Saturday, April 14, 2018

Widespread associations between trait conscientiousness and thickness of brain cortical regions

Widespread associations between trait conscientiousness and thickness of brain cortical regions. Gary J. Lewis et al. NeuroImage, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.04.033

Highlights
•    We investigated relationships between personality and neuroanatomy.
•    Participants (N = 578) completed an MRI scan and Big Five personality trait measures.
•    Conscientiousness was positively related to cortical thickness in a range of regions.
•    These included: parahippocampal, fusiform, and cingulate gyri, and frontal cortex.
•    No other Big Five trait was associated with our brain measures.

Abstract: The neural correlates of human personality have been of longstanding interest; however, most studies in the field have relied on modest sample sizes and few replicable results have been reported to date. We investigated relationships between personality and brain gray matter in a sample of generally healthy, older (mean age 73 years) adults from Scotland drawn from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. Participants (N = 578) completed a brain MRI scan and self-reported Big Five personality trait measures. Conscientiousness trait scores were positively related to brain cortical thickness in a range of regions, including bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral fusiform gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, right medial orbitofrontal cortex, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. These associations – most notably in frontal regions – were modestly-to-moderately attenuated by the inclusion of biomarker variables assessing allostatic load and smoking status. None of the other personality traits showed robust associations with brain cortical thickness, nor did we observe any personality trait associations with cortical surface area and gray matter volume. These findings indicate that brain cortical thickness is associated with conscientiousness, perhaps partly accounted for by allostatic load and smoking status.

Keywords: Personality; Conscientiousness; Cortical thickness; Brain; Neuroanatomy; Allostatic load

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Political conservatism is negatively associated with an individual’s rating of sociology as being scientific; and is more negative among those with more education

Politics and the Perceived Boundaries of Science: Activism, Sociology, and Scientific Legitimacy. Christopher P. Scheitle. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2378023118769544

Abstract: Research has suggested that public confidence in the scientific community has become politicized, but it is not clear that liberals and conservatives disagree on the more fundamental question of what counts as being scientific. An analysis of General Social Survey data finds that political conservatism is negatively associated with an individual’s rating of sociology as being scientific. This association is not found when examining ratings of economics or biology. Education moderates this association, as the gap between liberals’ and conservatives’ ratings of sociology’s scientific-ness is greater among those with more education. Although research has demonstrated that trust in the scientific community has become politicized, these findings demonstrate that the perceived boundaries of science can also be influenced by political ideology.

Keywords: science, sociology, politics, conservatism, liberalism

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Friday, April 13, 2018

Greater effort increases perceived value in an invertebrate

Czaczkes, T. J., Brandstetter, B., di Stefano, I., & Heinze, J. (2018). Greater effort increases perceived value in an invertebrate. Journal of Comparative Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0000109

Abstract: Expending effort is generally considered to be undesirable. However, both humans and vertebrates will work for a reward they could also get for free. Moreover, cues associated with high-effort rewards are preferred to low-effort associated cues. Many explanations for these counterintuitive findings have been suggested, including cognitive dissonance (self-justification) or a greater contrast in state (e.g., energy or frustration level) before and after an effort-linked reward. Here, we test whether effort expenditure also increases perceived value in ants, using both classical cue-association methods and pheromone deposition, which correlates with perceived value. In 2 separate experimental setups, we show that pheromone deposition is higher toward the reward that requires more effort: 47% more pheromone deposition was performed for rewards reached via a vertical runway (high effort) compared with ones reached via a horizontal runway (low effort), and deposition rates were 28% higher on rough (high effort) versus smooth (low effort) runways. Using traditional cue-association methods, 63% of ants trained on different surface roughness, and 70% of ants trained on different runway elevations, preferred the high-effort related cues on a Y maze. Finally, pheromone deposition to feeders requiring memorization of one path bifurcation was up to 29% higher than to an identical feeder requiring no learning. Our results suggest that effort affects value perception in ants. This effect may stem from a cognitive process, which monitors the change in a generalized hedonic state before and after reward.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Achievement is often attributed to natural talent (naturals) or hard work (strivers). There is a preference for naturals over strivers when evaluating professionals, but strivers are preferred when the target appeared to be an ordinary person

Contextual and personal determinants of preferring success attributed to natural talent or striving. Christina M. Brown, Nicole S. Troy, Katie R. Jobson , Jennifer K. Link. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.03.017

Highlights
•    Achievement is often attributed to natural talent (naturals) or hard work (strivers).
•    Past research has found a preference for naturals over strivers.
•    We replicated the bias among experienced perceivers evaluating professional targets.
•    Conversely, strivers were preferred when the target appeared to be an ordinary person.
•    We observed a new naturalness bias: Strivers are assumed to have natural talent.

Abstract: Evidence to date has established a preference for successful individuals whose achievements are attributed to natural talent (“naturals”) rather than focused effort (“strivers”). Across six studies, we discovered a reversal of the bias depending on contextual and personal factors. Strivers, rather than naturals, are favored when evaluating ordinary people. This preference is particularly strong among perceivers who have experience in the performance domain, and it replicates across different domains and participant populations. Strivers are also preferred as cooperative partners and are expected to perform better on novel, unrelated tasks. The direction of the preference for naturals versus strivers can be traced to a combination of the perceiver's experience and the target's professional status. Specifically, a naturalness bias was only present among experienced perceivers evaluating professional targets. On the other hand, a more implicit form of the naturalness bias was observed in attributions made about the target's achievement, such that strivers were assumed to have natural talent more than naturals were assumed to have worked diligently.

Keywords: Natural talent; Naturals; Strivers; Naturalness bias; Essentialism

In jobs that require substantial amounts of interpersonal interaction a large beauty premium exists. In jobs where attractiveness seems unlikely to truly enhance productivity (like working with information and data) there is no premium

Beauty, Job Tasks, and Wages: A New Conclusion about Employer Taste-Based Discrimination. Todd R. Stinebrickner, Ralph Stinebrickner, Paul J. Sullivan. NBER Working Paper No. 24479
www.nber.org/papers/w24479

We use novel data from the Berea Panel Study to reexamine the labor market mechanisms generating the beauty wage premium. We find that the beauty premium varies widely across jobs with different task requirements. Specifically, in jobs where existing research such as Hamermesh and Biddle (1994) has posited that attractiveness is plausibly a productivity enhancing attribute—those that require substantial amounts of interpersonal interaction—a large beauty premium exists. In contrast, in jobs where attractiveness seems unlikely to truly enhance productivity—jobs that require working with information and data—there is no beauty premium. This stark variation in the beauty premium across jobs is inconsistent with the employer-based discrimination explanation for the beauty premium, because this theory predicts that all jobs will favor attractive workers. Our approach is made possible by unique longitudinal task data, which was collected to address the concern that measurement error in variables describing the importance of interpersonal tasks would tend to bias results towards finding a primary role for employer taste-based discrimination. As such, it is perhaps not surprising that our conclusions about the importance of employer taste-based discrimination are in stark contrast to all previous research that has utilized a similar conceptual approach.

Participants rated the fictitious politician’s public approval & perceived character as higher if the politician was a member of their own political party than if the politician was a member of the another one

Judging scandal: Standards or bias in politics. Erin D. Solomon, Jana M. Hackathorn & David Crittendon. The Journal of Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1453468

ABSTRACT: As the number of political scandals rises, we examined the circumstances that might influence how a politician would be judged as a result of a scandal. Specifically, we hypothesized that ingroup bias theory and shifting standards theory would produce different patterns of judgements. In two studies, we found support for the ingroup bias theory, such that participants rated the fictitious politician’s public approval and perceived character as higher if the politician was a member of their own political party (i.e. their ingroup) than if the politician was a member of the another political party (i.e. their outgroup). These results may explain, in part, why people may judge politicians involved in scandal more or less harshly depending on whether they are an ingroup member or outgroup member.

KEYWORDS: infidelity, ingroup bias, political scandal, shifting standards, social identity theory

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Rolf Degen https://twitter.com/DegenRolf: A politician involved in a sex scandal is always judged more harshly if he/she is from the other side of the political aisle - no matter how people view sex outside marriage in general.

We prefer to delegate a moral task to a human, despite that machine errors are not perceived significantly different from human errors and the level of trust toward machines and toward humans does not differ significantly

Rage Against the Machine: Automation in the Moral Domain. Jan Gogoll, Matthias Uhl. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2018.04.003

Highlights
•    We are the first to experimentally investigate delegation to machines in the moral domain
•    Subjects prefer to delegate a moral task to a human
•    Delegators were rewarded less for delegating to a machine
•    Machine errors are not perceived significantly different from human errors
•    Level of trust toward machines and toward humans does not differ significantly

Abstract: The introduction of ever more capable autonomous systems is moving at a rapid pace. The technological progress will enable us to completely delegate to machines processes that were once a prerogative for humans. Progress in fields like autonomous driving promises huge benefits on both economical and ethical scales. Yet, there is little research that investigates the utilization of machines to perform tasks that are in the moral domain. This study explores whether subjects are willing to delegate tasks that affect third parties to machines as well as how this decision is evaluated by an impartial observer. We examined two possible factors that might coin attitudes regarding machine use—perceived utility of and trust in the automated device. We found that people are hesitant to delegate to a machine and that observers judge such delegations in relatively critical light. Neither perceived utility nor trust, however, can account for this pattern. Alternative explanations that we test in a post-experimental survey also do not find support. We may thus observe an aversion per se against machine use in the moral domain.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

People living in more religious U.S. counties spend less on grocery purchases and make fewer unplanned purchases

Religious shoppers spend less money. Didem Kurt, J. Jeffrey Inman, Francesca Gino. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.03.019

Highlights
•    People living in more religious U.S. counties spend less on grocery purchases and make fewer unplanned purchases.
•    Unplanned grocery spending decreases with religiosity measured at the individual-level.
•    A religious prime lowers people’s unplanned grocery spending.
•    Religiosity has an indirect effect on unplanned grocery spending through frugality.

Abstract: Although religion is a central aspect of life for many people across the globe, there is scant research on how religion affects people's non-religious routines. In the present research, we identify a frequent consumption activity that is influenced by religiosity: grocery shopping. Using both field and laboratory data, we find that grocery spending decreases with religiosity. Specifically, we document that people who live in more religious U.S. counties spend less money on groceries and make fewer unplanned purchases. We also demonstrate this negative relationship by measuring religiosity at the individual level and employing a religious prime. That is, the more religious people are, the less willing they are to follow through on novel purchase opportunities that arise during their grocery shopping trips. This effect is consistent with the account that many religions emphasize the value of being prudent with money. Additional analysis supports our predicted indirect effect of religiosity on spending through frugality.

Keywords: Religion; Money; Frugality; Consumption; Unplanned purchases

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Participants demonstrated a strong motivation to engage in shared experiences. At the same time, participants did not experience a commensurate increase in hedonic value or emotional amplification, suggesting that the social value of shared experiences does not derive from their hedonic value

Jolly, Eshin, Diana Tamir, Bethany Burum, and Jason Mitchell 2018. “Wanting Without Enjoying: The Social Value of Sharing Experiences”. PsyArXiv. April 12. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/B3ZJU

Abstract: Social connection can be a rich source of happiness. Humans routinely go out of their way to seek out social connection and avoid social isolation. However, research has yet to explain the proximal forces that motivate people to share experiences with others. Here we used a novel experience-sharing and decision-making paradigm to understand the value of shared experiences. In seven experiments, across Studies 1 and 2, participants demonstrated a strong motivation to engage in shared experiences. At the same time, participants did not experience a commensurate increase in hedonic value or emotional amplification, suggesting that the social value of shared experiences does not derive from their hedonic value. In Study 3 we measured participants’ beliefs about the reasons people engage in shared experiences. Participants reported being motivated by the desire to forge a social connection; they did not report being motivated by the emotional benefits of a shared experience. Together, these findings suggest that the desire to share an experience may be distinct from the subjective experience of achieving that state. Individuals are driven to connect with others even when the act of doing so is no more enjoyable or emotionally evocative.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

By 3 years of age, children tattle about rule violations they observe, even as unaffected bystanders; they tattled on the transgressor more when the transgressor had caused harm than no harm

Young children tattle to enforce moral norms. Meltem Yucel, Amrisha Vaish. Social Development, https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12290

Abstract: By 3 years of age, children tattle about rule violations they observe, even as unaffected bystanders. It is argued that tattling is one way in which children enforce norms and that in the long term, it helps sustain co‐operation (e.g., Vaish, Missana, & Tomasello, 2011). However, an alternative explanation could be that children are worried that the victim might blame them and so feel the need to inform the victim about who caused the harm. The present study aimed to tease these possibilities apart. Children observed a puppet either causing harm to another puppet (e.g., destroying their artwork) or no harm (e.g., destroying a different object). Importantly, the situation was constructed such that children knew they could not be blamed for the transgressions. Nonetheless, 3‐year‐old children tattled on the transgressor more when the transgressor had caused harm than no harm. Thus, young children's tattling about third‐party moral transgressions seems to be aimed at enforcing norms. An additional, exploratory goal of this study was to examine the relation between children's temperament and norm enforcement. Temperamental shyness negatively correlated with children's protesting and tattling behavior, though more research is needed to better understand the role of temperament in early norm enforcement.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Mothers' voices became significantly lower-pitched and more monotonous during the first year postpartum compared to during pregnancy or before

Women's voice pitch lowers after pregnancy. Katarzyna Pisanski, Kavya Bhardwaj, David Reby. Evolution and Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.04.002

Abstract: Women's voice pitch (the perceptual correlate of fundamental frequency, F0) varies across the menstrual cycle and lowers after menopause, and may represent a putative signal of women's fertility and reproductive age. Yet, despite dramatic changes in women's sex hormone levels and bodies during and after pregnancy, previous between-subject and case studies have not found systematic changes in F0 due to pregnancy. Here, we tracked within-individual variation in 20 mothers' voices during their first pregnancy, as well as up to 5 years before conception and 5 years postpartum. Voice recordings from 20 age-matched nulliparous women were measured as a control. Linear Mixed Models indicated that F0 mean, range and variation changed significantly following pregnancy in mothers, controlling for age at time of recording, whereas we did not observe any F0 changes across corresponding timeframes in our sample of nulliparous controls. Mothers' voices became significantly lower-pitched and more monotonous during the first year postpartum compared to during pregnancy or before. These F0 parameters did not decrease within-individuals over a 5-year period prior to conception above and beyond the effects of ageing. Although voice pitch decreased following pregnancy, mothers' F0 parameters reverted after the first year postpartum, approaching pre-pregnancy levels. Our results demonstrate that pregnancy has a transient and perceptually salient masculinizing effect on women's voices.

Keywords: Pregnant; Fundamental frequency; Sex hormones; Vocal communication; Nulliparous

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Species with more pronounced sexual dimorphism, indicating the highest levels of male investment in reproduction, had estimated extinction rates that were ten times higher than those of the species with the lowest investment. Sexual selection can be a substantial risk factor for extinction

High male sexual investment as a driver of extinction in fossil ostracods. Maria João Fernandes Martins, T. Markham Puckett, Rowan Lockwood, John P. Swaddle & Gene Hunt. Nature (2018), doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0020-7

Abstract: Sexual selection favours traits that confer advantages in the competition for mates. In many cases, such traits are costly to produce and maintain, because the costs help to enforce the honesty of these signals and cues1. Some evolutionary models predict that sexual selection also produces costs at the population level, which could limit the ability of populations to adapt to changing conditions and thus increase the risk of extinction2,3,4. Other models, however, suggest that sexual selection should increase rates of adaptation and enhance the removal of deleterious mutations, thus protecting populations against extinction3, 5, 6. Resolving the conflict between these models is not only important for explaining the history of biodiversity, but also relevant to understanding the mechanisms of the current biodiversity crisis. Previous attempts to test the conflicting predictions produced by these models have been limited to extant species and have thus relied on indirect proxies for species extinction. Here we use the informative fossil record of cytheroid ostracods—small, bivalved crustaceans with sexually dimorphic carapaces—to test how sexual selection relates to actual species extinction. We show that species with more pronounced sexual dimorphism, indicating the highest levels of male investment in reproduction, had estimated extinction rates that were ten times higher than those of the species with the lowest investment. These results indicate that sexual selection can be a substantial risk factor for extinction.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Lower life satisfaction, the lack of a committed relationship, and feelings of loneliness contribute to predicting the frequency of using porn among men. For females, consumption even increases in committed relationships and rather indicates a comparably high level of life satisfaction than dissatisfaction

Gender Differences in Escapist Uses of Sexually Explicit Internet Material: Results from a German Probability Sample. Mathias Weber et al. Sexuality & Culture, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-018-9518-2

Abstract: The intensity of using sexually explicit internet material (SEIM) is contingent on users’ gender. However, gender differences in the motivations for watching SEIM have not yet been comprehensively explored. Drawing on a representative survey of German internet users, we therefore analyze how women and men use SEIM to satisfy escapist needs. Lower life satisfaction, the lack of a committed relationship, and feelings of loneliness contribute to predicting the frequency of using SEIM among men. Loneliness likewise fosters the consumption of SEIM among women, yet the effect is less pronounced. For female internet users, consumption of SEIM even increases in committed relationships and rather indicates a comparably high level of life satisfaction than dissatisfaction with life circumstances. Gender hence substantially moderates the connection between need structures and the consumption of SEIM.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

People’s rare compared with their common interests are especially potent to elicit interpersonal attraction

Sharing Rare Attitudes Attracts. Hans Alves. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,  https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218766861

Abstract: People like others who share their attitudes. Online dating platforms as well as other social media platforms regularly rely on the social bonding power of their users’ shared attitudes. However, little is known about moderating variables. In the present work, I argue that sharing rare compared with sharing common attitudes should evoke stronger interpersonal attraction among people. In five studies, I tested this prediction for the case of shared interests from different domains. I found converging evidence that people’s rare compared with their common interests are especially potent to elicit interpersonal attraction. I discuss the current framework’s theoretical implications for impression formation and impression management as well as its practical implications for improving online dating services.

Keywords: attitudes, similarity, attraction, frequency

Strategically harmed & failed to enhance the reputations of other women who threatened their romantic prospects directly (by flirting with their romantic mates) & indirectly (by being attractive or provocatively dressed)

Competitive reputation manipulation: Women strategically transmit social information about romantic rivals. Tania Reynolds, Roy F. Baumeister, Jon K. Maner. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.03.011

Highlights
•    Women transmit same-sex romantic rivals' social information strategically.
•    Women harm reputations of attractive, flirtatious, and provocatively dressed women.
•    Competitive women transmit more reputation-harming information about other women.
•    Women damage rivals' reputations but do not report explicitly disliking them.

Abstract: Researchers have suggested that women compete with same-sex peers using indirect social tactics. However, the specific predictors and mechanisms of this form of female intrasexual competition are less well understood. We propose that one mechanism by which women harm rivals' social opportunities is through selectively transmitting reputation-relevant social information. Moreover, we contend that this behavior is designed to undermine the romantic and social appeal of same-sex romantic rivals who are perceived to be threatening. Evidence from five studies suggests that women's dissemination of social information is strategic and reliably predicted by various cues of romantic rival threat: attempts at mate poaching (Study 1), physical attractiveness (Studies 2 and 3), and provocative clothing (Studies 4 and 5). Women strategically harmed and failed to enhance the reputations of other women who threatened their romantic prospects directly (by flirting with their romantic partners) and indirectly (by being attractive or provocatively dressed). Women's dispositional levels of competitiveness also predicted their information transmission: highly competitive women (both generally and in romantic domains specifically) disclosed more reputation-damaging information than did less competitive women. Furthermore, women transmitted reputation-harming information about female targets independent of how much they explicitly liked those targets, suggesting a disconnect between women's intentions and their gossip behavior. Irrespective of the gossiper's intentions, pilot data confirmed that social harm is likely to befall the women targeted by the transmission of reputation-damaging social information.

Keywords: Gossip; Intrasexual competition; Indirect aggression; Competitiveness; Reputation

Young adults have only moderate insight into their face recognition ability, but those who have been previously informed of their exceptional performance estimate their FRA accurately

Bobak AK, Mileva VR & Hancock PJB (2018) Facing the facts: Naive participants have only moderate insight into their face recognition and face perception abilities (Forthcoming), The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Abstract: A reliable self-report measure to assess the broad spectrum of face recognition ability (FRA) from developmental prosopagnosia (DP) to super-recognition (SR) would make a valuable contribution to initial screening of large populations. We examined performance of 96 naive participants and seven SRs, using a range of face and object processing tasks and a newly developed 20-item questionnaire, the Stirling Face Recognition Scale (SFRS). Overall, our findings suggest that young adults have only moderate insight into their FRA, but those who have been previously informed of their (exceptional) performance, the SRs, estimate their FRA accurately. Principal Component Analysis of SFRS yielded two components. One loads on questions about low ability and correlates with perceptual tasks and one loads on questions about high FRA and correlates with memory for faces. We recommend that self-report measures of FRA should be used in addition to behavioural testing, to allow for cross-study comparisons, until new, more reliable instruments of self-report are developed. However, self-report measures should not be solely relied upon to identify highly skilled individuals. Implications of these results for theory and applied practice are discussed.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Buying well‐being: Spending behavior and happiness

Buying well‐being: Spending behavior and happiness. Lara B. Aknin, Dylan Wiwad, Katherine B. Hanniball. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12386

Abstract: The relationship between money and happiness is complex. While a large literature demonstrates a small but significant positive association between overall income and well‐being, a relatively new area of research explores the emotional consequences of everyday spending choices. Here we review this recent but rapidly growing area of investigation. We begin by briefly summarizing the link between money and happiness. Then, through the lens of 2 dominant models of human happiness, we suggest that seemingly inconsequential spending choices may provide an underappreciated and underutilized route to greater well‐being. Finally, we review new empirical evidence demonstrating that individuals can use their disposable income to increase their happiness by investing in experiential (rather than material) purchases, more free time, routine, self‐expression, and generosity.

Participants’ romantic attraction, likelihood of selecting, and subsequent interpersonal outcomes with a dating partner almost exclusively depended on their perception of their dating partner’s mate value: the higher, the better. There was no evidence for the popular matching hypothesis

Wurst, Stefanie N., Sarah Humberg, and Mitja Back 2018. “Preprint of "the Impact of Mate Value in First and Subsequent Real-life Romantic Encounters"”. Open Science Framework. February 1. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/ADEJ3

Abstract: We provide a first systematic investigation of the most prominent hypotheses about the impact of mate value on interpersonal attraction in real-life early-stage romantic encounters. Using Response Surface Analysis, we simultaneously examined how (a) people’s perception of their own mate value, (b) their perception of a potential partner’s mate value, and (c) the interplay between the two mate values impact initial romantic attraction and selection as well as subsequent interpersonal outcomes after selection. Data came from the “Date me for Science” speed-dating study (n = 398), in which participants who mutually selected each other at the speed-dating event were followed up with 3 assessments in the 6 weeks after the event to assess subsequent outcomes. Participants’ romantic attraction, likelihood of selecting, and subsequent interpersonal outcomes with a dating partner almost exclusively depended on their perception of their dating partner’s mate value: the higher, the better. There was no evidence for the popular matching hypothesis, which states that people feel attracted to and select dating partners whom they perceive to have a mate value similar to their own. Implications of these findings for theory and research on the impact of mate value on romantic attraction and selection are discussed.

Participants reported lower need satisfaction and being more out of the loop after viewing unfamiliar, compared to familiar, musicians, celebrities and brand logos

Iannone, N. E., Kelly, J. R., & Williams, K. D. (2018). “Who’s that?”: The negative consequences of being out of the loop on pop culture. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 7(2), 113-129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000120

Abstract: Being out of the loop is a form of partial ostracism in which one is excluded from a domain of information known by others. We investigate whether being out of the loop on a specific domain of information—pop culture—will lead to negative outcomes associated with more complete forms of ostracism. Participants reported lower need satisfaction and being more out of the loop after viewing unfamiliar, compared to familiar, musicians (Study 1) and celebrities (Study 2). Study 3 assessed a different form of pop culture stimuli—brand logos—and found the same results. Finally, Study 4 utilized an alternative method where participants were exposed to a variety of pop culture stimuli (e.g., movies, books, singers) and also included a non-pop culture-related control condition. Participants in the unfamiliar condition reported lower need satisfaction and feeling more out of the loop than participants in the familiar and control conditions. Across all 4 studies, feeling more out of the loop mediated the relationship between familiarity and need satisfaction level. Additionally, participants’ self-rated pop culture importance did not moderate the effect. Thus, seemingly innocuous reminders of being out of the cultural loop in everyday life are capable of eliciting negative psychological consequences.

A female fish that today doesn't need males to clone itself copulates with other species' males to stimulate embryonic development. Those males do that probably because the interactions of a sexual male and the female are observed by conspecific females and make that male more attractive

Male mate choice in Livebearing fishes: an overview. Ingo Schlupp. Current Zoology, zoy028, https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoy028

Abstract: Although the majority of studies on mate choice focus on female mate choice, there is growing recognition of the role of male mate choice, too. Male mate choice is tightly linked to two other phenomena, female competition for males, and ornamentation in females. In the current paper I review the existing literature on this in a group of fishes, Poeciliidae. In this group male mate choice appears to be based on differences in female quality, especially female size, which is a proxy for fecundity. Some males also have to choose between heterospecific and conspecific females in the unusual mating system of the Amazon molly. In this case, they typically show a preference for conspecific females. While male mate choice is relatively well documented for this family, female ornamentation and female competition are not.

Keywords: fecundity, sexual selection, female choice, Poecilia, Xiphophorus, Gambusia, guppy, binary choice test, preference function, female size

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Amazon mollies are an all-female, clonal species of fish of hybrid origin (Hubbs & Hubbs 1932, Schlupp & Riesch 2011). The maternal ancestor is the Atlantic molly P. mexicana and the paternal ancestor is the sailfin molly P. latipinna. The single, original hybridization apparently took place about 100.000 generations ago in an area near present-day Tampico [...]. Amazon mollies reproduce by gynogenesis, where sperm simply serves as stimulus for embryonic development, but is typically not incorporated into the offspring (Schlupp 2005) [...] The Amazon molly uses at least three species as sperm donors [...]

More importantly, this situation can be used to make very clear predictions relative to male mate choice. For males the fitness return for mating with Amazon mollies is very low. Even if the cost of mating is low or moderate, males should evolve to prefer conspecific females, or lower their cost by investing less into heterospecific copulations. Via mate copying, a process of using social information in mate choice (Varela et al. 2018, Witte et al. 2015), males gain an indirect fitness benefit offsetting some of the cost of heterospecific matings: the interactions of a sexual male and an Amazon molly are observed by conspecific females and make that male more attractive to conspecific females. Interestingly, males have also been shown to copy the mate choice of other males (Bierbach et al. 2011, Schlupp & Ryan 1997).


h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Women & their mothers were strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of target men & preferred the attractive & moderately attr. targets. Men with the most desirable personality profiles were rated more favorably only when they were at least moderately attractive

The Importance of Physical Attractiveness to the Mate Choices of Women and Their Mothers. Madeleine A. Fugère et al. Evolutionary Psychological Science. September 2017, Volume 3, Issue 3, pp 243–252. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-017-0092-x

Abstract: Prior research investigating the mate preferences of women and their parents reveals two important findings with regard to physical attractiveness. First, daughters more strongly value mate characteristics connoting genetic quality (such as physical attractiveness) than their parents. Second, both daughters and their parents report valuing characteristics other than physical attractiveness most strongly (e.g., ambition/industriousness, friendliness/kindness). However, the prior research relies solely on self-report to assess daughters’ and parents’ preferences. We assessed mate preferences among 61 daughter-mother pairs using an experimental design varying target men’s physical attractiveness and trait profiles. We tested four hypotheses investigating whether a minimum level of physical attractiveness was a necessity to both women and their mothers and whether physical attractiveness was a more important determinant of dating desirability than trait profiles. These hypotheses were supported. Women and their mothers were strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of the target men and preferred the attractive and moderately attractive targets. Men with the most desirable personality profiles were rated more favorably than their counterparts only when they were at least moderately attractive. Unattractive men were never rated as more desirable partners for daughters, even when they possessed the most desirable trait profiles. We conclude that a minimum level of physical attractiveness is a necessity for both women and their mothers and that when women and their parents state that other traits are more important than physical attractiveness, they assume potential mates meet a minimally acceptable standard of physical attractiveness.


Seems confirmation of this: Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior. Elaine Walster, Vera Aronson, Darcy Abrahams, Leon Rottman. December 1966, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 4(5):508-16. DOI10.1037/h0021188, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/17178647_Importance_of_physical_attractiveness_in_dating_behavior
Abstract: It was proposed that an individual would most often expect to date, would try to date, and would like a partner of approximately his own social desirability. In brief, we attempted to apply level of aspiration theory to choice of social goals. A field study was conducted in which individuals were randomly paired with one another at a "Computer Dance." Level of aspiration hypotheses were not confirmed. Regardless of S's own attractiveness, by far the largest determinant of how much his partner was liked, how much he wanted to date the partner again, and how often he actually asked the partner out was simply how attractive the partner was. Personality measures such as the MMPI, the Minnesota Counseling Inventory, and Berger's Scale of Self- Acceptance and intellectual measures such as the Minnesota Scholastic Aptitude Test, and high school percentile rank did not predict couple compatability. The only important determinant of S's liking for his date was the date's physical attractiveness.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Monday, April 9, 2018

While religiosity positively predicts the acceptance of creationist views and negatively predicts the acceptance of evolution, scientific reasoning ability does not predict religiosity, acceptance of creationist views, or acceptance of evolutionary theory

Scientific reasoning ability does not predict scientific views on evolution among religious individuals. Katie F. Manwaring et al. Evolution: Education and Outreach. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-018-0076-8

Abstract

Background: Acceptance of evolutionary theory varies widely and is often associated with religious background. Some have suggested there exists an additional relationship between scientific reasoning ability and the acceptance of evolutionary theory. In this study, we used structural equation modeling to test whether scientific reasoning ability predicts religiosity, acceptance of creationist views, or acceptance of evolution. We administered internet-based surveys to 724 individuals nationwide who self-describe as being religious and built a structural-equation model to test predictive abilities.

Results: We found that while religiosity positively predicts the acceptance of creationist views and negatively predicts the acceptance of evolution, scientific reasoning ability does not predict religiosity, acceptance of creationist views, or acceptance of evolutionary theory.

Conclusions: With a lack of any relationship between scientific reasoning ability and acceptance, an approach to evolution education that focuses on appealing to scientific reasoning may prove fruitless in changing student attitudes toward evolution; alternative teaching approaches regarding evolution are warranted.

Tax revenue and public services under pirates and terrorists

The author believes he is doing something new... Anyway, it is a good summary of how ISIS financed the caliphate machinery.

The ISIS Files. By Rukmini Callimachi Photographs by Ivor Prickett
The New York Times, April 4, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/04/world/middleeast/isis-documents-mosul-iraq.html


1  revenue

The documents describe how it made money at every step in the supply chain: Before a single seed of grain, for example, was sown, the group collected rent for the fields it had confiscated. Then, when the crops were ready to be threshed, it collected a harvest tax.

It did not stop there.

The trucks that transported the grain paid highway tolls. The grain was stored in silos, which the militants controlled, and they made money when the grain was sold to mills, which they also controlled. The mills ground the grain into flour, which the group sold to traders.

Then the bags of flour were loaded onto trucks, which traversed the caliphate, paying more tolls. It was sold to supermarkets and shops, which were also taxed. So were the consumers who bought the finished product.

In a single 24-hour period in 2015, one of the spreadsheets in the briefcase shows, the Islamic State collected $1.9 million from the sale of barley and wheat.

Another table shows that the militants earned over $3 million in three months from gross flour sales in just three locations in Mosul.

The organization appeared intent on making money off every last grain — even crops that were damaged.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On just one day, according to another statement, it took in over $14,000 from wheat described as having been scorched in a bombing, and $2,300 from the sale of spoiled lentils and chickpeas. It also took in over $23,000 from grain that had been scraped off the bottom of a tank, according to one spreadsheet. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The Islamic State’s tax arm reached into every facet of life in Mosul. Households in Iraq were taxed 2,000 dinars per month (less than $2) for garbage collection, 10,000 dinars (about $8) for each 10 amperes of electricity, and another 10,000 for municipal water.

Businesses wishing to install a landline paid a 15,000-dinar (about $12) installation fee to the group’s telecommunications office, followed by a 5,000-dinar monthly maintenance fee.

Municipal offices charged for marriage licenses and birth certificates.

But perhaps the most lucrative tax was [the] zakat ... It is calculated at 2.5 percent of an individual’s assets, and up to 10 percent for agricultural production, according to Ms. Revkin, the Yale researcher. While some of these fees had been charged by the Iraqi and Syrian governments, the mandatory asset tax was a new development.

Ordinarily in Islamic practice, the zakat is a tithe used to help the poor. In the Islamic State’s interpretation, an act of charity became a mandatory payment, and while some of the funds collected were used to help needy families, the Ministry of Zakat and Charities acted more like a version of the Internal Revenue Service.

Most accounts of how the Islamic State became the richest terrorist group in the world focus on its black-market oil sales, which at one point brought in as much as $2 million per week, according to some estimates. Yet records recovered in Syria by Mr. Tamimi and analyzed by Ms. Revkin show that the ratio of money earned from taxes versus oil stood at 6:1.

Despite hundreds of airstrikes that left the caliphate pocked with craters, the group’s economy continued to function, fed by streams of revenue that could not be bombed under international norms: the civilians under their rule, their commercial activity and the dirt under their feet.

According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the land that the militants seized was Iraq’s most fertile, and at the group’s height, the fields that were harvested accounted for 40 percent of the country’s annual wheat production and more than half of its barley crop. In Syria, the group at one point controlled as much as 80 percent of the country’s cotton crop, according to a study by the Paris-based Center for the Analysis of Terrorism.

It all added up to astonishing sums, as much as $800 million in annual tax revenue, according to the study.

...

Tax collection continued until the very end. At least 100 documents
labeled “Daily Gross Revenue” that showed incoming cash were dated November 2016, a month after the start of the coalition’s push to take back the city.

Even as tanks were rolling in and taking surrounding neighborhoods, the trade division continued to make money, pocketing $70,000 in a single sale.



2  public services

But on the same thoroughfares, Mr. Hamoud noticed something that filled him with shame: The streets were visibly cleaner than they had been when the Iraqi government was in charge.

Omar Bilal Younes, a 42-year-old truck driver whose occupation allowed him to crisscross the caliphate, noticed the same improvement. “Garbage collection was No. 1 under ISIS,” he said, flashing a thumbs-up sign.

The street sweepers hadn’t changed. What had was that the militants imposed a discipline that had been lacking, said a half-dozen sanitation employees who worked under ISIS and who were interviewed in three towns after the group was forced out.

“The only thing I could do during the time of government rule is to give a worker a one-day suspension without pay,” said Salim Ali Sultan, who oversaw garbage collection both for the Iraqi government and later for the Islamic State in the northern Iraqi town of Tel Kaif. “Under ISIS, they could be imprisoned.”

The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems

The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems. Igor Grossmann and Justin P. Brienza. J. Intell. 2018, 6(2), 22; doi:10.3390/jintelligence6020022

Abstract: We present evidence for the strengths of the intellectual virtues that philosophers and behavioral scientists characterize as key cognitive elements of wisdom. Wisdom has been of centuries-long interest for philosophical scholarship, but relative to intelligence largely neglected in public discourse on educational science, public policy, and societal well-being. Wise reasoning characteristics include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty, consideration of diverse viewpoints, and an attempt to integrate these viewpoints. Emerging scholarship on these features of wisdom suggest that they uniquely contribute to societal well-being, improve leadership, shed light on societal inequality, promote cooperation in Public Goods Games and reduce political polarization and intergroup-hostility. We review empirical evidence about macro-cultural, ecological, situational, and person-level processes facilitating and inhibiting wisdom in daily life. Based on this evidence, we speculate about ways to foster wisdom in education, organizations, and institutions.

Keywords: wisdom; reasoning; virtues; well-being; political polarization; culture; social class; egocentrism; leadership

Check also Grossmann, Igor, and Harrison Oakes. 2017. “Wisdom of Yoda and Mr. Spock: The Role of Emotions and the Self”. PsyArXiv. December 21. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/12/wiser-reasoning-appeared-in-conjunction.html
wiser reasoning appeared in conjunction with greater (vs. lower) emotionality, especially the recognition of a greater number of present emotions and greater balance of intensity across experienced emotions.
And: Wisdom and how to cultivate it: Review of emerging evidence for a constructivist model of wise thinking. Igor Grossmann. European Psychologist, in press. Pre-print: http://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2017/08/wisdom-and-how-to-cultivate-it-review.html