Sharing genes fosters identity fusion and altruism

Sharing genes fosters identity fusion and altruism. By Alexandra Vázquez et al.
Self and Identity, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2017.1296887?journalCode=psai20

Abstract: Researchers have shown that the more genes twins share, the more they care about one another. Here, we examine a psychological mediator of such genetic influences, “identity fusion” (a visceral sense of oneness with them). Results supported this hypothesis. Relative to dizygotic twins, monozygotic twins reported stronger fusion and elevated desire to have contact and share experiences with their twin (Study 1), to forgive and grant favors to their twin after being disappointed by him/her (Study 2), and willingness to make sacrifices for their twin (Study 3). Fusion with the twin mediated the impact of zygosity on these outcomes. These findings demonstrate that genetic relatedness fosters a powerful feeling of union with one’s twin that predicts sharing, tolerance, and self-sacrificial behavior toward him or her.

All You Need to Do Is Ask? The Exhortation to Be Creative Improves Creative Performance More for Nonexpert Than Expert Jazz Musicians

All You Need to Do Is Ask? The Exhortation to Be Creative Improves Creative Performance More for Nonexpert Than Expert Jazz Musicians. By David Rosen et al.
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2017-14257-001/

Abstract: Current creativity research reveals a fundamental disagreement about the nature of creative thought, specifically, whether it is primarily based on automatic, associative (Type 1) or executive, controlled (Type 2) cognitive processes. We propose that Type 1 and Type 2 processes make differential contributions to creative production depending on domain expertise and situational factors such as task instructions. We tested this hypothesis with jazz pianists who were instructed to improvise to a novel chord sequence and rhythm accompaniment. Afterward, they were asked to perform again under instructions to be especially creative which, via goal activation, is thought to prompt the musicians to engage Type 2 processes. Jazz experts rated all performances. Overall, performances by more experienced pianists were rated as superior. Moreover, creativity instructions resulted in higher ratings. However, there was an interaction between instructions and expertise, revealing that explicit creativity instructions significantly improved improvisation ratings only for the less experienced musicians. We propose that activating or reconfiguring executive Type 2 processes facilitates creativity for less experienced musicians, but does not improve creative performance significantly for more experienced ones because the latter have largely automatized the processes responsible for high-level improvisation or because they have achieved a near-optimal balance between associative Type 1 and executive Type 2 processes. Thus, increasing controlled Type 2 processing is unlikely to help, and may sometimes even diminish, the creativity of experts’ performances.

Minorities in Dictatorship and Democracy

Minorities in Dictatorship and Democracy. By Arseniy Samsonov
University of California Working Paper, May 2017. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2961627

Abstract: It is a widely-held belief that democracy is good for minorities. However, there are countries like India, Turkey, or Sri Lanka where a competitive political system coincided with ethnic discrimination and conflict. I build a theoretical model that links minority welfare to the level of democracy and the ethnic structure of the society. In the game, ethnic groups form coalitions to share resources, and the level of democracy is modeled as the size of the minimum decisive coalition. I show that, for minorities, a very high or very low level of democracy is preferable to a medium level, because in an autocracy minority rule is possible, while a very democratic system makes the inclusion of minorities necessary. Given a medium level of democracy, the majority group is sufficient to rule, so minorities are not included. Minorities are more likely to prefer autocracy over democracy if the majority group is sufficiently large and the level of diversity is high. I find empirical support for the model's main results using the Ethnic Power Relations dataset.

Flavors paired with internal pain or with nausea elicit divergent types of hedonic responses

Flavors paired with internal pain or with nausea elicit divergent types of hedonic responses. By  Dwyer, Dominic M.; Gasalla, Patricia; Bura, Stefana; López, Matías
Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol 131(3), Jun 2017, 235-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bne0000197

Abstract: Pairing a taste with either internal pain (e.g., from hypertonic saline injection) or nausea (e.g., from LiCl administration) will reduce subsequent consumption of that taste. Here we examine the responses to a taste paired with either hypertonic saline or LiCl using the analysis of licking microstructure (mean lick cluster size: Experiments 1–3), taste reactivity (examining the distribution of appetitive and aversive orofacial responses: Experiments 2–3), and immobility (as a measure of fear: Experiments 2–3). At both high (10 ml/kg 0.15 M LiCl, 10 ml/kg 1.5 M NaCl) and low dose levels (2 ml/kg 0.15 M LiCl, 4 ml/kg 1.5 M NaCl), pairing a taste with either LiCl-induced nausea or internal pain produced by hypertonic NaCl caused reductions in voluntary consumption, in appetitive taste reactivity responses, and in lick cluster size. However, only pairing with LiCl resulted in conditioned aversive taste reactivity responses to the taste. In contrast, pairing with hypertonic NaCl resulted in the taste eliciting higher levels of immobility (reflecting fear) than did pairing the taste with LiCl. The clearly dissociable effects of LiCl and hypertonic saline on aversive taste reactivity and fear responses, despite equivalent effects on consumption, demonstrates selective conditioning effects between internal pain and nausea.

Self-protection promotes altruism

Self-protection promotes altruism, by Eugene Chan
Evolution and Human Behavior, http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(16)30372-5/fulltext

Highlights:

    •Self-protection tendencies allowed our human ancestors to survive and thrive.
    •One primary strategy to protect oneself is to affiliate as there is “safety in numbers”.
    •One way to pursue this strategy would being more altruistic to others.
    •Thus, self-protection increases altruism, but only when there is the sufficient possibility of it being reciprocated.

Abstract: Self-protection tendencies allowed our human ancestors to survive and thrive. In three experiments, we find that individuals who have a salient self-protection motive are more altruistic to others, such as by helping them out or offering them more money in the dictator game paradigm. Self-protecting individuals desire to “bind together” as there is “safety in numbers”, and being altruistic to others should be one (but not the only) way to achieve this goal. Consistent with this reasoning, we find across three behavioral experiments using both non-monetary (Experiment 1) and monetary altruistic contexts (Experiments 2–3) that self-protecting individuals are more altruistic when the altruism is not anonymous (Experiment 1) and when they have the reasonable expectation of future interaction with the recipient (Experiment 2), both of which are situations that should increase affiliation. The effect attenuates when altruism does not help self-protecting individuals, such as when money is donated to impersonal organizations rather than individuals (Experiment 3). We finally discuss the theoretical contributions as well as limitations of our work.

Natural Disasters and Political Engagement: Evidence from the 2010–11 Pakistani Floods

Natural Disasters and Political Engagement: Evidence from the 2010–11 Pakistani Floods. By Christine Fair et al.
Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Spring 2017, Pages 99-141. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2978047

Abstract: How natural disasters affect politics in developing countries is an important question, given the fragility of fledgling democratic institutions in some of these countries as well as likely increased exposure to natural disasters over time due to climate change. Research in sociology and psychology suggests traumatic events can inspire pro-social behavior and therefore might increase political engagement. Research in political science argues that economic resources are critical for political engagement and thus the economic dislocation from disasters may dampen participation. We argue that when the government and civil society response effectively blunts a disaster's economic impacts, then political engagement may increase as citizens learn about government capacity. Using diverse data from the massive 2010–11 Pakistan floods, we find that Pakistanis in highly flood-affected areas turned out to vote at substantially higher rates three years later than those less exposed. We also provide speculative evidence on the mechanism. The increase in turnout was higher in areas with lower ex ante flood risk, which is consistent with a learning process. These results suggest that natural disasters may not necessarily undermine civil society in emerging developing democracies.

Information provision and consumer behavior: A natural experiment in billing frequency.

Information provision and consumer behavior: A natural experiment in billing frequency. By Casey Wichman
Journal of Public Economics, August 2017, Pages 13–33
http://www.rff.org/research/publications/information-provision-and-consumer-behavior-natural-experiment-billing

Abstract: In this study, I estimate a causal effect of increased billing frequency on consumer behavior. I exploit a natural experiment in which residential water customers switched exogenously from bimonthly to monthly billing. Customers increase consumption by 3.5–5 percent in response to more frequent information. This result is reconciled in models of price and quantity uncertainty, where increases in billing frequency reduce the distortion in consumer perceptions. Using treatment effects as sufficient statistics, I calculate consumer welfare gains equivalent to 0.5–1 percent of annual water expenditures. Heterogeneous treatment effects suggest increases in outdoor water use.

Sexual regret in US and Norway: Effects of culture and individual differences in religiosity and mating strategy

Sexual regret in US and Norway: Effects of culture and individual differences in religiosity and mating strategy. By Mons Bendixen et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, 1 October 2017, Pages 246–251, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886917303148

Highlights

•    Men were significantly less likely to regret having had casual sex than women were.
•    Men were significantly more likely to regret passing up casual sex than women were.
•    More religious regretted having had casual sex more and passing up casual sex less.
•    Unrestricted regretted having had casual sex less and passing up casual sex more.
•    Overall regret and patterns of sex differences not different between nations

Abstract: Sexual regret was investigated across two disparate cultures: Norway (N = 853), a highly secular and sexually liberal culture, and the United States (N = 466), a more religious and more sexually conservative culture. Sex differences, individual differences in preferred mating strategy, religiosity, and cultural differences in sexual regret were analyzed. Men were significantly less likely to regret having had casual sex than women and were significantly more likely to regret passing up casual sexual opportunities than women. Participants who were more religious regretted having had casual sex more and regretted passing up casual sex less. Sexually unrestricted participants were less likely to regret having had casual sex and were more likely to regret passing up casual sex. Finally, North Americans and Norwegians did not differ significantly in overall amount of sexual regret nor in patterns of sex differences in sexual regret. Discussion focuses the robustness of sex differences across cultures, the importance of explaining individual differences within cultures, and on future directions for cross-cultural research.

Keywords: Sexual regret; Religiosity; Sociosexual orientation; Culture; Sexual strategies; One night stands