our results provide support for theories arguing that people with stricter sexual attitudes are paradoxically more likely to engage in deviant sexual behavior.

Gay & lesbian individuals are slightly more likely than heterosexual individuals to reside in more urban areas as adults but it is due to a more urban childhood contexts of gay/lesbian individuals relative to heterosexual ones

Urban Migration of Sexual Minorities in the United States: Myth or Reality? Christopher P. Scheitle, Sara K. Guthrie. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9544-0

Abstract: It is often suggested that sexual minorities in the United States, especially gay men and lesbian women, move to urban areas at a higher rate than heterosexual individuals. Existing analyses of this claim are limited for one or more reasons, such as only examining patterns of current residential context without considering movement between contexts or only examining movement for partnered sexual minorities. Utilizing the General Social Survey, a probability survey of the US adult population, we compare patterns of residential context in childhood and adulthood for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual individuals. Initial findings do suggest that gay and lesbian individuals are slightly more likely than heterosexual individuals to reside in more urban areas as adults. However, this difference is explained away by the more urban childhood contexts of gay or lesbian individuals relative to heterosexual individuals. In sum, we find no robust sexuality effect on urban migration.

Potential brain age reversal after pregnancy: younger brains at 4-6 weeks postpartum

Potential brain age reversal after pregnancy: younger brains at 4-6 weeks postpartum. Eileen Luders et al. Neurosciencem https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.07.006

Highlights
•    Brains at late postpartum were estimated to be younger than at early postpartum.
•    On average, that difference was about five years.
•    These findings suggest a substantial restoration / rejuvenation effect after giving birth.
•    The effect seems to be already evident within 4-6 weeks postpartum.

Abstract: Pregnancy is accompanied by complex biological adaptations, including extreme hormonal fluctuations. Moreover, changes on the endocrine level are accompanied by changes in cerebral anatomy, such as reductions in brain or gray matter volume. Since declining brain and tissue volumes are characteristic for normal aging, the question arises of whether such pregnancy-induced anatomical effects are permanent or transient. To answer this question, we acquired high-resolution brain image data of 14 healthy women in their mid-twenties to late thirties at two time points: within 1-2 days of childbirth (early postpartum) and at 4-6 weeks after childbirth (late postpartum). At both time points, we estimated the brain ages for each woman using a well-validated machine learning approach based on pattern recognition. Ultimately, this algorithm – designed to identify anatomical correlates of age across the entire brain – reveals a single score for each individual: the BrainAGE index. Comparing the BrainAGE indices between both time points, female brains at late postpartum were estimated to be considerably younger than at early postpartum. On average, that difference was about five years (mean±SD: 5.4±2.4 years). These findings suggest a substantial restoration / rejuvenation effect after giving birth, which is evident already within the first couple of months.

Rams are selected for genetic traits a producer desires to propagate in his flock; rams with limited interest in ewes was nearly 30% of the total number of breeding rams; cause can be a tempered reward pathway in combination with decreased vigilance and sensory processing in the amygdala

ASAS-SSR Triennial Reproduction Symposium: Looking Back And Moving Forward—How Reproductive Physiology Has Evolved—Male reproductive behavior: sensory signaling in the brain of low-performing domestic rams. Brenda M Alexander. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 96, Issue 7, 29 June 2018, Pages 3003–3008, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/sky117

Abstract: Rams are selected for genetic traits a producer desires to propagate in his flock. Even though practically all sheep are naturally bred, rams are rarely evaluated for expression of sexual interest or behavior. Research at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station reported that the proportion of rams with limited interest in ewes was nearly 30% of the total number of breeding rams. Breeding soundness tested rams with low sexual interest sire less than 16% of the lamb crop. Although producers recognize the problem, their usual solution is to increase the number of rams in breeding flocks decreasing the risk of open ewes. Increased costs and a lack of genetic progress are clearly important considerations, but the biological question as to what controls sexual interest remains intriguing. Circulating concentrations of testosterone do not differ by sexual interest among rams. However, following exposure to estrous ewes, sexually active, but not inactive, rams exhibit an increase in LH pulsatile activity, a biological response to sexual stimuli. This begs the question as to whether sexually inactive rams recognize sexual cues. Using c fos activity as an indicator of neural activity, differences in the olfactory pathway were compared among sexually active and inactive rams. Differences in fos activity were not detected in the olfactory bulb or medial amygdala. However, sexually inactive rams had lower fos activity in the central amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus following exposure to sexual evocative olfactory stimuli. This suggests sexually inactive rams detect olfactory cues but have decreased vigilance to sensory stimuli and a muted response to sexual signals in areas of the brain required for the execution of sexual performance. With the amygdala receiving and integrating sensory signals from many areas of the brain, sexually inactive rams may lack normal reward mechanisms contributing to their lack of sexual interest. Rams with limited sexual interest have decreased dopamine synthesis and a lower expression of dopamine D2 receptors following exposure to sexual stimuli. Thus, a tempered reward pathway in combination with decreased vigilance and sensory processing in the amygdala may reduce stimulation and/or responsiveness in areas of the brain required for expression of sexual behavior.

Sheep are one of the few animal models in which natural variations in male sexual preferences have been studied experimentally; approximately 8% of rams exhibit sexual preferences for male partners (male-oriented rams)

The Volume of a Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus in the Ovine Medial Preoptic Area/Anterior Hypothalamus Varies with Sexual Partner Preference. Charles E. Roselli et al. Endocrinology, Volume 145, Issue 2, 1 February 2004, Pages 478–483, https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2003-1098

Abstract: Sheep are one of the few animal models in which natural variations in male sexual preferences have been studied experimentally. Approximately 8% of rams exhibit sexual preferences for male partners (male-oriented rams) in contrast to most rams, which prefer female partners (female-oriented rams). We identified a cell group within the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus of age-matched adult sheep that was significantly larger in adult rams than in ewes. This cell group was labeled the ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN). In addition to a sex difference, we found that the volume of the oSDN was two times greater in female-oriented rams than in male-oriented rams. The dense cluster of neurons that comprise the oSDN express cytochrome P450 aromatase. Aromatase mRNA levels in the oSDN were significantly greater in female-oriented rams than in ewes, whereas male-oriented rams exhibited intermediate levels of expression. Because the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus is known to control the expression of male sexual behaviors, these results suggest that naturally occurring variations in sexual partner preferences may be related to differences in brain anatomy and capacity for estrogen synthesis.

Competent individuals endorsed cynicism only if it was warranted in a given sociocultural environment; less competent individuals embraced cynicism unconditionally, maybe an adaptive default strategy to avoid the potential costs of falling prey to others’ cunning

The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence. Olga Stavrova, Daniel Ehlebracht. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218783195

Abstract: Cynicism refers to a negative appraisal of human nature—a belief that self-interest is the ultimate motive guiding human behavior. We explored laypersons’ beliefs about cynicism and competence and to what extent these beliefs correspond to reality. Four studies showed that laypeople tend to believe in cynical individuals’ cognitive superiority. A further three studies based on the data of about 200,000 individuals from 30 countries debunked these lay beliefs as illusionary by revealing that cynical (vs. less cynical) individuals generally do worse on cognitive ability and academic competency tasks. Cross-cultural analyses showed that competent individuals held contingent attitudes and endorsed cynicism only if it was warranted in a given sociocultural environment. Less competent individuals embraced cynicism unconditionally, suggesting that—at low levels of competence—holding a cynical worldview might represent an adaptive default strategy to avoid the potential costs of falling prey to others’ cunning.

Keywords: cynicism, competence, lay theories, social perception

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Beside the fact that cynicism and wisdom are often intertwined in philosophy, literature, and popular culture, there are multiple other reasons for laypeople to associate cynicism with competence. Cynicism reflects a worldview that human nature is morally corrupt and human actions are driven by self-interest. The power of self-interest as the ultimate motive of human behavior has been discussed in multiple scientific disciplines (Cropanzano, Goldman, & Folger, 2005; Miller & Ratner, 1998). In evolutionary biology, selfinterested behavioral strategies are sometimes described as fitness maximizing and therefore .smart. in evolutionary terms. In neoliberal economic theory, the ability to pursue self-interest is regarded as a sign of perfect rationality (homo oeconomicus). These ideas are widely accepted among laypeople (Bay-Cheng, Fitz, Alizaga, & Zucker, 2015), suggesting that adopting a cynical view and seeing others. behavior as driven by self-interest might constitute a sign of competence in laypeople.s eyes.

At the same time, laypeople might believe cynicism to be diagnostic of substantial life experience. Many people tend to think of life as generally .nasty, brutish and short. (Norton, Anik, Aknin, & Dunn, 2011); hence, accumulating life experience can be considered as inevitably leading to the endorsement of a negative, cynical view. Indeed, research on generalized trust has recently shown that, once the perception of moral character is held constant, distrust can sometimes be seen as a sign of competence (Evans & van de Calseyde, 2017). Similarly, as people generally tend to exaggerate the degree to which others. behavior is driven by egoistic motives (Miller, 1999; Miller & Ratner, 1998), chronically high levels of suspiciousness and cynicism may be considered a sign of competence and experience in dealing with other people.

From an evolutionary perspective, the suspiciousness, precautionary reasoning, and endorsement of the .better safe than sorry. heuristic inherent to cynicism might be seen as features of a competent decision maker (Haselton & Nettle, 2006; Johnson, Blumstein, Fowler, & Haselton, 2013).  According to the error management theory (Haselton & Buss, 2000), in many domains the consequences of false negative errors (e.g., believing that someone is trustworthy when they really are not) have often been more costly than false positive errors (e.g., believing that someone is untrustworthy when they really are trustworthy) over human evolutionary history, making the cognitive system of modern humans biased toward false alarms. As endorsing a cynical view is reflected in a stronger propensity to avoid false negative errors (e.g., the best way not to misplace one.s trust is not to trust at all), cynicism might be seen as a sign of competence.  Taken together, these arguments suggest that, in laypersons.  beliefs, cynicism might be positively associated with competence.

Cynicism and Competence in Reality
Even though social observers might think that being too cynical is wiser than being not cynical enough, this belief might not mirror the real associations of cynicism and competence.  Indeed, studies using the trust game showed that people typically earned more if they were willing to trust strangers rather than not (e.g., Fetchenhauer & Dunning, 2010).  Longitudinal studies corroborated this idea, suggesting that cynical individuals earn lower incomes due to their ineptitude for cooperation, and cynicism might therefore be not that smart in terms of financial success (Stavrova & Ehlebracht, 2016).

Further studies demonstrated that cynicism is more likely to be a worldview endorsed by individuals with lower rather than higher levels of education (Haukkala, 2002; Stavrova & Ehlebracht, 2018) and intelligent individuals. behavior was shown to be more likely to depart from the norms of selfinterest (Solon, 2014). Higher levels of education and competence in a broader sense might help individuals detect and avoid potential deceit in the first place, thus reducing the probability of negative social experiences, which might in turn contribute to a more positive view of human nature (Yamagishi, Kikuchi, & Kosugi, 1999). Indeed a number of studies showed general cognitive ability to be negatively related to cynical hostility (Barnes et al., 2009; Mortensen, Barefoot, & Avlund, 2012) and positively related to trust (Carl, 2014; Carl & Billari, 2014; Hooghe, Marien, & de Vroome, 2012; Oskarsson, Dawes, Johannesson, & Magnusson, 2012; Sturgis, Read, & Allum, 2010). However, even though intelligent individuals are more likely to trust strangers, high IQ is not a good predictor of the ability to differentiate between trustworthy and untrustworthy targets (Bonnefon, Hopfensitz, & De Neys, 2013). In addition, a recent meta-analysis failed to detect an association between measures of cognitive ability and Machiavellianism.a concept that includes a "cynical beliefs about human nature" facet (O.Boyle, Forsyth, Banks, & Story, 2013).

Even if a high level of competence might not allow people to accurately discriminate between honest and dishonest interaction partners, it might allow them to correctly recognize situations or environments where cynicism regarding other people.s motives and intentions might be warranted or not. In other words, high levels of competence might allow individuals to correctly identify the .corruptness. of their environment and adjust their level of cynicism to match it.  Following this reasoning, high-competence individuals might hold adaptable attitudes and recur to cynicism only when it seems warranted, while their less competent counterparts might show more cognitive rigidity and.relying on the .better safe than sorry. heuristic.tend to endorse cynicism indiscriminately. Consistent with evolutionary principles, such a .better safe than sorry. strategy can prove efficient when one lacks the ability to correctly identify the relevant features of the sociocultural context one is confronted with and determine whether cynicism is warranted or not (Brumbach, Figueredo, & Ellis, 2009; Gross, 1996). In this sense, at lower levels of competence, holding a negative, cynical view as a default (assuming that people are guided by self-interest unless proven otherwise) might represent a more viable strategy than holding an overly positive view of others' morality.

In the present research, we assumed that even though cynicism might be positively associated with competence in laypeople.s beliefs, in reality, more competent individuals are less, rather than more, likely to endorse a cynical worldview, giving rise to what can be described as a .cynical genius illusion..  Consistent with the evolutionary arguments laid out above, we also predicted that the negative association between competence and cynicism will depend on the environment.s sociocultural climate. Highly competent individuals will be more likely to endorse cynicism if they live in a country where cynical views seem justified.for example, in a country with corrupted institutions and a weak rule of law.whereas low-competence individuals will embrace cynicism regardless of the characteristics of the sociocultural environment they face.

Contributions of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic neurons to VTA-stimulation induced neurovascular responses in brain reward circuits

Contributions of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic neurons to VTA-stimulation induced neurovascular responses in brain reward circuits. Marta Brocka et al. NeuroImage, Volume 177, 15 August 2018, Pages 88-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.04.059

Highlights
•    Optogenetic stimulation of the VTA in rats combined with fMRI and SPECT.
•    Dopamine specific stimulation leads to weak fMRI BOLD responses.
•    Less-specific stimulation leads to strong neurovascular responses.
•    rCBF SPECT in awake animals excludes anesthesia effect.
•    Neurovascular signals from the reward system are a poor predictor of DA release.

Abstract: Mapping the activity of the human mesolimbic dopamine system by BOLD-fMRI is a tempting approach to non-invasively study the action of the brain reward system during different experimental conditions. However, the contribution of dopamine release to the BOLD signal is disputed. To assign the actual contribution of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic VTA neurons to the formation of BOLD responses in target regions of the mesolimbic system, we used two optogenetic approaches in rats. We either activated VTA dopaminergic neurons selectively, or dopaminergic and mainly glutamatergic projecting neurons together. We further used electrical stimulation to non-selectively activate neurons in the VTA. All three stimulation conditions effectively activated the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and triggered dopamine releases into the NAcc as measured by in vivo fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. Furthermore, both optogenetic stimulation paradigms led to indistinguishable self-stimulation behavior. In contrast to these similarities, however, the BOLD response pattern differed greatly between groups. In general, BOLD responses were weaker and sparser with increasing stimulation specificity for dopaminergic neurons. In addition, repetitive stimulation of the VTA caused a progressive decoupling of dopamine release and BOLD signal strength, and dopamine receptor antagonists were unable to block the BOLD signal elicited by VTA stimulation. To exclude that the sedation during fMRI is the cause of minimal mesolimbic BOLD in response to specific dopaminergic stimulation, we repeated our experiments using CBF SPECT in awake animals. Again, we found activations only for less-specific stimulation. Based on these results we conclude that canonical BOLD responses in the reward system represent mainly the activity of non-dopaminergic neurons. Thus, the minor effects of projecting dopaminergic neurons are concealed by non-dopaminergic activity, a finding which highlights the importance of a careful interpretation of reward-related human fMRI data.

Keywords: Optogenetics, BOLD, Dopamine

Libet’s experiment: A complex replication

Libet’s experiment: A complex replication. Tomas Dominik et al. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 65, October 2018, Pages 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2018.07.004

Highlights
•    Libet’s experiment was replicated respecting its complexity.
•    The original outcomes were generally replicated with some differences.
•    The report of the urge to move does not always precede the movement onset.
•    The readiness potential precedes the reported time of the urge to move.
•    There is a large interindividual variability in the introspective reports.

Abstract: Libet’s experiment is an influential classical study, which does not stop provoking heated debates. However, a full-scale replication has not been carried out to this day. Libet-style studies have usually focused on isolated ideas and concepts and never on the whole experiment in all its complexity. This paper presents detailed methodological description and results of a complex replication study. The methodology follows Libet’s directions closely in most cases; when it does not, the differences are described and elaborated. The results replicate Libet’s key findings, but substantial differences were found in some of the results’ categories, such as the introspective reports or the number of readiness-potentials found. The discussion also addresses some current problems pertaining the methodology of the Libet-style experiments and provides some recommendations based on a detailed process evaluation.

Presence of a significant other increased facial expression of pain; presence of a stranger decreased physiological arousal; verbal support, mainly from a stranger, decreased pain and arousal; intimate relationships decreased pain through touching and viewing a romantic other

Investigating the influence of social support on experimental pain and related physiological arousal: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Xianwei Che et al. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.07.005

Highlights
•    Social presence alone did not affect pain perception.
•    Presence of a significant other increased facial expression of pain.
•    Presence of a stranger decreased physiological arousal.
•    Verbal support, mainly from a stranger, decreased pain and arousal.
•    Intimate relationships decreased pain through touching and viewing a romantic other.

Abstract: Social support is demonstrated to have mixed effects on both pain and related physiological arousal. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to characterise these effects. A total of 2416 studies were identified in a systematic search, among which 21 were eligible for the quantitative review. The mere presence of another person was not sufficient to modulate pain perception. However, stranger presence was identified to decrease pain-related arousal (SMD = -0.31), and the presence of a significant other increased facial expression of pain (SMD = 0.21). We further found verbal support to decrease pain (SMD = -0.69) and arousal (SMD = -0.99), and we demonstrated moderate to large analgesic effects of intimate relationships through touching (SMD = -0.95) and viewing (SMD = -0.60) of a romantic partner. Finally, we presented evidence of publication bias for pain-related arousal but not for behavioural pain outcomes. Together, our findings suggest that the impact of social support on pain is context-dependent with clear communications of support and intimate relationships being of particular importance.

Sleep and nesting behavior in primates: The implications of nest construction for sleep quality & cognition, the tree‐to‐ground transition in early hominids, & the peculiarities of human sleep

Sleep and nesting behavior in primates: A review. Barbara Fruth, Nikki Tagg, Fiona Stewart. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23373

Abstract: Sleep is a universal behavior in vertebrate and invertebrate animals, suggesting it originated in the very first life forms. Given the vital function of sleep, sleeping patterns and sleep architecture follow dynamic and adaptive processes reflecting trade‐offs to different selective pressures.

Here, we review responses in sleep and sleep‐related behavior to environmental constraints across primate species, focusing on the role of great ape nest building in hominid evolution. We summarize and synthesize major hypotheses explaining the proximate and ultimate functions of great ape nest building across all species and subspecies; we draw on 46 original studies published between 2000 and 2017. In addition, we integrate the most recent data brought together by researchers from a complementary range of disciplines in the frame of the symposium “Burning the midnight oil” held at the 26th Congress of the International Primatological Society, Chicago, August 2016, as well as some additional contributors, each of which is included as a “stand‐alone” article in this “Primate Sleep” symposium set. In doing so, we present crucial factors to be considered in describing scenarios of human sleep evolution: (a) the implications of nest construction for sleep quality and cognition; (b) the tree‐to‐ground transition in early hominids; (c) the peculiarities of human sleep.

We propose bridging disciplines such as neurobiology, endocrinology, medicine, and evolutionary ecology, so that future research may disentangle the major functions of sleep in human and nonhuman primates, namely its role in energy allocation, health, and cognition.