Operationalization of Excessive Masturbation—Development of the Excessive Masturbation Scale (EMS)

Operationalization of Excessive Masturbation—Development of the EMS. Wiebke Driemeyer, Jan Snagowski, Christian Laier, Michael Schwarz & Matthias Brand. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, Volume 25, 2018 - Issue 2-3, Pages 197-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720162.2018.1495586 

Abstract: Research has recently focused on hypersexual behavior and Internet-pornography-viewing disorder as potential psychopathological conditions, but specific aspects of the phenomena have been widely neglected. This study aimed to investigate excessive masturbation as a subset and symptom of hypersexual behaviors. 2 studies with independent samples have been conducted. In study 1 (n = 146), the Excessive Masturbation Scale (EMS) was designed and tested via explorative factor analysis. In study 2 (n = 255), the psychometric properties of the EMS were evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis. A replicable 2-factor structure (“Coping” and “Loss of Control”) was identified. The EMS showed good psychometric properties and provides a promising basis for further research.

No, You Can’t Ignore Email. It’s Rude. Being overwhelmed is no excuse. It’s hard to be good at your job if you’re bad at responding to people.

No, You Can’t Ignore E-mail. It’s Rude. Adam Grant. TNYT Feb 15 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/opinion/sunday/email-etiquette.html

Being overwhelmed is no excuse. It’s hard to be good at your job if you’re bad at responding to people.

I’m really sorry I didn’t say hi, make eye contact or acknowledge your presence in any way when you waved to me in the hallway the other day. It’s nothing personal. I just have too many people trying to greet me these days, and I can’t respond to everyone.

That sounds ridiculous, right? You would never snub a colleague trying to strike up a conversation. Yet when you ignore a personal email, that’s exactly what you’ve done: digital snubbery.

Yes, we’re all overwhelmed with email. One recent survey suggested that the average American’s inbox has 199 unread messages. But volume isn’t an excuse for not replying. Ignoring email is an act of incivility.

“I’m too busy to answer your email” really means “Your email is not a priority for me right now.” That’s a popular justification for neglecting your inbox: It’s full of other people’s priorities. But there’s a growing body of evidence that if you care about being good at your job, your inbox should be a priority.

When researchers compiled a huge database of the digital habits of teams at Microsoft, they found that the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails. Responding in a timely manner shows that you are conscientious — organized, dependable and hardworking. And that matters. In a comprehensive analysis of people in hundreds of occupations, conscientiousness was the single best personality predictor of job performance. (It turns out that people who are rude online tend to be rude offline, too.)

I’m not saying you have to answer every email. Your brain is not just sitting there waiting to be picked. If senders aren’t considerate enough to do their homework and ask a question you’re qualified to answer, you don’t owe them anything back.

How do you know if an email you’ve received — or even more important, one you’re considering writing — doesn’t deserve a response? After all, sending an inappropriate email can be as rude as ignoring a polite one.

I have a few general rules. You should not feel obliged to respond to strangers asking you to share their content on social media, introduce them to your more famous colleagues, spend hours advising them on something they’ve created or “jump on a call this afternoon.” If someone you barely know emails you a dozen times a month and is always asking you to do something for him, you can ignore those emails guilt-free.

Along these lines, the last time I made the mistake of admitting in this newspaper that I believe in being responsive to emails, I got a deluge of messages. One reader even wrote, “I just wanted to test you, to find out if it’s true.” So this time, let me be clear: I’m not writing this article as a personal note to your inbox, so it doesn’t require a personal reply to mine.

We all need to set boundaries. People shouldn’t be forced to answer endless emails outside work hours — which is why some companies have policies against checking emails on nights and weekends. Some people I know tell their colleagues they’ll be on email from 9 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m. each day, but not in between. If it’s not an emergency, no one should expect you to respond right away.

Spending hours a day answering emails can stand in the way of getting other things done. One recent study shows that on days when managers face heavy email demands, they make less progress toward their goals and end up being less proactive in communicating their vision and setting expectations.

But that same study shows that email load takes a toll only if it’s not central to your job. And let’s face it: These days email is central to most jobs. What we really need to do is to make email something we think carefully about before sending, and therefore feel genuinely bad ignoring.

Whatever boundaries you choose, don’t abandon your inbox altogether. Not answering emails today is like refusing to take phone calls in the 1990s or ignoring letters in the 1950s. Email is not household clutter and you’re not Marie Kondo. Ping!

Your inbox isn’t just a list of other people’s tasks. It’s where other people help you do your job. It allows you to pose questions with a few keystrokes instead of spending the whole day on the phone, and it’s vital to gathering information that you can’t easily find in a Google search.

“My inbox is other people’s priorities” bothers me as a social scientist, but also as a human being. Your priorities should include other people and their priorities. It’s common courtesy to engage with people who are thoughtful in reaching out.

This isn’t just about doing unto others as you’d have them do unto you. Clearing out your inbox can jump-start your own productivity. One set of experiments showed that if you’re behind on a task, you’ll finish it faster if you’re busy, because you know you need to use your time efficiently. As a writer, I like to start the morning by answering a few emails — it helps me get into a productive rhythm of deep work. If you think you have too many emails, maybe you just don’t have enough.

Everyone occasionally misses an email. But if you’re habitually “too busy” to answer legitimate emails, there’s a problem with your process. It sends a signal that you’re disorganized — or that you just don’t care.

If you’re just hopelessly behind on your inbox, at least set up an auto-reply giving people another channel where they can reach you. A Slack channel. Twitter. A phone number. Post-it notes. Carrier pigeon.

Remember that a short reply is kinder and more professional than none at all. If you have too much on your plate, come clean: “I don’t have the bandwidth to add this.” If it’s not your expertise, just say so: “Sorry, this isn’t in my wheelhouse.” And if you want to say no, just say “no.”

We can all learn from the writer E.B. White, who, in response to a 1956 letter asking him to join a committee, responded with two short sentences. The first: a thank-you for the invitation. The second: “I must decline, for secret reasons.”

Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton, is the author of “Originals” and the host of the TED podcast “WorkLife.”

Post-truth, anti-truth, and ***can’t-handle-the-truth***: How responses to science are shaped by concerns about its impact

Sutton, Robbie & Petterson, Aino & T. Rutjens, Bastiaan. (2018). Post-truth, anti-truth, and can’t-handle-the-truth: how responses to science are shaped by concerns about its impact. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327837926

Abstract: Science is valued for its basic and applied functions: producing knowledge and contributing to the common good. Much of the time, these are perceived to work in harmony. However, science is sometimes seen as capable of subverting the common good, by facilitating dangerous technologies (e.g., weapons of mass destruction) or exerting a malign influence on public policy, opinion, and behaviour. Employing the social functionalist framework of Tetlock (2002), we propose that efforts to censor and suppress scientific findings are motivated by concerns about their societal impact. We begin by covering recent political shifts towards more censorial and punitive responses to scientific research in the U.S. and elsewhere. We go on to propose that beyond traditional explanations of how people evaluate scientific findings, such as cognitive consistency motivations, people’s evaluations are shaped by perceptions of the potential societal impact of scientific data. Our recent studies have shown that independently of the extent to which scientific findings contradict people’s beliefs (as in the confirmation bias), people reject and oppose the publication, application, and funding of research to the extent that they judge its findings as threatening to the public interest. In the final part of the chapter, we outline avenues for further theory and research. Here, we particularly emphasize the importance of establishing whether concerns about impact are themselves rationalizations of opposition to research that are motivated by other moral concerns, such as perceived purity violations (Graham et al., 2009). Finally, we underline that it is crucial that further research examines perceptions of science as a dangerous force that must be neutralized, and the potential of these perceptions to obstruct not only the public understanding of scientific research, but ultimately, the research itself.

Reducing Discrimination with Reviews in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from Field Experiments on Airbnb

Cui, Ruomeng and Li, Jun and Zhang, Dennis, Reducing Discrimination with Reviews in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from Field Experiments on Airbnb (December 8, 2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2882982

Abstract: Recent research has found widespread discrimination by hosts against guests of certain races in online marketplaces. In this paper, we explore ways to reduce such discrimination using online reputation systems. We conduct four randomized field experiments among 1,801 hosts on Airbnb by creating fictitious guest accounts and sending accommodation requests to them. We find that requests from guests with African American-sounding names are 19.2 percentage points less likely to be accepted than those with white-sounding names. However, a positive review posted on a guest's page significantly reduces discrimination: When guest accounts receive a positive review, the acceptance rates of guest accounts with white-sounding and African American-sounding names are statistically indistinguishable. We further show that a non-positive review and a blank review without any content can also help attenuate discrimination, but self-claimed information on tidiness and friendliness cannot reduce discrimination, which indicates the importance of encouraging credible peer-generated reviews. Our results offer direct and clear guidance for sharing-economy platforms to reduce discrimination.

Keywords: Discrimination, Field Experiment, Information Sharing, Service Operations, Sharing Economy

Programming of Stress-Sensitive Neurons and Circuits by Early-Life Experiences

Programming of Stress-Sensitive Neurons and Circuits by Early-Life Experiences. Jessica L. Bolton et al. Front. Behav. Neurosci., Feb 18 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00030

Abstract: Early-life experiences influence brain structure and function long-term, contributing to resilience or vulnerability to stress and stress-related disorders. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms by which early-life experiences program specific brain cells and circuits to shape life-long cognitive and emotional functions is crucial. We identify the population of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) as a key, early target of early-life experiences. Adverse experiences increase excitatory neurotransmission onto PVN CRH cells, whereas optimal experiences, such as augmented and predictable maternal care, reduce the number and function of glutamatergic inputs onto this cell population. Altered synaptic neurotransmission is sufficient to initiate large-scale, enduring epigenetic re-programming within CRH-expressing neurons, associated with stress resilience and additional cognitive and emotional outcomes. Thus, the mechanisms by which early-life experiences influence the brain provide tractable targets for intervention.

Exploring Sex Differences in the Neural Correlates of Self-and Other-Referential Gender Stereotyping

Exploring Sex Differences in the Neural Correlates of Self-and Other-Referential Gender Stereotyping. Jonas Hornung et al. Front. Behav. Neurosci., February 18 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00031

While general self-referential processes and their neural underpinnings have been extensively investigated with neuroimaging tools, limited data is available on sex differences regarding self- and other-referential processing. To fill this gap, we measured 17 healthy women and men who performed a self- vs. other-appraisal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using gender-stereotypical adjectives. During the self-appraisal task, typical male (e.g., “dominant,” “competitive”) and female adjectives (e.g., “communicative,” “sensitive”) were presented and participants were asked whether these adjectives applied to themselves. During the other-appraisal task, a prototypical male (Brad Pitt) and female actor (Julia Roberts) was presented and participants were asked again to judge whether typical male and female adjectives applied to these actors. Regarding self-referential processes, women ascribed significantly more female compared to male traits to themselves. At the same time both women and men indicated a stronger desire to exhibit male over female traits. While fMRI did not detect general sex differences in the self- and other-conditions, some subtle differences were revealed between the sexes: both in right putamen and bilateral amygdala stronger gender-congruent activation was found which was however not associated with behavioral measures like the number of self-ascribed female or male attributes. Furthermore, sex hormone levels showed some associations with brain activation pointing to a different pattern in women and men. Finally, the self- vs. other-condition in general led to stronger activation of the anterior cingulate cortex while the other- vs. self-condition activated the right precuneus more strongly which is in line with previous findings. To conclude, our data lend support for subtle sex differences during processing of stereotypical gender attributes. However, it remains unclear whether such differences have a behavioral relevance. We also point to several limitations of this study including the small sample size and the lack of control for potentially different hormonal states in women.

Self-identification as a pornography addict: examining the roles of pornography use, religiousness, and moral incongruence

Self-identification as a pornography addict: examining the roles of pornography use, religiousness, and moral incongruence. Joshua B. Grubbs, Jennifer T. Grant & Joel Engelman. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, Feb 07 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720162.2019.1565848

Abstract: At present, the scientific community has not reached a consensus regarding whether or not people may be become addicted to or compulsive in use of pornography. Even so, a substantial number of people report feeling that their use of pornography is dysregulated or out of control. Whereas prior works considered self-reported feelings of addiction via indirect scales or dimensional measures, the present work examined what might lead someone to specifically identify as a pornography addict. Consistent with prior research, pre-registered hypotheses predicted that religiousness, moral disapproval, and average daily pornography use would emerge as consistent predictors of self-identification as a pornography addict. Four samples, involving adult pornography users (Sample 1, N = 829, Mage = 33.3; SD = 9.4; Sample 2, N = 424, Mage = 33.6; SD = 9.1; Sample 4, N = 736, Mage = 48.0; SD = 15.8) and undergraduates (Sample 3, N = 231, Mage = 19.3; SD = 1.8), were collected. Across all three samples, male gender, moral incongruence, and average daily pornography use consistently emerged as predictors of self-identification as a pornography addict. In contrast to prior literature indicating that moral incongruence and religiousness are the best predictors of self-reported feelings of addiction (measured dimensionally), results from all four samples indicated that male gender and average daily pornography use were the most strongly associated with self-identification as a pornography addict, although moral incongruence consistently emerged as a robust and unique predictors of such self-identification.

Keywords: Pornography, addiction, religion, morality, shame

Effects of emotions on sexual behavior in men with and without hypersexuality: Findings lend support to conceptualizing HS behavior as a coping strategy for affective arousal

Effects of emotions on sexual behavior in men with and without hypersexuality. Michael H. Miner, Janna Dickenson & Eli Coleman. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, https://doi.org/10.1080/10720162.2018.1564408

Abstract: The association between positive and negative affect and sexual behavior in 39 MSM with and without hypersexuality (HS) was explored using ecological momentary assessment. Participants reported their current positive and negative affect three times per day and their sexual behavior each morning and evening. The relationship between affect and sexual behavior differed between men with or without HS. In those with HS, the timing of and interactions between experienced affect differentially predicted types of sexual behavior, indicating differing mechanisms driving partnered sexual behavior and masturbation. These findings lend support to conceptualizing HS behavior as a coping strategy for affective arousal.

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Hypersexual behavior is characterized by intense, distressing, and recurrentsexual urges and fantasies that significantly interfere with a person’s dailyfunctioning (e.g., with personal, interpersonal, and occupational responsi-bilities). Hypersexual behavior is widely disputed with regard to conceptualization, etiology, and nomenclature, and has been dubbed such terms as “sexual addiction” (Carnes, 1983),“compulsive sexual behavior” (Coleman, 1991), “paraphilia related disorder” (Kafka & Prentky, 1997),“hypersexual disorder” (Kafka, 2010), and “out of control sexual behavior” (Braun-Harvey & Vigorito, 2015). Despite such disagreement, one of the hallmarksof all conceptualizations of hypersexuality (Carnes,1983,1991; Coleman, 1991, 2003; Kafka, 1997, 2010) is distress resulting from obsessive, compulsive, impulsive, and/or out of control sexual behavior (Black, Kehrberg, Flumerfelt, & Schlosser, 1997; Coleman et al., 2010; Dickenson, Gleason, Coleman, & Miner, 2018). Moreover, several theoretical models of hyper-sexual behavior indicate that engaging in sexual behavior functions as astrategy to cope with, escape from, or avoid unwanted emotions (Kafka, 2010; Reid & Kafka, 2014). Yet, to date, our understanding of how day-to-day changes in negative and positive affect are related to day-to-day changes in sexual behavior among men who exhibit hypersexual behavior remains limited.

Negative affect (e.g., sadness, fear) and mood (e.g., depressed, anxious) typically impede sexual interest and arousal (Bancroft et al., 2003a, 2003b), although some men have shown increases in sexual interest and arousalafter experiencing negative affect. Moreover, the link between negativeaffect and sexual behavior appears to vary across individuals. For example, men who have sex with men (MSM) show increased sexual risk behavior following anxious affective states, but only if they have low trait anxiety (Mustanski, 2007). Thus, negative affect can either augment or impede sexual interest, arousal, and behavior depending on additional traits of the individual. Perhaps the degree to which negative affect motivates sexual behavior is also different for men who vary in their tendency to exhibit hypersexual behavior.

Research has consistently demonstrated that men with hypersexual behav-ior exhibit emotion regulation difficulties. Many men with hypersexualbehavior exhibit high negative emotionality (Miner et al.,2016); negative emotional states related to their sexual behavior, such as shame, guilt, and hostility toward themselves (Reid, 2010); are more vulnerable to general lifestressors (Laier & Brand,2017); and have greater deficits in their ability to regulate emotions (Leppink, Chamberlain, Redden, & Grant, 2016; Rizor, Callands, Desrosiers, & Kershaw, 2017). Various theoretical models indicatethat hypersexual behavior serves to reduce unwanted emotions (Bancroft & Vukadinovic, 2004; Coleman, 1991). Such behavior initially provides relief, but this relief is temporary and ultimately leads to guilt and shame about engaging in problematic sexual behavior, thus, reentering the cycle.

Yet, the notion that the cycle of hypersexual behavior begins with negative emotionality has proven inconsistent. On one hand, research examining reports of reasons for engaging in sexual behavior has corroborated thehypothesized link between negative emotionality and sexual behavior. Some research has indicated that sexual behavior may be related to difficulties with negative affect regulation among hypersexual men, and hypersexualmen self-report that negative affect motivates sexual behavior (Parsonset al., 2008). Individuals who compulsively view pornography exhibited higher general stress levels, reported viewing sexual imagery for the purposes of sensation seeking or emotional avoidance, and showed an increasein positive affect immediately after viewing sexual imagery (Laier & Brand, 2017). Moreover, hypersexual MSM have reported that they engage in sexual behavior to cope with negative affect and gain a sense of affirmation and validation that they could not obtain from non-sexual social relationships,  whereas  MSM  without  hypersexual  behavior  did  not  (Parsonset al., 2008)

Other research has not substantiated the link between negative affect andsexual activity. Grov, Golub, Mustanski, and Parsons (2010) found that among MSM, daily negative affect was associated with decreased likelihood of partnered sexual activity that same day. Contrary to expectations and the above mentioned studies, men with and without HS did not differ in thedegree to which negative affect was associated with partnered sexual activity. Such inconsistent findings indicate that the role of affective regulation in pre-dicting sexual behavior is not clear and may involve the interaction of positive and negative affective changes.

Such contradictory results may be explained by differences in method-ology. Studies varied in their assessment of state versus trait levels of affect,the valence of the affective state (positive versus negative), assessment oftemporal versus concurrent effects (i.e., does affect lead to sexual behavior?), and assessment of whether the relationship between affective states(or traits) and sexual behavior differ between men with and without HS.To date, no study has examined whether the ways in which negative orpositive affect leads to a greater or lower likelihood of engaging in sexualbehavior differs among men with and without HS.

The current study aims to address this gap by examining the day-to-dayrelation between positive and negative affect and various types of sexualbehavior (viewing sexual imagery, engaging in masturbation and engagingin partnered sexual activity) using a sample of MSM with and without hypersexuality. By using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA: Dunton,Liao, Intille, Spruijt-Metz, & Pentz,2011; Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford,2008), we examined  temporal ordering of affect and sexual behavior. Thisstudy extends existing research by focusing on positive affect, as well asnegative affect, and by assessing masturbation and partnered sexual activity. Given prior research and proposed theoretical conceptualizations thathypersexual behavior serves as a coping strategy, we expected that negativeaffect will be associated with greater likelihood of engaging in all threetypes of sexual behavior among hypersexual men. Further, we expected thatpositive affect, but not negative affect, will be associated with greater likeli-hood of engaging in all three types of sexual behavior among MSM without hypersexuality.

Social discounting: A higher weight on future generations changes both climate and fiscal policy; absent fiscal policy adjustments, the social cost of carbon is not the optimal tax

Be careful what you calibrate for: Social discounting in general equilibrium. Lint Barrage. Journal of Public Economics, Volume 160, April 2018, Pages 33-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.02.012

Highlights
•    Social discounting is assessed in a general equilibrium climate-economy model.
•    A higher weight on future generations changes both climate and fiscal policy.
•    Optimal policy includes an effective capital income subsidy.
•    Optimal policy includes labor-consumption wedge that is decreasing over time.
•    Absent fiscal policy adjustments, the social cost of carbon is not the optimal tax.

Abstract: Concerns about intergenerational equity have led to an influential practice of setting social utility discount rates based on ethical considerations rather than to match household behavior, particularly in climate change economics (e.g., Stern, 2006). This paper formalizes the broader policy implications of this approach in general equilibrium by characterizing jointly optimal environmental and fiscal policies in a climate-economy model with differential planner-household discounting. First, I show that decentralizing the optimal allocation requires not only high carbon prices but also fundamental changes to tax policy: If the government discounts the future less than households, implementing the optimal allocation requires an effective capital income subsidy (a negative intertemporal wedge), and, in a setting with distortionary taxation, an effective labor-consumption tax wedge that is decreasing over time. Second, if the government cannot subsidize capital income, the constrained-optimal carbon tax may be up to 50% below the present value of marginal damages (the social cost of carbon) due to the general equilibrium effects of climate policy on household savings. Third, given the choice to optimize either carbon, capital, or labor income taxes, the socially discounting planner's welfare ranking is ambiguous over a standard range of parameters. Overall, in general equilibrium, a policy-maker's choice to adopt differential social discounting may thus overturn conventional recommendations for both environmental and fiscal policy.

More frequent usage of Twitter positively affects the acquisition of current affairs knowledge; opposite is found for Facebook, particularly for citizens with less political interest

Social network sites and acquiring current affairs knowledge: The impact of Twitter and Facebook usage on learning about the news. Mark Boukes. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Feb 06 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2019.1572568

Abstract: This study investigates how the use of Twitter and Facebook affects citizens’ knowledge acquisition, and whether this effect is conditional upon people’s political interest. Using a panel survey design with repeated measures of knowledge acquisition, this study is able to disentangle causality and to demonstrate that more frequent usage of Twitter positively affects the acquisition of current affairs knowledge. The opposite is found for Facebook: More frequent Facebook usage causes a decline in knowledge acquisition. This negative effect of Facebook usage occurred particularly for citizens with less political interest, thereby, amplifying the existing knowledge gap between politically interested and uninterested citizens.

KEYWORDS: Social network sites, learning effects, current affairs knowledge, Facebook, Twitter, social media, knowledge gap

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To date, no research has been able to convincingly unveil a causal relationship between the usage of specific social networks sites and the acquisition of current affairs knowledge. This is partly due to the reliance on cross-sectional datasets. Survey research cannot determine the directionality of causal relationships: Associations between SNS usage and knowledge may identify a selection mechanism (i.e., knowledge causing SNS use) rather than a media effect. Using a panel survey design (three-waves; n = 3,240) with a repeated measure of (new) current affairs knowledge, the current study has a unique ability to analyze whether the two social networks most often used for news consumption (respectively Facebook and Twitter, [...]) affect the current affairs information that citizens acquire.

Judged originals (inaccurately) labeled as revisions to be superior to revisions (inaccurately) labeled as originals, or when revisions were trivial, incidental, non-existent, & even objectively worse than the original

Garcia-Rada, Ximena and John, Leslie K. and O'Brien, Ed and Norton, Michael I., The Revision Bias (February 4, 2019). Harvard Business School NOM Unit Working Paper No. 19-087. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3329340

Abstract: Things change. Things also get changed—often. Why? The obvious reason is that revising things makes them better. In the current research, we document a less obvious reason: Revising things makes people think they are better, absent objective improvement. We refer to this phenomenon as the revision bias. Nine studies document this effect and provide insight into its psychological underpinnings. In Study 1, MBA students perceived their revised resumes to be of higher quality the more they differed from their original versions, but this perception was not justified: observers judged originals (inaccurately) labeled as revisions to be superior to revisions (inaccurately) labeled as originals. Study 2 pinpoints the direction of the effect: revisions are appealing, as opposed to originals being unappealing. Moreover, the revision bias holds in a variety of settings in which the revision is devoid of objective improvement: when revisions are trivial (Study 3A), incidental (Study 3B), non-existent (Study 3C), and even objectively worse than the original (Study 3D). Study 4 directly tests the self-fulfilling nature of the revision bias, testing whether mere revision framing leads people to become less critical of the experience—in this study, less sensitive to possible bugs while playing an otherwise identical “revised” video game—and whether this mediates the effect of revision framing on positive evaluations. Studies 5A and 5B offer further support by testing whether the revision bias is accentuated when people engage in a holistic processing style, whether measured as an individual difference (Study 5A) or experimentally induced (Study 5B).

Keywords: change, heuristics and biases, framing, sequences, judgment

Even though theories of dynamic equilibrium include phenomena of ruptures, homeostasis & tension, these are understood as momentary alterations of a condition that must be restored to maintain integrity

Affective semiosis and affective logic. Luca Tateo. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 48, January 2018, Pages 1-11, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2017.08.002

Abstract: Psychology values consistency, reduction of uncertainty, causality and continuity as normative aspects of mental life. Even though theories of dynamic equilibrium include phenomena of ruptures, homeostasis and tension as part of the psychological functioning, these are understood as momentary alterations of a condition that must be restored in order to maintain the integrity of the system. Yet in everyday life one can observe phenomena in which human beings constantly move ahead the conditions of living and the limits of what is somehow acceptable. Tension, ambivalence and uncertainty are part of existence and the most part of us can perfectly live with it, if not actively looking for it.

Traditional logic underneath psychology cannot account for this meaning-making process. We then need to think about a specific form of affective logic that can enable us to understand extreme phenomena not as pathologies but as special forms of meaning-making. I will outline an affective semiosis process based on an affective logic, drawing from the ideas of Peirce's semiotics, Meinong's theory of objectives, Wittegenstein's concept of “seeing-as”, Herbst's co-genetic logic and Simmel's complementarity between binding and unbinding.

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According to Peirce, in his famous distinction between “seminars” and “laboratories” philosophers, the “true scientific Eros” (Peirce, CP 1.620)1 is not pursued by those who “love only the truth already in their possession and, thus, conceive their task as steadfast and uncompromising defense of their property” (Colapietro, 1988, p. xvii), rather by the “painstaking and cooperative inquirer” (Colapietro, 1988, p. xvii), who thinks that discover is an everending quest.

Reference
Colapietro,V.M. (1988). Peirce's approach to the self: A semiotic perspective on human subjectivity. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

From 2018. The quiet virtues of sadness: A selective theoretical and interpretative appreciation of its potential contribution to wellbeing

The quiet virtues of sadness: A selective theoretical and interpretative appreciation of its potential contribution to wellbeing. Tim Lomas. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 49, April 2018, Pages 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.01.002

Abstract: Critical emotion theorists have raised concerns that “normal” human emotions like sadness are increasingly being pathologised as disorders. Counter efforts have consequently been made to normalise such emotions, such as by highlighting their ubiquity and appropriacy. This paper goes slightly further by suggesting that sadness may not merely be normal, but could have inherent value, and might even be an integral component of a flourishing life. It offers a selective theoretical and interpretative review of literature on the potential “virtues” of sadness. Three overarching themes are identified, each comprising four subthemes: (a) sadness as a mode of protection (including as a warning, as prompting disengagement, as a mode of conservation, and as enhancing accuracy); (b) sadness as an expression of care (including as a manifestation of love, of longing, of compassion, and eliciting care); and (c) sadness as a vehicle for flourishing (including as a moral sensibility, as engendering psychological development, as an aesthetic sensibility, and as integral to fulfilment). It is thus hoped that the paper can contribute to a more “positive” cultural discourse around sadness, suggesting that, for many people, experiences of sadness may serve an important function in their lives.

Prevalent practice in the literature of using correlated common and specific factors as independent predictors in classical ANOVA models is both statistically unsound and conceptually distorted

The misleading Dodo Bird verdict. How much of the outcome variance is explained by common and specific factors? Giulio de Felice et al. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 54, August 2019, Pages 50-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2019.01.006

Abstract: The literature on psychotherapy research makes use of the so-called "Dodo Bird Verdict" to show that therapeutic change owes more to common factors than to specific techniques. According to the bulk of the empirical literature, common factors explain 30–70% of therapy outcome variance, while specific factors account for between 5% and 15%. This formulation is based on the assumption that common and specific factors are independent of each other. The present study uses a systematic review of the literature to empirically demonstrate that common and specific factors of change are actually correlated. In other words, the prevalent practice in the literature of using correlated common and specific factors as independent predictors in classical ANOVA models is both statistically unsound and conceptually distorted. We offer several alternative proposals for a sensible re-evaluation of the Dodo Bird verdict.

Examining the effect of combat excitement & diminished civilian solidarity on life satisfaction for American veterans

Examining the effect of combat excitement & diminished civilian solidarity on life satisfaction for American veterans. Gary Senecal et al. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 52, January 2019, Pages 12-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.09.001

Abstract: The data accounting for the difficulties many OIF and OEF veterans experience upon reintegration into civilian society have been thoroughly documented over the last fifteen years. Among these difficulties, some veterans experience antisocial, self-injurious, and violent tendencies upon returning to civilian life. In this research project, 220 veterans were completed self-report surveys pertaining to their transition from military life to a civilian career. Some of the participants' responses revealed that there was a significant emotional and motivational dimension to the formation of otherwise aggressive and self-destructive tendencies activated upon leaving their military careers and culture. The term combat excitement was coined to articulate participants’ anticipation of enemy contact while deployed. This study demonstrates that high levels of combat excitement correlated with lower life satisfaction and lower civilian solidarity for participants in their civilian lives after leaving an active duty setting. Furthermore, civilians solidarity had a strong positive correlation with life satisfaction for participants. Ultimately, this study looks at how significant strong civilian relationships are vital to the health and life satisfaction of veterans as they leave active duty, as well as how combat excitement can weaken the tendency of veterans to have strong civilian relationships after service.

Social contents in dreams: Dreams were found to contain more social interactions than corresponding waking life; prosocial social simulations were not specifically aimed at familiar persons

Social contents in dreams: An empirical test of the Social Simulation Theory. Jarno Tuominen et al. Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 69, March 2019, Pages 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2019.01.017

Highlights
•    Hypotheses from the Social Simulation Theory of dreaming were tested.
•    A novel content analysis method, the Social Content Scale, was developed.
•    Dreams were found to contain more social interactions than corresponding waking life.
•    Prosocial social simulations were not specifically aimed at familiar persons.
•    REM and NREM reports did not differ in prosocial or aggressive interactions.

Abstract: Social Simulation Theory (SST) considers the function of dreaming to be the simulation of social events. The Sociality Bias and the Strengthening hypotheses of SST were tested. Social Content Scale (SCS) was developed to quantify social events. Additionally, we attempted to replicate a previous finding (McNamara et al., 2005, Psychological Science) of REM dreams as predisposed to aggressive, and NREM dreams to prosocial interactions.

Further, we investigated the frequency and quality of interactions in late vs early REM and NREM dreams. Data consisted of wake, REM and NREM home dream reports (N = 232, 116, 116, respectively) from 15 students. Dreams overrepresented social events compared to wake reports, supporting the Sociality Bias hypothesis. However, the Strengthening Hypothesis was not supported. We weren’t able to replicate the McNamara et al. finding, and no time of night effect was found. While SST gained partial support, further research on social contents in dreams is required.

High Socioeconomic Status Predicts Substance Use and Alcohol Consumption in U.S. Undergraduates; Asians & married students were the least likely to use alcohol & drugs

High Socioeconomic Status Predicts Substance Use and Alcohol Consumption in U.S. Undergraduates. Chris C. Martin. Substance Use & Misuse, Feb 15 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2018.1559193

Abstract: Background: In health sociology, the prevailing consensus is that socioeconomic status (SES) lowers illness risk. This model neglects the fact that unhealthful consumption patterns may covary with affluence. The current study examines consumption of drugs and alcohol among affluent U.S. college students.

Objectives: The article tests the hypothesis that undergraduate students from high-SES households have higher rates and levels of drug and alcohol consumption than their peers.

Methods: The study used self-report data from 18,611 18- to 24-year-old undergraduates across 23 public and private U.S. institutions from the Healthy Minds 2016 dataset. Results: I found that high-SES undergraduates were more likely than peers to use marijuana, choose varied drugs, consume alcohol frequently, and use alcohol and substances to cope with stress. The first three results were robust after controlling for gender, race, residence type, and relationship status. Marital status and race were stronger predictors than SES. Asians and married students were the least likely to use alcohol and drugs.

Conclusions/Importance: Findings supported the main hypotheses, and the effects were robust to controls. Consumption of illicit drugs and alcohol may be one hitherto neglected reason for downward mobility among economically privileged college students.

Keywords: Higher education, social class, substance use, alcohol, young adulthood, Asian Americans

Telomere Length And Health Outcomes: Of 50 possible outcomes studied, only important for gastric cancer and, probably, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease

Telomere Length And Health Outcomes: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies. Lee Smith et al. Ageing Research Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2019.02.003

Highlights
• Shorter telomere length are associated with higher risk of non-communicable disease.

• Until now no attempt has been made to capture the breadth of outcomes associated with telomere length.

• This review indicates that shorter telomere length has a highly suggestive association with incidence of only specific cancer types, and has suggestive evidence with diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease risks.

• Telomere length has a weak association with heightened risks in a range of other important health outcomes (n = 20), whereas it has no role with others, including 27 outcomes out of 50.


Abstract: The aim of the present study was to map and grade evidence for the relationships between telomere length with a diverse range of health outcomes, using an umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses. We searched for meta-analyses of observational studies reporting on the association of telomere length with any health outcome (clinical disease outcomes and intermediate traits). For each association, random-effects summary effect size, 95% confidence interval (CI), and 95% prediction interval were calculated. To evaluate the credibility of the identified evidence, we assessed also heterogeneity, evidence for small-study effect and evidence for excess significance bias. Twenty-one relevant meta-analyses were identified reporting on 50 different outcomes and including a total of 326 observational studies. The level of evidence was high only for the association of short telomeres with higher risk of gastric cancer in the general population (relative risk, RR = 1.95, 95%CI: 1.68-2.26), and moderate for the association of shorter telomeres with diabetes or with Alzheimer’s disease, even if limited to meta-analyses of case-control studies. There was weak evidence for twenty outcomes and not significant association for 27 health outcomes. The present umbrella review demonstrates that shorter telomere length may have an important role in incidence gastric cancer and, probably, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. At the same time, conversely to general assumptions, it does not find strong evidence supporting the notion that shorter telomere length plays an important role in many health outcomes that have been studied thus far.

Keywords: Telomere lengthumbrella reviewobservational studies

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Some of the outcomes studied:

Disease-free survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Esophageal cancer
Head and neck cancer
Overall survival in glioma
Overall survival in lung cancer
Prostate cancer
Skin cancer - basal cell carcinoma
Skin cancer - melanoma
Depression
Stroke
Myocardial Infarction
type II diabetes mellitus
coronary heart disease
All-cause mortality in breast cancer
Bladder cancer
Breast cancer
Cancer recurrence
in breast cancer
Cancerspecific mortality in breast cancer
Colorectal cancer
Disease-free survival in colorectal cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Lung cancer
Lymphoma - Hodgkin's lymphoma
Ovarian cancer
Overall survival in bladder cancer
Overall survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Overall survival in colorectal cancer
Overall survival in esophageal cancer
Overall survival in ovarian cancer
Progressionfree survival in lung cancer
Renal cell carcinoma
AF  (incident)

Holding a green self-image & life satisfaction: Pro-environmental norms are experienced by greens as a standard of reference in the process of green status competition & by non-greens as a source of social pressure

Pro-environmental norms and subjective well-being: Panel evidence from the UK. Binder, Martin; Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin; Welsch, Heinz; Oldenburg Discussion Papers in Economics V-417-19, 2019. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/190962

Abstract: Tying in with a small number of studies on green norms, identity and subjective well-being, this paper studies the relationship between holding a green self-image and life satisfaction in the UK. Focusing on (sub-national) regions as the unit of reference, we investigate if and how the individual-level greenness-satisfaction relationship varies with measures of the prevalence and distribution (disparity) of greenness at the regional level, taking these measures as indicators of a green social norm. Two key findings emerge from our analysis. First, life satisfaction is negatively related to the regional-level mean (prevalence) and positively related to the regional-level diversity of greenness, while being unrelated to the degree of polarization of greenness. Taking the prevalence as a direct and diversity as an inverse measure of the validity of a greenness norm, these results are consistent with the idea that the norm is experienced (by greens) as a standard of reference in the process of green status competition or (by non-greens) as a source of social pressure. Second, the well-being benefits from holding a greener self-image are unrelated to the prevalence and diversity of greenness, but positively related to the polarization of greenness for those either very green or not green at all. This is consistent with the idea that green self-image yields well-being benefits through identity, that is, by identifying with the own group and differentiating oneself from other groups - a possibility that relies on sufficiently large differentiation/polarization of groups. We discuss differences between these results and previous findings based on measures of nation-wide prevalence and disparity of greenness.

Females preferred fungus‐infected males over other males; maybe these males invested their energetic resources to increase their attractiveness at the risk of survival, in a terminal investment fashion

Female choice for sick males over healthy males: Consequences for offspring. Alicia Reyes‐Ramirez et al. Ethology, Feb 15 2019, https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12854

Abstract: Sexual selection theory indicates that ornament expression in males is in close relation to their condition. This “honesty” relationship serves as the basis for female choice: Females would mate with healthy males over sick males after assessing male ornament signal expression and derive benefits for their progeny. Here, we investigated female mate choice for infected and non‐infected males, male survival after infection (to corroborate the negative effect of infection), and fitness consequences of female preferences using Tenebrio molitor beetles. Male infection was produced having two types of challenges as follows: males infected with entomopathogenic fungi and males infected with nylon implants. Similar to previous studies, we corroborated that females preferred fungus‐infected males over positive control, negative control, and nylon‐challenged males. Survival was the lowest for fungus‐treated males followed by nylon‐treated and control males. Females mated with fungus‐treated males laid fewer and smaller eggs, and the laid eggs had less lipid content with a reduced eclosion success compared to females mated with non‐challenged males. Our interpretation is that fungus‐treated males invested their energetic resources to increase their attractiveness at the risk of survival, in a terminal investment fashion. Females, however, would have corrected their choice by investing less in their offspring.

Humor reduces the perceived veracity of proximal statements; diminishes the perceived veracity of negative disclosures; adding humor to negative disclosures boosts perceptions of warmth and competence

The impression management benefits of humorous self-disclosures: How humor influences perceptions of veracity. T. Bradford Bitterly et al. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 151, March 2019, Pages 73-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.01.005

Highlights
• Humor reduces the perceived veracity of proximal statements.
• Humor diminishes the perceived veracity of negative disclosures.
• Adding humor to negative disclosures boosts perceptions of warmth and competence.
• Humor is a powerful impression management tool.

Abstract: Across five studies, we identify humor as a powerful impression management tool that influences perceptions of veracity. In many domains, such as negotiations and interviews, individuals face a challenge with respect to disclosing negative information and managing impressions. For example, an interviewer may ask an applicant to name their greatest weakness. In these settings, disclosures that reveal negative information (e.g., “I am not good at math.”) can harm perceptions of warmth and competence. We demonstrate that pairing a humorous statement with a disclosure (e.g., “I am not good at math. Geometry is where I draw the line.”) changes perceptions of the veracity of the disclosure; disclosures are less likely to be judged as true when they are accompanied by a humorous statement than when they are not. We introduce the Speaker's Inferred Motive (SIM) Model and consider the possibility that (a) speakers pursue different motives, such as a transmission-of-ideas motive (to convey information) or an entertainment motive (to amuse an audience), (b) audience members infer the speaker’s motive, and (c) these inferences influence perceptions of the veracity of proximal disclosures. As a result, by using humor, a speaker may signal a shift in motive and diminish perceptions of the veracity of both the humorous statement and proximal claims. Taken together, when a target discloses negative information, including information that is highly relevant to the conversational partner, the use of humor can boost perceptions of warmth and competence. We discuss implications of our findings with respect to communication, interpersonal perception, and impression management.

We propose a novel tripartite taxonomy of Schadenfreude: Aggression, rivalry, and justice; the process of dehumanization may lie at the core of Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude deconstructed and reconstructed: A tripartite motivational model. Shensheng Wang, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Philippe Rochat. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 52, January 2019, Pages 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.09.002

Highlights
•    Research from diverse subdisciplines of psychology sheds light on Schadenfreude.
•    We propose a novel tripartite taxonomy of Schadenfreude: Aggression, rivalry, and justice.
•    The process of dehumanization may lie at the core of Schadenfreude.

Abstract: Schadenfreude is the distinctive pleasure people derive from others' misfortune. Research over the past three decades points to the multifaceted nature of Schadenfreude rooted in humans’ concerns for social justice, self-evaluation, and social identity. Less is known, however, regarding how the differing facets of Schadenfreude are interrelated and take shape in response to these concerns. To address these questions, we review extant theories in social psychology and draw upon evidence from developmental, personality, and clinical research literature to propose a novel, tripartite, taxonomy of Schadenfreude embedded in a motivational model. Our model posits that Schadenfreude comprises three separable but interrelated subforms (aggression, rivalry, and justice), which display different developmental trajectories and personality correlates. This model further posits that dehumanization plays a central role in both eliciting Schadenfreude and integrating its various facets. In closing, we point to fruitful directions for future research motivated by this novel account of Schadenfreude.

It challenges the use of cognitive-behavioural psychological models underpinning many of the dominant & popular accounts of emotion in the neurosciences; gives importance to the cultural-historical school

Emotions, social activity and neuroscience: The cultural-historical formation of emotion. Ian Burkitt. New Ideas in Psychology, Volume 54, August 2019, Pages 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.11.001

Abstract: This article challenges the use of cognitive-behavioural psychological models underpinning many of the dominant and popular accounts of emotion in the neurosciences. Acknowledging that neurobiology is important for any understanding of emotion, an alternative model of neuropsychology is sought in the work of theorists of the cultural-historical school, particularly A. N. Leontyev and A. R. Luria. The importance of their work in stressing the key role of intentional social activity, culture, and language in the formation of human neuropsychological functions is developed into a theory of emotions that can provide an alternative for emotion studies. In this theory, activity, culture, history, and individual ontogeny play the defining role in structuring the neurobiological systems that underlie emotions, as opposed to the evolution of behaviours that are hard-wired into the brain and function as automatic responses. Instead, it is understood that there is a continuum between evolution and human social and cultural development.