Thursday, January 3, 2019

High mutual cooperation rates in rats learning reciprocal altruism: This finding allows to infer that the learning of reciprocal altruism has early appeared in evolution

High mutual cooperation rates in rats learning reciprocal altruism: The role of payoff matrix. Guillermo E. Delmas, Sergio E. Lew, B. Silvano Zanutto. PLOS One, Jan 2 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204837

Abstract: Cooperation is one of the most studied paradigms for the understanding of social interactions. Reciprocal altruism -a special type of cooperation that is taught by means of the iterated prisoner dilemma game (iPD)- has been shown to emerge in different species with different success rates. When playing iPD against a reciprocal opponent, the larger theoretical long-term reward is delivered when both players cooperate mutually. In this work, we trained rats in iPD against an opponent playing a Tit for Tat strategy, using a payoff matrix with positive and negative reinforcements, that is food and timeout respectively. We showed for the first time, that experimental rats were able to learn reciprocal altruism with a high average cooperation rate, where the most probable state was mutual cooperation (85%). Although when subjects defected, the most probable behavior was to go back to mutual cooperation. When we modified the matrix by increasing temptation rewards (T) or by increasing cooperation rewards (R), the cooperation rate decreased. In conclusion, we observe that an iPD matrix with large positive reward improves less cooperation than one with small rewards, shown that satisfying the relationship among iPD reinforcement was not enough to achieve high mutual cooperation behavior. Therefore, using positive and negative reinforcements and an appropriate contrast between rewards, rats have cognitive capacity to learn reciprocal altruism. This finding allows to infer that the learning of reciprocal altruism has early appeared in evolution.


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High mutual cooperation rates in rats learning reciprocal altruism: The role of payoff matrix

High mutual cooperation rates in rats learning reciprocal altruism: The role of payoff matrix

  • Guillermo E. Delmas, 
  • Sergio E. Lew, 
  • B. Silvano Zanutto
PLOS
x



Introduction


Altruism is a behavior by an individual that may be to his disadvantage but benefits others individuals. At first sight, Darwin’s natural selection theory does not explain altruistic behavior. Theories have been proposed to account altruist behavior: kin selection [1], group selection and reciprocal altruism [2] among others. In the reciprocal altruism theory, the loss experienced by an individual for being altruist returns later on behalf of the reciprocal partner. Thus, in the long term, being altruist becomes the most useful strategy. In this regard, Triver’s theory of reciprocal altruism explains how natural selection favors reciprocal altruism between non-related individuals. Perhaps the most insightful example of such behavior is the one observed among vampire bats, where individuals share blood with others who have previously shared their food [3].

Since 1971, Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma (iPD) has been a useful tool to study reciprocal altruism [4]. In the iPD, two players must choose between two possible behaviors: to cooperate or to defect. Rewards and punishments are defined in a 2x2 payoff matrix. When the game is played indefinitely, which is its iterated version, mutual cooperative behavior is favored. When played once, to defect is the best strategy [5]. However, when the game runs indefinitely, evolutionary stable strategies (ESS) emerge [67] and, under certain constraints imposed to the payoff matrix, mutual cooperation appears as the best strategy whenever reciprocity is maintained (Pareto Optimum). Among a huge number of reciprocal strategies, tit for tat is one of the most simple ones [8]. It is based on two simple rules: to cooperate in the first trial and, in the following, to do what the other player (opponent) did in the last trial.

Among many reciprocal behaviors, reciprocity and reciprocal altruism were well documented in several species. Although cooperation is needed to succeed in both reciprocity and reciprocal altruism, the latter adds the possibility of obtaining reward by defecting an opponent. Some experiments show reciprocal altruism behavior by means of iPD paradigm in different ways, but the results were either low levels of cooperation [9] or depended on a treatment that enhanced cooperation preference (mutualism matrix) [1012]. Direct reciprocity, which is established between two individuals, has been observed in monkeys [1315] and in rats [1619]. While food quality seemed to impact on cooperative behavior, a key factor to obtain reliable cooperation levels was the opponent’s behavior. In this sense, individuals tended to be more cooperative with opponents that had cooperated in the past. However, when reciprocal altruism is studied, differences between species come to light. Thus, while reciprocal altruism has been proven in monkeys, birds and rats failed to reach high levels of cooperation, even for complex combinations of rewards and punishments in the payoff matrix and treatments to induce preference [910122023]. The reasons why some species do not learn reciprocal altruism remain obscure. A possible explanation is that animals are not able to discriminate low contrast reward contingencies. Indeed, it has been shown that rats fail to discriminate the amount of reward when the number of reward units is larger than three [2426]. In this work, we designed an iPD setup to maximize the contrast among reinforcers. The amounts of pellets were chosen in order to minimize positive reinforcement earned in each trial and to keep rats motivated (hungry), [27]. In order to evaluate if animals developed ALLC strategy by place preference (after animals learned iPD) they were trained on reversal. We also evaluated reward maximization studying how the payoff matrix components promote or disrupt altruistic behavior.

Materials and methods


Subject


We used thirty male Long-Evans rats (weight 300-330g and two months old) provided by the IBYME-CONICET, divided in two experiments. In the first one, eighteen rats (twelve experimental and six opponent), and in the second, twelve rats (six experimental and six opponent). Experimental subjects were housed in pairs (to allow social interaction), and opponent rats were housed individually. All rats were food restricted and maintained at 90-95% for experimental subjects, and 80-85% for opponents of free feeding body weight, all with tap water available ad libitum. The housing room was at 22°C ± 2°C and 12/12 h light/dark cycle (with lights on at 9 am). Pre-training was performed on a single standard operant chamber (MED associates Inc., USA) equipped with two stimulus light and retractable levers below the light and feeders. Also the chambers were inside an anechoic chamber with white noise (with a flat power spectral density). The iPD experiments were performed in ad hoc dual chamber equipped with levers, lights and feeders (Fig 1A). The chambers were connected by windows allowing rats to make olfactory and eye contact. The lever’s height was 80% of maximum height of the forepaws while rearing [27]. The dual chamber is shown in supplementary material (see S2 Fig). At the end of daylight, supplementary food was provided to allow rats to maintain body weight.

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Fig 1. High level of cooperation in iPD.
(A) Dual operant box diagram and the matrix with positive(blue) and negative(red) reinforcement is shown. The iPD game had four possible states: R(reward) mutual cooperation, P(punishment) mutual defection, T(temptation) in which subject defected and opponent cooperated and S(sucker) subject cooperated and opponent defected. The opponent´s light was driven in order to perform a Tit for tat strategy. (B,C) Time-course of cooperation and timeout rate along the last 23 games sessions. In the last 5 sessions, the mean ± sem of cooperation was 0.86 ± 0.05 and timeout was 0.23 ± 0.08. (D) Total reward versus timeout for all animals (color bar means cooperation mean). Each animal was compared with the regression line fit to a population with cooperation level set to 60% (black continuous line). The higher the cooperation levels, the larger the total reward and the lower the total timeout. (E) Markov Chain diagram shows the probabilities of transition between states (p(c|T−1) = 0.76, p(c|R−1) = 0.85, p(c|S−1) = 0.93, p(c|P−1) = 0.87). The arrow represents transitions: driven by cooperation in blue, and driven by defection in red (the arrow thickness is proportional to transition probability). Below, bars show occupancy ratio when cooperation reaches stability. Probabilities were: p(R) = 0.76, p(T) = 0.1, p(P) = 0.04, p(S) = 0.1. Asterisks denote significant differences from multiple comparisons using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni correction. (F) Evolution cooperation rate before and after reversal. Graphs show a moving average with samples of 3 sessions (the mean and sem from reversal on the last five sessions was 0.87 ± 0.04).

Pre-experimental training


All rats had a shaping procedure to learn the response (press a lever) to get a reinforcement (pellets). To prevent animals from choosing a lever place over the other, they learned to get reward from both sides by changing the side of conditioned stimulus. The side was changed after eight trials. All rats learned to press the correct lighting lever after four sessions. Each rat was trained in 2 sessions per day, each trial began with the inter-trial interval (ITI) during 5 seconds, it was followed by the conditioning stimulus (light) for either 45 seconds or until a lever was pressed. One second before food is delivered, the feeder was lighted. In the opponent’s training, they learned to press the lever when the light was on. In the task, the side of the active lever was chosen pseudo-randomly (allowing the same side no more than four times). The opponent subject had to perform a fix ratio treatment up to FR = 5 to get rewards.

Experiment


To study the reciprocal altruism in an iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma game (iPD), we used a payoff matrix with positive and negative reinforcements. Positive reinforcements were pellets (Bio-Serv 45 mg Dustless Precision Pellets) and negative reinforcement was timeout (a fix delay in starting a new trial). The payoff of the experimental subject was according to the matrix, and the opponent’s payoff was 1 pellet when the correct lighted lever was pressed. For the opponent, when the incorrect lever was pressed, there was no contingency and no pellet was delivered. The trial finishes after 45 seconds elapsed, or when the correct lever is pressed. The iPD game has four possible occupancy states where experimental and opponent individual behaviors can be as follows: both cooperate (mutual cooperation, R), both do not cooperate (mutual defection, P), experimental subject does not cooperate when the opponent cooperates (T), and experimental cooperates when the opponent does not cooperate (S). The amount of pellets preference was previously tested on a discrimination test, showing that rats prefer 2 pellets rather than 1 pellet (data not showed). We performed two sessions per day and each session had 30 trials. Each experimental subject was trained with the same opponent. The training was finished after five consecutive sessions with no changes in the cooperation rate. We defined cooperation (C) and defection (D) lever in the iPD box. The single iPD trial procedure was as follows: (1) ITI time, (2) then, the light (CS) was turned on, (3) after this, both rats made their responses, the light was turned off and the reinforcement was delivered according to a payoff matrix, (4) if positive reinforcement was assigned, the feeder’s light was turned on, and a second later a reward was delivered. The opponent’s Conditioned Stimulus (light) was controlled following a Tit for tat strategy. The opponent received a pellet after pressing three times the lever (FR = 3, so as to be enough time in front of the window until the experimental subject choose a lever). If negative reinforcement (timeout) was assigned, delay time started, and the opponent subject got a pellet reward. (5) After either five seconds eating time expired or timeout was completed, a new trial started. In the first experiment the payoff matrix was: 1 pellet for mutual cooperation (PR = 1), 2 pellets when the experimental subject defected and the opponent cooperated (PT = 2), 4 seconds of timeout for mutual defection (PP = 4seconds), and 8 seconds of timeout when the experimental subject cooperated and the opponent defected (PS = 8). At the end of these experiments, the four rats with the best performance in cooperation were trained in a reversion treatment (see Fig 1F). When rats were trained on reversal, the sides of C and D lever were interchanged in subject and opponent chambers. In that sense, if animals developed a place-preference behavior, they will not learn the new side in order to maximize reward. In the second experiment we used six naive experimental rats on a different payoff matrix with greater temptation (PR = 1, PT = 3, PP = 4, PS = 8). After training, we divided rats in two groups, depending on cooperation levels. The first group (Treat 2A) with high cooperation rate was trained with the payoff matrix (PR = 1, PT = 5, PP = 4, PS = 8) with greater temptation for T state (Treat 3A). The other group (with low cooperation rate, Treat 2B) was trained with the matrix (PR = 2, PT = 3, PP = 4, PS = 8, Treat 3B) that enhances cooperative behavior (in comparison with (PR = 1, PT = 3, PP = 4, PS = 8), but with low contrast between positive rewards (see Table 1). All experimental procedures were approved by the ethics committee of the IByME-CONICET and were conducted according to the NIH Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.2.1 Subjects and Housing.

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Table 1. Data summary.
Treatment 1: testing of high cooperation and reversion. Treatment 2 and 3: effect in cooperation by change of pay-off matrix. The matrix changed over the group with same word (A or B).

Statistic.


All statistical analyses were performed using statistics library from open source software Octave and MATLAB. We pooled the data from the last five sessions where cooperation rate was stable (to calculate cooperation rate we counted the number of times a rat chose the cooperation lever per session). We compared individual’s means of cooperation along treatment using a two-sided Wilcoxon rank sum test. To test whether the probability of cooperation after each outcome (T, R, P or S) was different from chance (0.5), we performed a Chi-square goodness of fit test with Bonferroni corrected value of 0.05/n. To compare mean rate of the different outcomes for each game, we performed an ANOVA two tails test. When significant α = 0.05, multiple post-hoc pairwise comparative tests were performed with Bonferroni corrected value of α = 0.0125. The individual’s decision rules can be described by the components of transition vectors and Markov Chain diagram. The transition vector was made up of probabilities of cooperation when the previous trials resulted in state p(c|R−1), T(temptation) p(c|T−1), S(sucker) p(c|S−1) or P(punishment), p(c|P−1) respectively. If every component of this vector is 0.5, the agent’s decision rule is random mode. Markov Chain diagram show the graphic representation of the complete decision making rule for each rat.

Results


We trained twelve rats in iPD against an opponent that plays Tit for tat strategy. Tit for tat is based on two simple rules: to cooperate in the first trial and, in the following, to do what the other player (opponent) did in the last trial. Fig 1A shows a schema of the different choices a subject can do in each trial. Thus, when the subject cooperates, it receives one pellet (PR) or eight seconds timeout (PS) depending on whether the opponent choice was to cooperate or to defect. On the other hand, when the subject defects, it receives 2 pellets (PT) or four seconds timeout (PP), according to whether the opponent choice was to cooperate or to defect respectively. The criteria for cooperation was an established preference for pressing C lever (cooperation) over D lever (defection) in more than 60% of the trials for five or more consecutive sessions. Eight out of twelve animals learned to cooperate (cooperation rate 0.86 ± 0.05, mean ± s.e.m), reaching criteria in 30 ± 4 sessions (mean ± s.e.m). In Fig 1B, we show the mean cooperation levels for those animals during the last twenty three sessions before reaching criteria. The inset in Fig 1B shows the mean cooperation level for each animal during the last five training sessions. As a consequence of the increase in cooperation levels, the average total timeout per session decreased as training progressed (0.23 ± 0.08, mean ± sem, see Fig 1C).

Due to the fact that different sequences of lever pressing can give the same amount of reward and/or timeout independently of the cooperation level, we analyzed the relationship between total reward and timeout for each animal in comparison to a simulated population. A regression line was fit to a population of 100,000 simulated individuals with cooperation level set to 60%, (see Fig 1D). Each simulated individual had one different strategy and each one was a combination of thirty C and D choices (session length). An individual that plays an iPD game with 60% of its choices in C will be near to the line, regardless of its strategies. As it can be seen in the figure, for the cooperator group when the cooperation level increases, the larger are the total reward, and the lower the total timeout. For the non cooperator group placed in the opposite side of the figure, it can be seen that both cooperation and reward were low and timeout was high. The regression line at 60% of cooperation separates both groups (marked with a red circle in the Fig 1D). This shows that no behavior with low level of cooperation (subgroup in blue range) can obtain both high level of reward and small amount of timeout as in the cooperative group. The average strategies of both group can be represented by Markov model diagram. We built one Markov model for the group of cooperative animals (see Fig 1E) averaging occupancy state rate and transition probabilities in the group. In the iPD there are four possible occupancy states where experimental and opponent individual behaviors can be as follows: R (both cooperate or mutual cooperation), P (both do not cooperate or mutual defection), T (experimental subject does not cooperate when the opponent cooperates), and S (experimental cooperates when the opponent does not cooperate). The cooperative group showed that the permanency in R state was high and, whenever the animal defects (states T and P), it returns to cooperate immediately. Indeed all conditional probabilities to cooperate given a previous outcome were near 1. Besides, the rate of R state was the highest and other states near zero. The probability of R state was significantly different to other states (p = < 1e−8, ANOVA two-way test, n = 8). On the contrary, in the group of non-cooperative animals, any states were significantly different to the other p > 0.05, F = 0.353, ANOVA two-way test, n = 4) and the probability to cooperate given a previous states did not evidence preference for any defined strategy (see Table 1 conditional probability to cooperate). For the group of non-cooperative animals Markov model (see S1 Fig, supplementary materials).

To discard the fact that animals had a preference for one of the levers and, in consequence, their behavior biased independently of the training paradigm, we selected the best four cooperators and applied a reversal procedure immediately after cooperation was reached. All animals learned to cooperate after reversal (cooperation rate, 0.87 ± 0.04, mean ± sem), (see Fig 1F).

We then asked how the ratio in the amount of positive reinforcement of R and T states affects cooperation learning and maintenance. We defined a contrast index CI that measures the relationship between the amount of reward in R and T as follows:Thus, in the experiment shown in Fig 1, the CI was  which is the maximum contrast level constrained to a payoff matrix that favors cooperation, that is, 2PR > PT + PS, assuming that S becomes a negative stimulus induced by timeout. We trained six animals with a payoff matrix (PR = 1, PT = 3, PP = 4, PS = 8) and found that three animals learned to cooperate (0.88 ± 0.01, mean ± sem, see Fig 2A), while others did not (0.64 ± 0.13, mean ± sem, see Fig 2B. The last group was non cooperator, since both their conditional probabilities to cooperate and occupancy R state ratios were near chance. For details see Table 1. Then we changed the amount of reward in order to increase/decrease CI in the cooperative/non-cooperative groups. As it can be seen, a high value of , related to a pay-off matrix (PR = 1, PT = 5, PP = 4, PS = 8), disrupts cooperation in cooperative group, Fig 2A. The cooperation was 0.604 ± 0.102, mean ± sem whereas before 0.88 ± 0.01). When a lower value of  was applied for non cooperator group and the matrix (PR = 2, PT = 3, PP = 4, PS = 8) empowers the cooperation in two out of three animals, cooperation rate 0.711 ± 0.04, mean ± sem, whereas before 0.64 ± 0.13 (see Table 1).

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Fig 2. Effect of changes in the amount of positive reinforcement of R and T.
(A) The rats were pre-trained by pay-off matrix [PR = 1, PT = 3, PP = 4, PS = 8 and contrast ] (filled dots) and the cooperation was strongly affected by change of temptation payoff, decreasing when T payoff increased and matrix with changed to [R = 1, T = 5, P = 4, S = 8 and contrast ] (open circles). There was a significant difference (red circle) in two animals with p < 9.8e−06 (wilcoxon rank-sum test) and the other did not modify her behavior in spite of matrix change. (B) The cooperation enhanced when the matrix changed to [R = 2, T = 3, P = 4, S = 8 and ] (open circles) and the difference was statistically different (p < 0.0062) in two of three subjects, because one had no significant difference after matrix change, p > 0.05(cooperation: 0.7063). (C) The 3D plots related cooperation, reward and timeout. In the group of cooperative animals (filled dots), the change in T (3 pellets to 5 pellets) increased both timeout and reward in order to decrease cooperation (open circles). The comparison between cooperation mean of both groups was significantly different, p < 0.05. (D) In the group of non-cooperative animals (filled dots), they learned to cooperate (open circles) by receiving more reward without significant changes in total timeout. The cooperation was significantly different, p > 0.05. (E,F) The mean of occupancy state rate graph (last five sessions) from cooperative (left) and non-cooperative (right) groups (Mean ± sem). Asterisks denote significant difference, after matrix changed, among T, R, P or S state occupancy and dash line indicates the level of equal rate in each state (that corresponds to a strategy with strongly random component). Before changes (filled dots) and after changes (open circles).

We analyzed how these changes in strategies impact on the amount of received reward and timeout penalties. In the group of cooperative animals, the change in T (3 pellets to 5 pellets) increased both timeout and only a bit reward, as expected when states T, P and S become more probable. The occupancy states ratio before and after matrix change had significant differences among all states, p < 0.05 (wilcoxon ranksum test), (see Fig 2C and 2E). It is worth noting however that the amount of received reward is not the maximum allowed, which would be delivered in the case of an animal that alternates from state T to S indefinitely. On the other hand, when we applied a matrix with a lower contrast  to the group of non-cooperative animals, they enhance significantly their cooperation level, receiving more reward without significant changes in total timeout, (see Fig 2D). In Fig 2F, we show the state occupancy probabilities for this group before and after the change in the payoff matrix. It can be seen that the occupancy state ratio of R had significantly increased after the change in the payoff matrix. It can be observed a significant difference in R and P states, (pR < 0.008 and pP < 0.048, wilcoxon rank-sum test). We showed that when the contrast index increased using a matrix to favor cooperation the animals learned to cooperate, but when the index increased and the matrix favor defection the animals stopped cooperating.

From the results shown in Figs 1 and 2, it is reasonable to ask whether a fine tuning in contrasted reward encourages cooperative behavior. We have shown that eight out of twelve animalas (66%) acquired a cooperative behavior when CI was , while three out of six (50%) succeeded when CI was , as expected when temptation payoff increases. In the same line of reasoning, animals that learned cooperation under  disrupted their cooperative behavior when CI was increased to , while those that had not learned acquired a cooperative behavior when CI was decreased to Fig 3A exemplifies the occupancy and transition probabilities for an animal that disrupted its cooperative behavior when  was changed to . The opposite can be seen in the example of Fig 3B. A non-cooperative animal under a became cooperative when CI was decreased to Fig 3C and 3D show cooperation levels and normalized rewards. A normalized reward was calculated as quotient between the total reward obtained in a session, and the maximum reward achieved using the best strategy. If the opponent subject plays a Tit for tat strategy, the best strategy will depend on the pay-off matrix values. In this way, if the matrix favors cooperation, ALLC will be the best one. In contrast, when the payoff matrix favors no cooperation, alternate between C and D will be the best strategy. It can be seen that both variables follow an inverted U profile as a function of contrast index CI, as expected when a delicate balance between rewards at R and T is mandatory.

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Fig 3. Markov chain diagrams and contrast index.
Markov chain diagrams are shown (the size of circle means of occupancy state rate and the arrow’s width are proportional to the probability of cooperate given (A) occupancy state and transition probabilities for an animal that disrupted its cooperative behavior when contrast index  was changed to  and pay-off matrix was changed [PTPRPPPS] = [3p, 1p, 4s, 8s] to [5p, 1p, 4s, 8s] (p = pellet and s = seconds). The thickness of blue arrows (conditional probabilities of cooperation) become thinner after change (for values see Table 1). (B) The opposite situation can be seen, non-cooperative animal becomes more cooperative when  was decreased to in a matrix that favors cooperation. The blue arrows become thicker after change (for values see Table 1). (CD) shows cooperation and timeout levels as a function of CI. Here, it can be seen that both variables follow an inverted U profile in correlation with the contrast index increase and if the payoff matrix favors or not the cooperation behavior.

Discussion and conclusion


In this work, we study the contrasted role between reinforcements in the learning of reciprocal altruism learning in rats. Traditionally, reciprocal altruism is achieved by playing the iterated prisoner’s dilemma game (iPD) when an experimental subject is confronted to a reciprocal opponent. The payoff matrix used has positive and negative reinforcements with high contrasted between positive and negative pairs and also uses discriminating amount of reinforcements [2526]. In our experiment, pellets were used as positive reinforcements, and timeout as negative reinforcement. In this way, the positive and negative reinforcements acted as strengtheners of mutual cooperation behavior likelihood [28]. Our results show for the first time high levels of cooperation (86,11%) and mutual cooperation (76,32%) in iPD, (see Fig 1B). Previous published works have taught reciprocity using iPD game, showing that animals prefer short-term benefits or only improve a poor level of cooperation [49202930]. In other works, authors employed a special treatment to enhance cooperation preference [10233132]. A possible explanation is that using standard matrices (for example: PT = 6, PR = 4, PP = 1, PS = 0), animals were not able to discriminate between the amount of reinforcement obtained in the long-term in comparison to short-term [24]. For example, if a rat played four sessions [C C C C] he would get 16 pellets, and if played [C D D D] he would get 12 pellets. In our experiment, rats using the same choices earn 4 pellets and no timeout in the first case, and 3 pellets plus a 16 seconds timeout in the second case.

A dynamic system can be represented with Markov diagrams and its associated state transition vector. In this case, each state (T, R, P, S, see Results section) will have two associated conditional probabilities: to cooperate or not to cooperate given state. In an IPD game with an opponent using a Tit for tat strategy, a rational player should maximize the positive reinforcement and cancel the negative reinforcement. In this way, while the opponent performed a reciprocal behavior, the player follows an ALLC strategy with conditional cooperation probability near 1, independent of previous states (T, R, P o S). In a pay-off matrix with addable value (as for an example (PT = 6, PR = 4, PP = 1, PS = 0), it is possible to calculate the cooperative strategy through mathematical analysis [3334], but in our experiment positive and negative reinforcers have different units (pellets and time respectively). Due to this reason, we did a single analysis using the Markov chain diagram. In the first experiment, we found that animals adopted two well defined strategies. On one hand, a group of 8 animals proved to have learned a cooperative strategy while other 4 animals responded at random (see S1B Fig, Supporting information). The strategy of the first group, (see Fig 1E), show that conditional probabilities to cooperation given previous state T, R, P or S were near 1 (0.760, 0.845, 0.929 and 0.870, respectively) and in this fashion after defected they immediately return to the mutual cooperation state, R. In various works, results were presented with Markov diagrams and its associated transition vector [10112332] and showed that conditional probabilities of cooperation were not high when facing a reciprocal opponent. In this protocol, with the matrix (PT = 2, PR = 1, PP = 4sPS = 8s), there are two theoretical strategies that maximize appetite reinforcement: one is ALLC strategy and the other an alternating between cooperation (C) and defection (D) strategy. The latter, also maximizes positive reinforcement when alternating between cooperation and defection options, but it also increases negative reinforcement (timeout). In this case, ALLC strategy is the only one that maximizes positive reinforcement and minimizes the negative one (Pareto Optimum). Since negative reinforcement is timeout, ALLC strategy gives more food per unit of time. In this case, the role of the negative reinforcement appears.

In order to evaluate if animals developed ALLC strategy by place preference (after animals learned iPD) or by reward maximization, they were trained on reversal, (see Fig 1F), and we observed that animals relearn reciprocal altruism when they are exposed to a new lever’s contingency.

Finally, after animals adopted a strategy, we evaluated if a change in the payoff matrix could modify their behavior. Therefore, we studied the effect of modifying positive reinforcements (see Fig 2A and 2B). Animals were pre-trained with a payoff matrix where alternating between C and D strategy gives more positive reinforcements than with an ALLC strategy, keeping the same negative reinforcement as in the first experiment. We observed that only half of the animals learned to cooperate although all of them obtained the same mean amount reward (pellet) (see Fig 2C and 2D). The cooperative group was trained with a matrix where the pay-off T was increased (Fig 2A), then we observed that cooperative behavior decreased. Animals reduced frequency of R state and increased frequency of P state, proving that they preferred a small-immediate option instead of a large-delayed option. This behavior is similar to the one observed in birds ([30]). In the second group, we applied a matrix that keeps the proportions of reinforcements in T and R similar to the most common matrix (PT = 3pPR = 2p equal proportion to PT = 6pPR = 4). It was observed that animals modified their behavior and became more cooperative (Fig 2B). These results show that rats that learned to cooperate with an appropriate matrix stop cooperating when a temptation payoff (T) is sufficiently increased (matrix with high contrast index). However, if non-cooperative animals are trained with a matrix that favors cooperation (matrix with low contrast index), they become cooperators. In the latter case, the achieved cooperation level was comparable to results shared in diverse bibliography. We observe that if an iPD matrix uses large positive reward, it improves less cooperation than one with small rewards, shown that satisfying the relationship among iPD reinforcement was not enough to achieve high mutual cooperation behavior. The reciprocal altruist behavior in humans, monkeys and elephants has been studied in laboratories showing high levels of cooperation [13153537], however in rats and birds those levels of cooperation were much lower. Our results show that by using positive and negative reinforcements and an appropriate contrast between rewards, rats have cognitive capacity to learn reciprocal altruism. This finding allows to deduce learning of reciprocal altruism appeared early in evolution.

Supporting information in the original article





Acknowledgments


Supported by PICT 2012-1519 and PICT-2016-2145. We wish to thank Lic. Melanie Marino.

References in the original article


Wednesday, January 2, 2019

There is a mostly negative correlation between patient income & medical spending within almost all all countries; medical spending in all countries is concentrated in a small share of the population

Medical Spending around the Developed World. Eric French, Elaine Kelly. Fiscal Studies, vol. 37, no. 3–4, pp. 327–344 (2016) 0143-5671, https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8751

Abstract: We bring together estimates of patterns of medical spending in all nine countries considered in this issue – Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the United States. Comparing estimates across countries reveals three principal findings. First, medical spending in the calendar year of death accounts for 5–10 per cent of aggregate medical spending for the whole population and 9–20 per cent for those aged 65 and over. Spending in Taiwan is a little higher, at 16 per cent for the whole population and 29 per cent for the over-65s. Second, there is a mostly negative correlation between patient income and medical spending within all countries, except Japan and Taiwan for the over-65s and Taiwan and the US for the under-25s. Third, medical spending in all countries is concentrated in a small share of the population and is persistent over time, although the degree of concentration and persistence varies across countries.

Learning and memory are thought to be supported by experience-dependent neuronal plasticity; found mechanism of postsynaptic localization of AMPA-type glutamate receptors & their regulation

Mechanisms of postsynaptic localization of AMPA-type glutamate receptors and their regulation during long-term potentiation. Olivia R. Buonarati et al. Sci. Signal.  Jan 01 2019:Vol. 12, Issue 562, eaar6889. http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/12/562/eaar6889

Gloss: Learning and memory are thought to be supported by experience-dependent neuronal plasticity, which on a cellular level is expressed as long-term changes (such as potentiation or depression) of synaptic responses. Glutamate-gated ion channels known as AMPA receptors mediate basal neurotransmission. Their postsynaptic functional availability can be selectively modulated in correlation with a given stimulus. This review discusses the molecular basis of AMPA receptor trafficking to and anchoring at excitatory postsynaptic sites and their regulation by protein kinases.

Abstract: l-Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, with postsynaptic responses to its release predominantly mediated by AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs). A critical component of synaptic plasticity involves changes in the number of responding postsynaptic receptors, which are dynamically recruited to and anchored at postsynaptic sites. Emerging findings continue to shed new light on molecular mechanisms that mediate AMPAR postsynaptic trafficking and localization. Accordingly, unconventional secretory trafficking of AMPARs occurs in dendrites, from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through the ER-Golgi intermediary compartment directly to recycling endosomes, independent of the Golgi apparatus. Upon exocytosis, AMPARs diffuse in the plasma membrane to reach the postsynaptic site, where they are trapped to contribute to transmission. This trapping occurs through a combination of both intracellular interactions, such as TARP (transmembrane AMPAR regulatory protein) binding to α-actinin–stabilized PSD-95, and extracellular interactions through the receptor amino-terminal domain. These anchoring mechanisms may facilitate precise receptor positioning with respect to glutamate release sites to enable efficient synaptic transmission.

Spread of Deposit Insurance Since the 1970s : Greater deposit insurance generosity produces greater lending & a greater proportion of mortgage loans, which are not offset by declines in banking system leverage

Calomiris, Charles W. and Chen, Sophia, The Spread of Deposit Insurance and the Global Rise in Bank Asset Risk Since the 1970s (December 6, 2018). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3297294

Abstract: We construct a new measure of deposit insurance generosity for many countries, empirically model the exogenous international influences on the adoption and generosity of deposit insurance and show the causal chain from the expansion of deposit insurance generosity to increased overall lending and mortgage loans, and more severe and frequent banking crises. Greater deposit insurance generosity produces greater lending and a greater proportion of mortgage loans, which are not offset by declines in banking system leverage. Increased overall lending and mortgage loans also produce a positive association between deposit insurance and the likelihood and severity of banking crises.

Keywords: deposit insurance, mortgage lending, banking crises, moral hazard
JEL Classification: G01, G18, G21, G28, F55, F65, E32

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Same authors' summary in Cato Institute: https://www.cato.org/publications/research-briefs-economic-policy/spread-deposit-insurance-global-rise-bank-asset-risk

For the past three decades, a vast amount of literature has developed on the adoption and expansion of deposit insurance and its role in increasing the systemic insolvency risk of banking systems. This literature has shown that the installation of deposit insurance or an expansion of its generosity tends to be associated with higher asset risk, higher leverage, and a greater probability of a banking crisis, suggesting that the rise of deposit insurance may be one of the contributors to the pandemic of unprecedentedly frequent and severe banking crises around the world.

Lifestyle and neurocognition in older adults with cognitive impairments: Aerobic exercise promotes improved executive functioning in adults at risk for cognitive decline

Lifestyle and neurocognition in older adults with cognitive impairments: A randomized trial. James A. Blumenthal, Patrick J. Smith, Stephanie Mabe, Alan Hinderliter, Pao-Hwa Lin, Lawrence Liao, Kathleen A. Welsh-Bohmer, Jeffrey N. Browndyke, William E. Kraus, P. Murali Doraiswamy, James R. Burke, Andrew Sherwood. Neurology, https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000006784

Abstract
Objective To determine the independent and additive effects of aerobic exercise (AE) and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on executive functioning in adults with cognitive impairments with no dementia (CIND) and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods A 2-by-2 factorial (exercise/no exercise and DASH diet/no DASH diet) randomized clinical trial was conducted in 160 sedentary men and women (age >55 years) with CIND and CVD risk factors. Participants were randomly assigned to 6 months of AE, DASH diet nutritional counseling, a combination of both AE and DASH, or health education (HE). The primary endpoint was a prespecified composite measure of executive function; secondary outcomes included measures of language/verbal fluency, memory, and ratings on the modified Clinical Dementia Rating Scale.

Results Participants who engaged in AE (d = 0.32, p = 0.046) but not those who consumed the DASH diet (d = 0.30, p = 0.059) demonstrated significant improvements in the executive function domain. The largest improvements were observed for participants randomized to the combined AE and DASH diet group (d = 0.40, p = 0.012) compared to those receiving HE. Greater aerobic fitness (b = 2.3, p = 0.049), reduced CVD risk (b = 2.6, p = 0.042), and reduced sodium intake (b = 0.18, p = 0.024) were associated with improvements in executive function. There were no significant improvements in the memory or language/verbal fluency domains.

Conclusions These preliminary findings show that AE promotes improved executive functioning in adults at risk for cognitive decline.

Dishonest behavior depends on both situational factors, such as reward magnitude and externalities, and personal factors, such as the participant’s gender and age

Gerlach, P., Teodorescu, K., & Hertwig, R. (2019). The truth about lies: A meta-analysis on dishonest behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 145(1), 1-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000174

Abstract: Over the past decade, a large and growing body of experimental research has analyzed dishonest behavior. Yet the findings as to when people engage in (dis)honest behavior are to some extent unclear and even contradictory. A systematic analysis of the factors associated with dishonest behavior thus seems desirable. This meta-analysis reviews four of the most widely used experimental paradigms: sender–receiver games, die-roll tasks, coin-flip tasks, and matrix tasks. We integrate data from 565 experiments (totaling N = 44,050 choices) to address many of the ongoing debates on who behaves dishonestly and under what circumstances. Our findings show that dishonest behavior depends on both situational factors, such as reward magnitude and externalities, and personal factors, such as the participant’s gender and age. Further, laboratory studies are associated with more dishonesty than field studies, and the use of deception in experiments is associated with less dishonesty. To some extent, the different experimental paradigms come to different conclusions. For example, a comparable percentage of people lie in die-roll and matrix tasks, but in die-roll tasks liars lie to a considerably greater degree. We also find substantial evidence for publication bias in almost all measures of dishonest behavior. Future research on dishonesty would benefit from more representative participant pools and from clarifying why the different experimental paradigms yield different conclusions.

Barplots with a restricted y-axis led to a gross underestimation of similarities (i.e., a gross overestimation of the differences); the presentation of similarities achieves more balanced scientific communication

Hanel, P. H. P., Maio, G. R., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2018). A new way to look at the data: Similarities between groups of people are large and important. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000154

Abstract: Most published research focuses on describing differences, while neglecting similarities that are arguably at least as interesting and important. In Study 1, we modified and extended prior procedures for describing similarities and demonstrate the importance of this exercise by examining similarities between groups on 22 social variables (e.g., moral attitudes, human values, and trust) within 6 commonly used social categories: gender, age, education, income, nation of residence, and religious denomination (N = 86,272). On average, the amount of similarity between 2 groups (e.g., high vs. low educated or different countries) was greater than 90%. Even large effect sizes revealed more similarities than differences between groups. Studies 2–5 demonstrated the importance of presenting information about similarity in research reports. Compared with the typical presentation of differences (e.g., barplots with confidence intervals), similarity information led to more accurate lay perceptions and to more positive attitudes toward an outgroup. Barplots with a restricted y-axis led to a gross underestimation of similarities (i.e., a gross overestimation of the differences), and information about similarities was rated as more comprehensible. Overall, the presentation of similarity information achieves more balanced scientific communication and may help address the file drawer problem.

The increase in attractiveness is not because an individual looks more friendly or likable in a group; same happens even if the group is only made of of identical photographs of that person

Carragher, Daniel. Cheerleaders make fools of our first impressions [online]. Australasian Science, Vol. 39, No. 4, Jul/Aug 2018: 26-27. Availability: https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=056612671498998;res=IELAPA

Abstract: The "cheerleader effect" - the observation thatpeople appear more attractive when they are in a group - reveals some quirks about how the brain processes complicated visual information.

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[the increase in attractiveness is not because an individual looks more friendly or likable in a group ... the same effect occurs even if the group is only made of of identical photographs of the same person]

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Found the first experimental evidence that disgust is causally rooted in physiological nausea; this same physiological experience was causally related to moral thinking

Tracy, J. L., Steckler, C. M., & Heltzel, G. (2019). The physiological basis of psychological disgust and moral judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(1), 15-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000141

Abstract: To address ongoing debates about whether feelings of disgust are causally related to moral judgments, we pharmacologically inhibited spontaneous disgust responses to moral infractions and examined effects on moral thinking. Findings demonstrated, first, that the antiemetic ginger (Zingiber officinale), known to inhibit nausea, reduces feelings of disgust toward nonmoral purity-offending stimuli (e.g., bodily fluids), providing the first experimental evidence that disgust is causally rooted in physiological nausea (Study 1). Second, this same physiological experience was causally related to moral thinking: ginger reduced the severity of judgments toward purity-based moral violations (Studies 2 and 4) or eliminated the tendency for people higher in bodily sensation awareness to make harsher moral judgments than those low in this dispositional tendency (Study 3). In all studies, effects were restricted to moderately severe purity-offending stimuli, consistent with preregistered predictions. Together, findings provide the first evidence that psychological disgust can be disrupted by an antiemetic and that doing so has consequences for moral judgments.

Sex, Drugs, Alcohol & Subjective Well‐Being: Smoking & alcohol decrease subjective well‐being by 2.5% & 2.4%; by contrast, having sex with multiple partners is slightly positive (for men, not for women)

Sex, Drugs, Alcohol and Subjective Well‐Being: Selection or Causation? Dimitrios Nikolaou. Kyklos, https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12196

This paper estimates the effects of risky behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol, marijuana, risky sex) on subjective well‐being. To identify these effects from endogenous sorting, I use information from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and a system of simultaneous equations for participation in four risky activities and formation of individual happiness. My results provide evidence that smoking and alcohol decrease subjective well‐being by 2.5% and 2.4%, respectively. By contrast, the relationship between having sex with multiple partners, although positive, is not statistically significant at conventional levels. Nevertheless, these effects dwindle over time until participation in any of these behaviors does not have a long‐run impact on well‐being, with the exception of smoking and alcohol consumption, which have a persistent negative impact on subjective well‐being. The results highlight the importance of controlling for endogeneity of risky behaviors and provide an explanation as to why most individuals who engage in such behaviors do not develop longer‐lasting addictions.

Lying in Bed: An Analysis of Deceptive Affectionate Messages During Sexual Activity in Young Adults’ Romantic Relationships

Lying in Bed: An Analysis of Deceptive Affectionate Messages During Sexual Activity in Young Adults’ Romantic Relationships. Margaret Bennett & Amanda Denes. Communication Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2018.1557722

Abstract: Guided by affection exchange theory, the present study examined the associations among deceptive affectionate messages (DAMs) during sexual activity and duration of post-sex affectionate behavior, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction. Two-hundred twenty-eight participants ages 18–30, the majority of whom identified as White, completed a survey assessing deceptive and sexual communication. Linear regression and serial mediation using sexual satisfaction and post-sex affectionate behavior as sequential mediators revealed that more DAMs are associated with less sexual satisfaction, less post-sex communication, and less relationship satisfaction. The findings provide a more complete picture of how DAMs affect sexual encounters and may be used to inform interventions aimed at promoting healthier sexual relationships. Additionally, the implications for affection exchange theory are discussed.

Keywords: deceptive affectionate messages, affection exchange theory, sexual communication, sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction

Some restrictive dietary patterns (paleo, vegan) are linked to more positive psychological health; seems that psychological risk factors seen in weight loss dieters are not due to the restrictive dietary regimen

The psychological characteristics of people consuming vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten free and weight loss dietary patterns. R. Norwood, T. Cruwys, V. S. Chachay, J. Sheffield. Obesity Science & Practice, https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.325

Summary
Objective: Previous research has identified several psychological factors associated with dietary restriction, but has focused almost exclusively on the subcategory of people following a weight loss diet. Little is known about the psychological factors associated with other kinds of restrictive dieting patterns. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the identified psychological characteristics of dieters (e.g., elevated disordered eating behaviors, poor wellbeing) are a cause of dieting, follow from calorie restriction, or are the result of cognitive restraint.

Methods: This study conducted the first direct comparison of people (N = 393) following five different restrictive dietary patterns (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, paleo, weight loss) as well as a comparison group who were not following a specific dietary pattern.

Results: The weight loss group had more negative psychological characteristics than all other groups, reporting the highest levels of eating disorder symptoms (M = 1.50), food cravings (M = 69.39), emotional eating (M = 2.97), and negative affect (M = 19.72). By contrast, several of the other restrictive dietary groups showed a number of psychological strengths, relative to the comparison group. This was particularly apparent among the paleo group, who reported the lowest levels of eating disorder symptoms (M = 0.74), food cravings (M = 47.63), emotional eating (M = 2.30), and negative affect (M = 14.81). By contrast, people following vegetarian and gluten free diets were largely the same as the non‐restricted comparison group in their psychological characteristics.

Conclusions: People adhering to different dietary patterns showed stark differences in their psychological characteristics. Indeed, some restrictive dietary patterns (paleo; vegan) were associated with more positive psychological characteristics than seen in an unrestricted comparison group. This suggests that the psychological risk factors seen in weight loss dieters are not attributable to a restrictive dietary regimen per se.

Monday, December 31, 2018

Uncompetitive contests for grades, promotions, & job assignments (lax standards, considering only limited talent pools), are called unmeritocratic; but when contestants are strategic, selection can be meritocratic

Fang, Dawei and Noe, Thomas H., Less Competition, More Meritocracy? (October 16, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3282723

Abstract: Uncompetitive contests for grades, promotions, and job assignments, which feature lax standards or consider only limited talent pools, are often criticized for being unmeritocratic. We show that, when contestants are strategic, lax standards and exclusivity can make selection more meritocratic. Strategic contestants take more risks in more competitive contests. Risk taking reduces the correlation between selection and ability. By reducing the noise engendered by strategic risk taking, dialing down competition can produce outcomes that better conform with the meritocratic ideal of selecting the best and only the best.

Keywords: selection contests, meritocracy, risk taking
JEL Classification: C72, D82, J01

Federal Presidents Attacking The Press Thru Illegal Moves or Even Promoting & Using Unconstitutional Laws

7 Presidents Who Were Tougher Than Trump on the Media. Fred Lucas. The Daily Signal, Dec 27 2018. https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/12/27/7-presidents-who-were-tougher-than-trump-on-the-media


[President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks during a press conference. Johnson and political allies tried to blunt media criticism. (Photo: Everett Collection/Newscom)]

The president was frustrated with the media coverage of him and his policies, swearing that 85 percent of all newspapers were against him.

“Our newspapers cannot be edited in the interests of the general public,” the president griped. Then, almost derisively, he said: “Freedom of the press. How many bogies are conjured up by invoking that greatly overworked phrase?”

So, he opted to bypass the traditional media he was convinced was unfair and speak directly to America.

And President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats on the radio, beginning in 1933, proved to be a successful political move.

The verdict is still out on President Donald Trump’s tweets, though.

Trump regularly tweets about “fake news.” He has doubled down on the view that overly critical news outlets are the “enemy of the American people.”

He talked about more stringent libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations, threatened the broadcast license of certain networks, and the Trump White House pulled the press pass for CNN personality Jim Acosta after a confrontation at a press conference.

But so far he hasn’t taken government action, as Roosevelt and other past presidents have.

A Trump-appointed federal judge sided with CNN on the Acosta press pass. Congress is unlikely to enact new libel laws, as Supreme Court precedent sets a high standard for a public figure to sue a news outlet.

The Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority to pull a license of a network (which aren’t licensed), having purview only over individual stations that operate on the public airwaves (which are licensed). Cable news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel also are not licensed and not subject to FCC regulation.

Past presidents have taken tangible actions to undermine a free press. Trump has so far taken only a more negative rhetorical tone toward the press, said David Beito, a history professor at the University of Alabama.

“Would he like to do something? He probably would, but a change of tone has been the biggest difference,” Beito told The Daily Signal, characterizing Trump’s rhetorical attacks on the press as more aggressive than most of his predecessors.

Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were among the biggest presidential offenders during the 20th century, he added.

“Wilson was extremely hostile to any sort of criticism, but it was couched in terms of wartime and the red scare,” Beito said. “Everyone knew Wilson was doing this. FDR was very subtle. Roosevelt was effective working through third parties. It was hard tying him to anything.”

Here are seven examples of presidential administrations that went well beyond rhetoric in going after the press.


1. ‘Thank’ Obama

The Obama administration’s Justice Department launched more leak investigations under the World War I-era Espionage Act than any other administration in history, according to then-New York Times reporter James Risen, writing in a December 2016 op-ed.

The Obama administration targeted Risen with a subpoena to force him to reveal his sources.

In a separate case, the Obama Justice Department named then-Fox News Channel reporter James Rosen as an unindicted co-conspirator. The Justice Department also seized the phone records of Rosen’s parents.

The Obama administration also seized the phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, seizing records for 20 separate phone lines, including cellular and home lines.

Risen, now with The Intercept, wrote in his op-ed in The New York Times:

    If Donald J. Trump decides as president to throw a whistle-blower in jail for trying to talk to a reporter, or gets the FBI to spy on a journalist, he will have one man to thank for bequeathing him such expansive power: Barack Obama. …

    Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department and the FBI have spied on reporters by monitoring their phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to other reporters to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify in criminal cases.

“With Obama, the press often gave him cover,” Beito told The Daily Signal. “Obama often did do things against reporters that were concerning.”

If the Trump administration imposes regulations on social media and internet giants, he added, it could set a precedent for future Democratic presidents who want to regulate more sectors.

A 2013 report from the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists compared Obama to former President Richard Nixon for his aggressive probes of leaks to reporters.


2. LBJ on ‘Challenge and Harass’

Talk radio was not a conservative phenomenon in the 1960s, as it became in the 1990s. But President Lyndon B. Johnson—and the Democratic National Committee—took action to suppress the format during his 1964 presidential race.

The Fairness Doctrine, an FCC rule, required broadcasters to air both sides of a controversial issue.

A former CBS News president, Fred Friendly, broke the story in his 1977 book, “The Good Guys, the Bad Guys and the First Amendment,” of how the Democratic National Committee used the rule to target unfriendly broadcasts.

Friendly wrote that “there is little doubt that this contrived scheme had White House approval.”

The DNC delivered a kit to activists explaining “how to demand time under the Fairness Doctrine.” It also mailed out thousands of copies of an article against conservative talk radio published in The Nation, a liberal magazine.

The Democrats also sent thousands of radio stations a letter from DNC counsel Dan Brightman warning that if Democrats are attacked on their programs, they would demand equal time.

Democrat operative Wayne Phillips was quoted in the Friendly book as saying, “the effectiveness of this operation was in inhibiting the political activity of these right-wing broadcasts.”

Bill Ruder, an assistant secretary of the Commerce Department in the Johnson administration, recalled: “Our massive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope that the challenge would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue.”


3. Nixon and the Fairness Doctrine

Johnson’s successor as president, Richard Nixon, would use similar tactics, particularly in the heat of the Watergate investigation.

The Nixon administration’s FCC threatened the licenses of TV stations owned by The Washington Post Co. and CBS Inc. over aggressive coverage of the Watergate scandal that eventually led Nixon to resign.

Nixon’s White House chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, targeted individual stations with Fairness Doctrine complaints, according to the Poynter Institute, a journalism research group.

Nixon also kept an “enemies list” that largely included journalists.

The Reagan administration’s FCC did away with the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and Reagan vetoed subsequent legislation to put the policy in law. This led to the flourishing of conservative talk radio.


4. FDR and ‘Overworked Phrase’

The Roosevelt administration frequently targeted major newspapers, publishers, and journalists for tax audits. The common factor was that these publications or individuals opposed FDR’s New Deal programs, Beito said.

The chief targets included Col. Robert McCormick, owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and press barons Frank Gannett and William Randolph Hearst.

Beito wrote about Roosevelt’s tactics in a piece for Reason, a libertarian magazine.

Roosevelt, during his re-election campaign in 1936, complained that 85 percent of newspapers were against him and the New Deal. In 1938, the president vented:

    Our newspapers cannot be edited in the interests of the general public, from the counting room. And I wish we could have a national symposium on that question, particularly in relation to the freedom of the press. How many bogies are conjured up by invoking that greatly overworked phrase?

Sen. Hugo Black, D-Ala., a staunch FDR ally whom the president later would name to the Supreme Court, was chairman of the Special Senate Committee on Lobbying.

The lobbying committee began investigating utility companies, banks, and businesses that opposed the New Deal. Its work eventually turned into a fishing expedition, issuing subpoenas to critics such as Hearst and unfriendly media outlets, Beito wrote in the Reason article.

A court decision in Hearst’s favor short-circuited the Black committee’s investigation into the telegrams of major businesses that opposed the New Deal, he wrote.


5. Woodrow Wilson’s Committee on Public Information

Not long after the country entered World War I, Wilson wrote the Democratic-controlled House, asking for “authority to exercise censorship over the press to the extent that that censorship is embodied in the recent action of the House of Representatives is absolutely necessary to the public safety.”

Congress turned down Wilson, so the president issued an executive order creating a Committee on Public Information.

The agency employed 75,000 in its speaking division alone, and had separate divisions overseeing foreign language newspapers and films, according to Smithsonian magazine.

This was part of Wilson’s larger effort to control news coverage, Christopher B. Daly wrote last year in the Smithsonian magazine article:

    In its crusade to ‘make the world safe for democracy,’ the Wilson administration took immediate steps at home to curtail one of the pillars of democracy—press freedom—by implementing a plan to control, manipulate and censor all news coverage, on a scale never seen in U.S. history. … He waged a campaign of intimidation and outright suppression against those ethnic and socialist papers that continued to oppose the war. Taken together, these wartime measures added up to an unprecedented assault on press freedom.

The federal propaganda agency also established a government-run national newspaper called the Official Bulletin, Daly wrote: “In some respects, it is the closest the United States has come to a paper like the Soviet Union’s Pravda or China’s People’s Daily.”


6. Lincoln and the Civil War

The Civil War was an unparalleled test of the nation and civil liberties. Press freedom not surprisingly took a hit.

President Abraham Lincoln didn’t order the military to shut down pro-Confederate and anti-war newspapers, but turned a blind eye when the Union army did so, according to the magazine Civil War Times.

In the midst of war, pro-Union newspaper publishers generally didn’t speak up for their fellow newspapermen, who were sometimes jailed.

Chiefly, the Union army targeted newspapers in Kentucky, a border state with split loyalties; Virginia, a Confederate state; and Maryland and Missouri, both Union states.

According to the article in the Civil War Times:

    At their most unobjectionable level, the safeguards were initially meant to keep secret military information off the telegraph wires and out of the press. But in other early cases censors also prevented the publication of pro-secession sentiments that might encourage border states out of the Union. …

    Eventually the military and the government began punishing editorial opposition to the war itself. Authorities banned pro-peace newspapers from the U.S. mails, shut down newspaper offices and confiscated printing materials. They intimidated, and sometimes imprisoned, reporters, editors and publishers who sympathized with the South or objected to an armed struggle to restore the Union.

    For the first year of the war, Lincoln left no trail of documents attesting to any personal conviction that dissenting newspapers ought to be muzzled. But neither did he say anything to control or contradict such efforts when they were undertaken, however haphazardly, by his Cabinet officers or military commanders.


7. Adams and the Sedition Act

President John Adams signed the Sedition Act of 1798 to ban “false, scandalous and malicious writing” against Congress or the president and to make it illegal to conspire “to oppose any measure or measures of the government.”

This could be the oldest, most well-known clash between a president and the press.

Adams and the Federalist Congress were not tyrants, but rather passed the series of four laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts out of fear of a pending war with France that never occurred.

Rep. Matthew Lyon of Vermont, who wrote letters to Democratic-Republican newspapers, was the first person tried under the law.

Acting as his own lawyer, Lyon argued that the law wasn’t constitutional. He was convicted nonetheless, and sentenced to four months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

One publisher of a Democratic-Republican newspaper, James Callender, was convicted and jailed for nine months for “false, scandalous, and malicious writing, against the said President of the United States.”

The law expired in early 1801. President Thomas Jefferson, leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, pardoned everyone convicted under the law.


Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal and co-host of "The Right Side of History" podcast. Send an email to Fred.

Who Built Maslow’s Pyramid? A History of the Creation of Management Studies’ Most Famous Symbol

Who Built Maslow’s Pyramid? A History of the Creation of Management Studies’ Most Famous Symbol and Its Implications for Management Education. Todd Bridgman, Stephen Cummings and John A Ballard. Academy of Management Learning & Education, Apr 13 2018. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2017.0351

Abstract: Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation, the idea that human needs exist in a hierarchy that people strive progressively to satisfy, is regarded as a fundamental approach to understanding and motivating people at work. It is one of the first and most remembered models encountered by students of management. Despite gaining little support in empirical studies and being criticized for promoting an elitist, individualistic view of management, Maslow’s theory remains popular, its popularity underpinned by its widely-recognized pyramid form. However, Maslow never created a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of needs. We investigated how it came to be and draw on this analysis to call for a rethink of how Maslow is represented in management studies. We also challenge management educators to reflect critically on what are taken to be the historical foundations of management studies and the forms in which those foundations are taught to students.

Sunday, December 30, 2018

If it is easy to remember, then it is not secure: Metacognitive beliefs affect password selection

If it is easy to remember, then it is not secure: Metacognitive beliefs affect password selection. Karlos Luna. Applied Cognitive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3516

Summary: In this research we applied current theories of metacognition to study computer security and tested the idea that users’ password selection is affected by the metacognitive belief that if a password is memorable, then it is not secure. In two experiments, different types of eight‐character passwords and longer, more secure sentences were presented. Participants rated perceived memorability and perceived security of the passwords and indicated whether they would use them in a critical and in a non‐critical service. The results confirmed the belief. Sentences that are in fact highly secure and perceived as highly memorable were also perceived as weak passwords. The belief strongly affected password selection for critical services, but it had no effect on non‐critical services. In sum, long sentences are a particularly interesting type of password because they meet both security and memorability criteria, but their use is limited by a false belief.

We observe a natural memory decay pattern where beliefs become less accurate & confidence is reduced as well; & on average, subjects overpay for bets on propositions that they believe in, but underpay for the opposite bets

Subjective beliefs and confidence when facts are forgotten. Igor Kopylov, Joshua Miller. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11166-018-9295-1

Abstract: Forgetting can be a salient source of uncertainty for subjective beliefs, confidence, and ambiguity attitudes. To investigate this, we run several experiments where people bet on propositions (facts) that they cannot recall with certainty. We use betting preferences to infer subjects’ revealed beliefs and their revealed confidence in these beliefs. Forgetting is induced via interference tasks and time delays (up to one year). We observe a natural memory decay pattern where beliefs become less accurate and confidence is reduced as well. Moreover, we find a form of comparative ignorance where subjects are more ambiguity averse when they cannot recall the truth rather than never having learnt it. In a different vein, we identify an overconfidence pattern: on average, subjects overpay for bets on propositions that they believe in, but underpay for the opposite bets. We formulate a two-signal behavioral model of forgetting that generates all of these patterns. It suggests new testable hypotheses that are confirmed by our data.

The vaunted gatekeeper role of the creative industries is largely mythical; high costs of production have stifled creativity in industries that require ever-bigger blockbusters to cover the losses of expensive failure

Digital Renaissance: What Data and Economics Tell Us about the Future of Popular Culture. Joel Waldfogel. Princeton: Princeton Univ Press, 2018. https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Renaissance-Economics-Popular-Culture/dp/0691162824/

The digital revolution poses a mortal threat to the major creative industries—music, publishing, television, and the movies. The ease with which digital files can be copied and distributed has unleashed a wave of piracy with disastrous effects on revenue. Cheap, easy self-publishing is eroding the position of these gatekeepers and guardians of culture. Does this revolution herald the collapse of culture, as some commentators claim? Far from it. In Digital Renaissance, Joel Waldfogel argues that digital technology is enabling a new golden age of popular culture, a veritable digital renaissance.

By reducing the costs of production, distribution, and promotion, digital technology is democratizing access to the cultural marketplace. More books, songs, television shows, and movies are being produced than ever before. Nor does this mean a tidal wave of derivative, poorly produced kitsch; analyzing decades of production and sales data, as well as bestseller and best-of lists, Waldfogel finds that the new digital model is just as successful at producing high-quality, successful work as the old industry model, and in many cases more so. The vaunted gatekeeper role of the creative industries proves to have been largely mythical. The high costs of production have stifled creativity in industries that require ever-bigger blockbusters to cover the losses on ever-more-expensive failures.

Are we drowning in a tide of cultural silt, or living in a golden age for culture? The answers in Digital Renaissance may surprise you.

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Individuals who are in a romantic relationship, have ever had sexual intercourse & oral sex, & who have more frequent & variable sex have more positive body attitudes

A review of research linking body image and sexual well-being. Meghan M. Gillen, Charlotte H.Markey. Body Image, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.12.004

Highlights
•    We reviewed research on body image and sexual well-being.
•    The review focused on Dr. Thomas Cash’s contributions to this area.
•    Most research suggests a positive link between body image and sexual well-being.
•    We suggest research on new populations using new methods and on positive body image.

Abstract: The link between body image and sexual well-being is intuitive and increasingly supported by psychological research: individuals, particularly women, with greater body satisfaction and body appreciation tend to report more positive sexual experiences. Although both perceptions of one’s body and one’s sexual life are central to most adults’ experiences, this area of research has remained somewhat understudied. In this review, we discuss the findings that are available and suggest directions for future research and applied implications of this work. We highlight Thomas Cash’s contributions to this area of study, given his significant contributions to moving our understanding of body image and sexual well-being forward.

A decrease in population growth lowers firm entry rates; aging firms fully explains the concentration of employment in large firms, & trends in average firm size & exit rates, & the decline in labor’s share of GDP

From Population Growth to Firm Demographics: Implications for Concentration, Entrepreneurship and the Labor Share. Hugo Hopenhayn, Julian Neira, Rish Singhania. NBER Working Paper No. 25382, Dec 2018. https://www.nber.org/papers/w25382

Abstract: The US economy has undergone a number of puzzling changes in recent decades. Large firms now account for a greater share of economic activity, new firms are being created at a slower rate, and workers are getting paid a smaller share of GDP. This paper shows that changes in population growth provide a unified quantitative explanation for these long-term changes. The mechanism goes through firm entry rates. A decrease in population growth lowers firm entry rates, shifting the firm-age distribution towards older firms. Heterogeneity across firm age groups combined with an aging firm distribution replicates the observed trends. Micro data show that an aging firm distribution fully explains i) the concentration of employment in large firms, ii) and trends in average firm size and exit rates, key determinants of the firm entry rate. An aging firm distribution also explains the decline in labor’s share of GDP. In our model, older firms have lower labor shares because of lower overhead labor to employment ratios. Consistent with our mechanism, we find that the ratio of nonproduction workers to total employment has declined in the US.

Is the Link between Pornography Use and Relational Happiness Really More about Masturbation? Results from Two National Surveys

Is the Link between Pornography Use and Relational Happiness Really More about Masturbation? Results from Two National Surveys. Samuel Perry, The Journal of Sex Research, Dec 2018, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329403709

Abstract: Numerous studies have observed a persistent, and most often negative, association between pornography use and romantic relationship quality. While various theories have been suggested to explain this association, studies have yet to empirically examine whether the observed link between pornography consumption and relationship outcomes has more to do with solo-masturbation than actually watching pornography. The current study draws on two nationally-representative data sets with nearly identical measures to test whether taking masturbation practice into account reduces or nullifies the association between pornography use and relational happiness. Controls are included for sex frequency and satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and other relevant correlates. Results from both the 2012 New Family Structures Study (N=1,977) and 2014 Relationships in America survey (N=10,106) show that masturbation is negatively associated with relational happiness for men and women, while pornography use is either unassociated or becomes unassociated with relational happiness once masturbation is included. Indeed, evidence points to a slight positive association between pornography use and relational happiness once masturbation and gender differences are accounted for. Findings suggest that future studies on this topic should include measures of masturbation practice along with pornography use and that modifications to theories connecting pornography use to relationship outcomes should be considered.

A Meta-Analytic Review of the Association Between Disgust and Prejudice Toward Gay Men (but not gay women)

A Meta-Analytic Review of the Association Between Disgust and Prejudice Toward Gay Men. Mark J. Kiss, Melanie A. Morrison , & Todd G. Morrison. Journal of Homosexuality, https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2018.1553349

ABSTRACT: A sizeable number of studies have documented a relationship between heterosexual persons’ experience of disgust (measured as an individual difference variable or induced experimentally) and prejudice toward gay men (i.e., homonegativity). Yet, to date, no one has attempted to meta-analytically review this corpus of research. We address this gap by conducting a meta-analysis of published and unpublished work examining heterosexual men and women’s disgust and their homonegativity toward gay men. Fourteen articles (12 published, two unpublished) containing 17 studies were analyzed (N = 7,322). The average effect size for disgust sensitivity studies was moderate to large (d = 0.64), whereas for disgust induction studies, the effect was large (d = 0.77). No evidence of effect size heterogeneity emerged. Future directions and recommendations for methodological improvements are outlined.

KEYWORDS: Gay men, disgust, prejudice, homonegativity, emotions, meta-analysis

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The current meta-analysis reveals that disgust is associated with negative attitudes toward gay men. While a number of possible explanations for this association were elucidated, the question remains: Why do heterosexuals who experience or are sensitive to disgust evidence greater prejudice toward gay men but not lesbian women or other minoritized social groups? What is it about gay men—as a social category—that links them to the affective state of disgust? Relatedly, although disgust can be evoked using disparate methods, is there a specific type of disgust induction that is most salient vis-à-vis homonegative attitudes toward gay men? Morrison, Kiss, et al. (in press) noted:
Gay men may be regarded as disgusting because anal intercourse is widely (mis) perceived as a common practice among members of this social category. This behaviour, especially when engaged in receptively, constitutes a nexus of taboos: violation of hegemonic standards of masculinity; a disconcerting proximity to faeces and attendant concerns about germs/disease; and, given its nonprocreative and “base” nature, the capacity to erode the distinction between humans and animals and, hence, undermine our faith in speciesism.

Friday, December 28, 2018

In monkeys & apes the maximax heuristic (risk is ignored for potential gains, however low they may be) is observed while playing lotteries, as can happen in human managerial & financial decision-making

Broihanne, M.-H., Romain, A., Call, J., Thierry, B., Wascher, C. A. F., De Marco, A., . . . Dufour, V. (2018). Monkeys (Sapajus apella and Macaca tonkeana) and great apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo abelii, Pan paniscus, and Pan troglodytes) play for the highest bid. Journal of Comparative Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0000153

Abstract: Many studies investigate the decisions made by animals by focusing on their attitudes toward risk, that is, risk-seeking, risk neutrality, or risk aversion. However, little attention has been paid to the extent to which individuals understand the different odds of outcomes. In a previous gambling task involving 18 different lotteries (Pelé, Broihanne, Thierry, Call, & Dufour, 2014), nonhuman primates used probabilities of gains and losses to make their decision. Although the use of complex mathematical calculation for decision-making seemed unlikely, we applied a gradual decrease in the chances to win throughout the experiment. This probably facilitated the extraction of information about odds. Here, we investigated whether individuals would still make efficient decisions if this facilitating factor was removed. To do so, we randomized the order of presentation of the 18 lotteries. Individuals from 4 ape and 2 monkey species were tested. Only capuchin monkeys differed from others, gambling even when there was nothing to win. Randomizing the lottery presentation order leads all species to predominantly use a maximax heuristic. Individuals gamble as soon as there is at least one chance to win more than they already possess, whatever the risk. Most species also gambled more as the frequency of larger rewards increased. These results suggest optimistic behavior. The maximax heuristic is sometimes observed in human managerial and financial decision-making, where risk is ignored for potential gains, however low they may be. This suggests a shared and strong propensity in primates to rely on heuristics whenever complexity in evaluation of outcome odds arises.

New Studies Show Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics, far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, was small, amateurish, & mostly unrelated to the 2016 election

New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics. Aaron Maté. The Nation, Dec 28 2018, https://www.thenation.com/article/russiagate-elections-interference/
Far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, it was small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the 2016 election.

Excerpts with no links:

The release of two Senate-commissioned reports has sparked a new round of panic about Russia manipulating a vulnerable American public on social media. Headlines warn that Russian trolls have tried to suppress the African-American vote, promote Green Party candidate Jill Stein, recruit “assets,” and “sow discord” or “hack the 2016 election” via sex-toy ads and Pokémon Go. “The studies,” writes David Ignatius of The Washington Post, “describe a sophisticated, multilevel Russian effort to use every available tool of our open society to create resentment, mistrust and social disorder,” demonstrating that the Russians, “thanks to the Internet…seem to be perfecting these dark arts.” According to Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times, “it looks increasingly as though” Russian disinformation “changed the direction of American history” in the narrowly decided 2016 election, when “Russian trolling easily could have made the difference.”

The reports, from the University of Oxford’s Computational Propaganda Research Project and the firm New Knowledge, do provide the most thorough look at Russian social-media activity to date. With an abundance of data, charts, graphs, and tables, coupled with extensive qualitative analysis, the authors scrutinize the output of the Internet Research Agency (IRA) the Russian clickbait firm indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller in February 2018. On every significant metric, it is difficult to square the data with the dramatic conclusions that have been drawn.

• 2016 Election Content: The most glaring data point is how minimally Russian social-media activity pertained to the 2016 campaign. The New Knowledge report acknowledges that evaluating IRA content “purely based on whether it definitively swung the election is too narrow a focus,” as the “explicitly political content was a small percentage.” To be exact, just “11% of the total content” attributed to the IRA and 33 percent of user engagement with it “was related to the election.” The IRA’s posts “were minimally about the candidates,” with “roughly 6% of tweets, 18% of Instagram posts, and 7% of Facebook posts” having “mentioned Trump or Clinton by name.”

• Scale: The researchers claim that “the scale of [the Russian] operation was unprecedented,” but they base that conclusion on dubious figures. They repeat the widespread claim that Russian posts “reached 126 million people on Facebook,” which is in fact a spin on Facebook’s own guess. “Our best estimate,” Facebook’s Colin Stretch testified to Congress in October 2017, “is that approximately 126 million people may have been served one of these [IRA] stories at some time during the two year period” between 2015 and 2017. According to Stretch, posts generated by suspected Russian accounts showing up in Facebook’s News Feed amounted to “approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content.”

• Spending: Also hurting the case that the Russians reached a large number of Americans is that they spent such a microscopic amount of money to do it. Oxford puts the IRA’s Facebook spending between 2015 and 2017 at just $73,711. As was previously known, about $46,000 was spent on Russian-linked Facebook ads before the 2016 election. That amounts to about 0.05 percent of the $81 million spent on Facebook ads by the Clinton and Trump campaigns combined. A recent disclosure by Google that Russian-linked accounts spent $4,700 on platforms in 2016 only underscores how miniscule that spending was. The researchers also claim that the IRA’s “manipulation of American political discourse had a budget that exceeded $25 million USD.” But that number is based on a widely repeated error that mistakes the IRA’s spending on US-related activities for its parent project’s overall global budget, including domestic social-media activity in Russia.

• Sophistication: Another reason to question the operation’s sophistication can be found by simply looking at its offerings. The IRA’s most shared pre-election Facebook post was a cartoon of a gun-wielding Yosemite Sam. Over on Instagram, the best-received image urged users to give it a “Like” if they believe in Jesus. The top IRA post on Facebook before the election to mention Hillary Clinton was a conspiratorial screed about voter fraud. It’s telling that those who are so certain Russian social-media posts affected the 2016 election never cite the posts that they think actually helped achieve that end. The actual content of those posts might explain why.

• Covert or Clickbait Operation? Far from exposing a sophisticated propaganda campaign, the reports provide more evidence that the Russians were actually engaging in clickbait capitalism: targeting unique demographics like African Americans or evangelicals in a bid to attract large audiences for commercial purposes. Reporters who have profiled the IRA have commonly described it as “a social media marketing campaign.” Mueller’s indictment of the IRA disclosed that it sold “promotions and advertisements” on its pages that generally sold in the $25-$50 range. “This strategy,” Oxford observes, “is not an invention for politics and foreign intrigue, it is consistent with techniques used in digital marketing.” New Knowledge notes that the IRA even sold merchandise that “perhaps provided the IRA with a source of revenue,” hawking goods such as T-shirts, “LGBT-positive sex toys and many variants of triptych and 5-panel artwork featuring traditionally conservative, patriotic themes.”

• “Asset Development”: Lest one wonder how promoting sex toys might factor into a sophisticated influence campaign, the New Knowledge report claims that exploiting “sexual behavior” was a key component of the IRA’s “expansive” “human asset recruitment strategy” in the United States. “Recruiting an asset by exploiting a personal vulnerability,” the report explains, “is a timeless espionage practice.” The first example of this timeless espionage practice is of an ad featuring Jesus consoling a dejected young man by telling him: “Struggling with the addiction to masturbation? Reach out to me and we will beat it together.” It is unknown if this particular tactic brought any assets into the fold. But New Knowledge reports that there was “some success with several of these human-activation attempts.” That is correct: The IRA’s online trolls apparently succeeded in sparking protests in 2016, like several in Florida where “it’s unclear if anyone attended”; “no people showed up to at least one,” and “ragtag groups” showed up at others, including one where video footage captured a crowd of eight people. The most successful effort appears to have been in Houston, where Russian trolls allegedly organized dueling rallies pitting a dozen white supremacists against several dozen counter-protesters outside an Islamic center.   

Based on all of this data, we can draw this picture of Russian social-media activity: It was mostly unrelated to the 2016 election; microscopic in reach, engagement, and spending; and juvenile or absurd in its content. This leads to the inescapable conclusion, as the New Knowledge study acknowledges, that “the operation’s focus on elections was merely a small subset” of its activity. They qualify that “accurate” narrative by saying it “misses nuance and deserves more contextualization.” Alternatively, perhaps it deserves some minimal reflection that a juvenile social-media operation with such a small focus on elections is being widely portrayed as a seismic threat that may well have decided the 2016 contest.

Doing so leads us to conclusions that have nothing to do with Russian social-media activity, nor with the voters supposedly influenced by it. Take the widespread speculation that Russian social-media posts may have suppressed the black vote. That a Russian troll farm sought to deceive black audiences and other targeted demographics on social media is certainly contemptible. But in criticizing that effort there’s no reason to assume it was successful—and yet that’s exactly what the pundits did. “When you consider the narrow margins by which [Donald Trump] won [Michigan and Wisconsin], and poor minority turnout there, these Russian voter suppression efforts may have been decisive,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod commented. “Black voter turnout declined in 2016 for the first time in 20 years in a presidential election,” The New York Times conspicuously notes, “but it is impossible to determine whether that was the result of the Russian campaign.”

That it is even considered possible that the Russian campaign impacted the black vote displays a rather stunning paternalism and condescension. Would Axelrod, Times reporters, or any of the others floating a similar scenario accept a suggestion that their own votes might be susceptible to silly social-media posts mostly unrelated to the election? If not, what does that tell us about their attitudes toward the people that they presume could be so vulnerable?

Entertaining the possibility that Russian social-media posts impacted the election outcome requires more than just a contemptuous view of average voters. It also requires the abandonment of elementary standards of logic, probability, and arithmetic. We now have corroboration of this judgment from an unlikely source. Just days after the New Knowledge report was released, The New York Times reported that the company had carried out “a secret experiment” in the 2017 Alabama Senate race. According to an internal document, New Knowledge used “many of the [Russian] tactics now understood to have influenced the 2016 elections,” going so far as to stage an “elaborate ‘false flag’ operation” that promoted the idea that the Republican candidate, Roy Moore, was backed by Russian bots. The fallout from the operation has led Facebook to suspend the accounts of five people, including New Knowledge CEO Jonathon Morgan.

The Times discloses that the project had a budget of $100,000, but adds that it “was likely too small to have a significant effect on the race.” A Democratic operative concurs, telling the Times that “it was impossible that a $100,000 operation had an impact.”

The Alabama Senate race cost $51 million. If it was impossible for a $100,000 New Knowledge operation to affect a 2017 state election, then how could a comparable—perhaps even less expensive—Russian operation possibly impact a $2.4 billion US presidential election in 2016?

On top of straining credulity, fixating on barely detectable and trivial social-media content also downplays myriad serious issues. As the journalist Ari Berman has tirelessly pointed out, the 2016 election was “the first presidential contest in 50 years without the full protections of the [Voting Rights Act],” one that was conducted amid “the greatest rollback of voting rights since the act was passed” in 1965. Rather than ruminating over whether they were duped by Russian clickbait, reporters who have actually spoken to black Midwest voters have found that political disillusionment amid stagnant wages, high inequality, and pervasive police brutality led many to stay home.

And that leads us to perhaps a key reason why elites in particular are so fixated on the purported threat of Russian meddling: It deflects attention from their own failures, and the failings of the system that grants them status as elites. During the campaign, corporate media outlets handed Donald Trump billions of dollars worth of air time because, in the words of the now ousted CBS exec Les Moonves: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS…. The money’s rolling in and this is fun.” Not wanting to interrupt the fun, these outlets have every incentive to breathlessly cover Russiagate and amplify comparisons of stolen Democratic Party e-mails and Russian social-media posts to Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Kristallnacht, and “cruise missiles.”

Having lost the presidential election to a reality TV host, the Democratic Party leadership is arguably the most incentivized to capitalize on the Russia panic. They continue to oblige. Like clockwork, former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook seized on the new Senate studies to warn that “Russian operatives will try to divide Democrats again in the 2020 primary, making activists unwitting accomplices.” By “unwitting accomplices,” Mook is presumably referring to the progressive Democrats who have protested the DNC leadership’s collusion with the Clinton campaign and bias against Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary. Mook is following a now familiar Democratic playbook: blaming Russia for the consequences of the party elite’s own actions. When an uproar arose over Trump campaign data firm Cambridge Analytica in early 2018, Hillary Clinton was quoted posing what she dubbed the “real question”: “How did the Russians know how to target their messages so precisely to undecided voters in Wisconsin, or Michigan, or Pennsylvania?”

In fact, the Russians spent a grand total of $3,102 in these three states, with the majority of that paltry sum not even during the general election but during the primaries, and the majority of the ads were not even about candidates but about social issues. The total number of times ads were targeted at Wisconsin (54), Michigan (36), Pennsylvania (25) combined is less than the 152 times that ads were targeted at the blue state of New York. Wisconsin and Michigan also happen to be two states that Clinton infamously, and perilously, avoided visiting in the campaign’s final months.

The utility of Russia-baiting goes far beyond absolving elites of responsibility for their own failures. Hacked documents have recently revealed that a UK-government charity has waged a global propaganda operation in the name of “countering Russian disinformation.” The project, known as the Integrity Initiative, is run by military intelligence officials with funding from the British Foreign Office and other government sources, including the US State Department and NATO. It works closely with “clusters” of sympathetic journalists and academics across the West, and has already been outed for waging a social-media campaign against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The group’s Twitter account promoted articles that painted Corbyn as a “useful idiot” in support of “the Kremlin cause”; criticized his communications director, Seumas Milne, for his alleged “work with the Kremlin agenda”; and said, “It’s time for the Corbyn left to confront its Putin problem.”

The Corbyn camp is far from the only progressive force to be targeted with this smear tactic. That it is revealed to be part of a Western government–backed operation is yet another reason to consider the fixation with Russian social-media activity in a new light. There is no indication that the disinformation spread by employees of a St. Petersburg troll farm has had a discernible impact on the US electorate. The barrage of claims to the contrary is but one element of an infinitely larger chorus from failed political elites, sketchy private firms, shadowy intelligence officials, and credulous media outlets that inculcates the Western public with fears of a Kremlin “sowing discord.” Given how divorced the prevailing alarm is from the actual facts—and the influence of those fueling it—we might ask ourselves whose disinformation is most worthy of concern.

Aaron Maté is a host/producer for The Real News.

Clear judgments based on unclear evidence: Person evaluation is strongly influenced by untrustworthy gossip, even if already marked as dubious

Baum, J., Rabovsky, M., Rose, S. B., & Abdel Rahman, R. (2018). Clear judgments based on unclear evidence: Person evaluation is strongly influenced by untrustworthy gossip. Emotion, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000545

Abstract: Affective information about other people’s social behavior may prejudice social interactions and bias person judgments. The trustworthiness of person-related information, however, can vary considerably, as in the case of gossip, rumors, lies, or “fake news.” Here, we investigated how spontaneous person likability and explicit person judgments are influenced by trustworthiness, employing event-related potentials as indices of emotional brain responses. Social–emotional information about the (im)moral behavior of previously unknown persons was verbally presented as trustworthy fact (e.g., “He bullied his apprentice”) or marked as untrustworthy gossip (by adding, e.g., allegedly), using verbal qualifiers that are frequently used in conversations, news, and social media to indicate the questionable trustworthiness of the information and as a precaution against wrong accusations. In Experiment 1, spontaneous likability, deliberate person judgments, and electrophysiological measures of emotional person evaluation were strongly influenced by negative information yet remarkably unaffected by the trustworthiness of the information. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and extended them to positive information. Our findings demonstrate a tendency for strong emotional evaluations and person judgments even when they are knowingly based on unclear evidence.

Men pursuing a relatively slow life history strategy produced higher quality ejaculates, reflecting resource allocation decisions for greater parenting effort, as opposed to greater mating effort

Barbaro, N., Shackelford, T. K., Holub, A. M., Jeffery, A. J., Lopes, G. S., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2018). Life history correlates of human (Homo sapiens) ejaculate quality. Journal of Comparative Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0000161

Abstract: Life history strategies reflect resource allocation decisions, which manifest as physiological, psychological, and behavioral traits. We investigated whether human ejaculate quality is associated with indicators of relatively fast (greater resource allocation to mating effort) or slow (greater resource allocation to parenting effort) life history strategies in a test of two competing hypotheses: (a) The phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis, which predicts that men pursuing a relatively fast life history strategy will produce higher quality ejaculates, and (b) the cuckoldry-risk hypothesis, which predicts that men pursuing a relatively slow life history strategy will produce higher quality ejaculates. Men (n = 41) completed a self-report measure assessing life history strategy and provided two masturbatory ejaculate samples. Results provide preliminary support for the cuckoldry-risk hypothesis: Men pursuing a relatively slow life history strategy produced higher quality ejaculates. Ejaculate quality may therefore reflect resource allocation decisions for greater parenting effort, as opposed to greater mating effort. The findings contribute informative data on correlations between physiological and phenotypic indicators of human life history strategies.

Loud and unclear: Intense real-life vocalizations during affective situations are perceptually ambiguous and contextually malleable

Atias, D., Todorov, A., Liraz, S., Eidinger, A., Dror, I., Maymon, Y., & Aviezer, H. (2018). Loud and unclear: Intense real-life vocalizations during affective situations are perceptually ambiguous and contextually malleable. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000535

Abstract: A basic premise of emotion theories is that experienced feelings (whether specific emotions or broad valence) are expressed via vocalizations in a veridical and clear manner. By contrast, functional–contextual frameworks, rooted in animal communication research, view vocalizations as contextually flexible tools for social influence, not as expressions of emotion. Testing these theories has proved difficult because past research relied heavily on posed sounds which may lack ecological validity. Here, we test these theories by examining the perception of human affective vocalizations evoked during highly intense, real-life emotional situations. In Experiment 1a, we show that highly intense vocalizations of opposite valence (e.g., joyous reunions, fearful encounters) are perceptually confusable and their ambiguity increases with higher intensity. In Experiment 1b, we use authentic lottery winning reactions and show that increased hedonic intensity leads to lower, not higher valence. In Experiment 2, we demonstrate that visual context operates as a powerful mechanism for disambiguating real-life vocalizations, shifting perceived valence categorically. These results suggest affective vocalizations may be inherently ambiguous, demonstrate the role of intensity in driving affective ambiguity, and suggest a critical role for context in vocalization perception. Together, these findings challenge both basic emotion and dimensional theories of emotion expression and are better in line with a functional–contextual account which is externalist and by definition, context dependent.

Great apes possess intuitive statistical capacities on a par with those of our infants, which suggests that our' statistical abilities are founded on an evolutionary ancient capacity shared with living relatives

Some apes possess a sensitivity towards probabilistic information & are able to reason about never before experienced single-events and to draw intuitive inferences from population to randomly drawn samples:

The evolutionary roots of intuitive statistics. Johanna Eckert. PhD Dissertation, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 2018, https://d-nb.info/1172970726/34

Abstract

Intuitive statistical reasoning is the capacity to draw intuitive probabilistic inferences based on an understanding of the relations between populations, sampling processes and resulting samples. This capacity is fundamental to our daily lives and one of the hallmarks of human thinking. We constantly use sample observations to draw general conclusions about the world, use these generalizations to predict what will happen next and to make rational decisions under uncertainty. Historically, statistical reaso ning was thought to develop late in ontogeny, to be biased by general-purpose heuristics throughout adulthood, and to be restricted to certain situations and specific types of information. In the last decade, however, evidence has accumulated from developmental research showing that even pre-verbal infants can reason from populations of items to randomly drawn samples and vice versa. Moreover, infants can flexibly integrate knowledge from different cognitive domains (such as physical or psychological knowle dge) into their statistical inferences. This indicates that neither language nor mathematical education are prerequisites for intuitive statistical abilities. Beyond that, recent comparative research suggests that basic forms of such capacities are not uni quely human: Rakoczy et al. (2014) presented nonhuman great apes with two populations with different proportions of preferred to non-preferred food items. Apes were able to infer which population was more likely to lead to a preferred food item as randomly drawn sample. Hence, just like human infants, great apes can reason from population to sample, giving a first hint that human statistical abilities may be based on an evolutionary ancient capacity.

The aim of the present dissertation is to explore the evolutionary roots of intuitive statistics more systematically and comprehensively by expanding on the initial findings of Rakoczy et al. (2014). I examined three questions regarding the i) generality and flexibility of nonhuman great apes' statistical capacities, ii) their cognitive structures and limits, as well as iii) their interaction with knowledge from other cognitive domains. To address these questions, I conducted three studies applying variants of the paradigm established by Rakoczy et al. (2014) .

In the first study, zoo-living great apes ( Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus, Pongo abelii, Gorilla gorilla) were required to infer from samples to populations of food items: Apes were pres ented with two covered populations and witnessed representative multi-item samples being drawn from these populations. Subsequently, subjects could choose which population they wanted to receive as a reward. I found that apes ́ statistical abilities in this direction were more restricted than vice versa. However, these limitations were potentially due to accessory task demands rather than limitations in statistical reasoning. The second study was designed to gain deeper insights into the cognitive structure of intuitive statistics in chimpanzees and humans. More specifically, I tested sanctuary-living chimpanzees and human adults in a task requiring inferences from population to sample and I systematically varied the magnitude of difference between the populations' ratios (the ratio of ratios, ROR). I discovered that the statistical abilities of both chimpanzees and human adults varied as a function of the ROR and thus followed Weber's law. This suggests that intuitive statistics are based on the analogue magnitude system, an evolutionary ancient cognitive mechanism common to many aspects of quantitative cognition. The third study investigated whether chimpanzees consider knowledge about others' mental states when drawing statistical inferences. I tested sanctuary-living chimpanzees in a task that required subjects to infer which of two populations was more likely to lead to a desired outcome for the subject. I manipulated whether the experimenters had preferences to draw certain food types or acted neutrally and whether they had visual access to the populations while sampling or drew blindly. Chimpanzees chose based on proportional information alone when they had no information about experimenters’ preferences and (to a lesser extent) when experimenters had preferences for certain food types but drew blindly. By contrast, when biased experimenters had visual access, subjects ignored statistical information and instead chose based on experimenters’ preferences. Consistent with recent findings on pre-verbal infants, apes seem to have a random sampling assumption that can be overridden under the appropriate circumstances and they are able to use information about others ' mental states to judge whether this is necessary.

Taken together, the findings of the present dissertation indicate that nonhuman great apes possess intuitive statistical capacities on a par with those of human infants. Therefore, intuitive statistics antedate language and mathematical thinking not only ontogenetically, but also phylogenetically. This suggests that humans' statistical abilities are founded on an evolutionary ancient capacity shared with our closest living relatives.

Surnames with initials farther from the beginning of the alphabet were associated with less distinction & satisfaction in high school, lower educational attainment, more military service & less attractive first jobs

Cauley, Alexander and Zax, Jeffrey S., Alphabetism: The Effects of Surname Initial and the Cost of Being Otherwise Undistinguished (October 24, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3272556

Abstract: A small literature demonstrates that names are economically relevant. However, this is the first paper to examine the relationship between surname initial rank and male life outcomes, including human capital investments and labor market experiences. Surnames with initials farther from the beginning of the alphabet were associated with less distinction and satisfaction in high school, lower educational attainment, more military service and less attractive first jobs. These effects were concentrated among men who were undistinguished by cognitive ability or appearance, and, for them, may have persisted into middle age. They suggest that ordering is important and that over-reliance on alphabetical orderings can be harmful.

Keywords: alphabetism, surname initial, rank effects, ordered search, anthroponomastics, socio-onomastics
JEL Classification: D63, I31, J19, J71