From 2013... . Hegelian-Marxist Pornology, Lack of Courage, and Babbling Theorizing

Pornodialectics: From Coming to Becoming. Bradley Tuck. One+One Issue 10. Feb 25 2013. https://www.academia.edu/3723924/

Introduction:

In March 2003, the University of Alabama hosted a debate between pornographer-multimedia star Ron Jeremy and new anti-pornography activist Susan B. Cole. Sounds controversial. Yet students were far from outraged that a porn star had been elevated to an expert panellist at a university event, even on a moderately conservative southern campus. Nor were any feminist activists on campus rallying to Cole’s side. Instead Jeremy was greeted with cheers from students dressed in t-shirts boasting “I love porn,” while Cole was booed and jeered at by the audience. Despite Cole’s careful insistence that she was not opposed to sex and wasn’t a member of the “sex police,” she was mocked for arguing that pornography exploits women. During the panel debate, which was mostly a forum for Jeremy to boast about the benefits of porn and “having a party,” students took the opportunity to ask Cole questions like, “what’s your fucking problem?”
        - Pamela Paul, Pornified p.113

[Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families. 2007. https://www.amazon.com/Pornified-Pornography-Transforming-Relationships-Families-ebook/dp/B003J5UIWI]

Last section:

16.   Pornodialectics demands that we challenge the means of production, the exploitation of the capitalist system and even capitalism itself. It opposes the oppressive and exploitative nature of the free-market to fairer and more participatory economics. It encourages the equality, health and self-determination of all those who work on it. It does not value any individual over another and encourages the economic equality of each of its members. We may say that the telos of pornodialectics is inherently communistic, we look forward to the genuinely universal emancipatory society, where the fruits of life and love are shared in common. We, therefore, follow in the footsteps of the great gay communists of the 70s. As Mario Mieli writes, “The struggle for communism today must find expression, among other things, in the negation of the heterosexual Norm that is based on the repression of Eros and is essential for maintaining the rule of capital over the species. The ‘perversions’, and homosexuality in particular, are a rebellion against the subjugation of sexuality by the established order, against the almost total enslavement of eroticism (repressed or repressively desublimated) to the ‘performance principle’, to production and reproduction (of labour-power).” 4 We must embark upon a two pronged process. A cultural challenge of the conservative, libertarian and heteronormative expectations and conventions through the creation of new values and practices, but integrated within newly arising economic and political demands. The opposition to subjugation, labour and exploitation must be conjoined with a new aspiration towards pleasure beyond the capitalistic dichotomy of work and leisure (consumerism). Pornodialectics challenges the means of production and the normative curtailment of man’s potential to re-open the process of man’s continual becoming.

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My comments: Why Bradley thinks he is so transgressive, dynamic, and post-modern? He says "The ‘perversions’, and homosexuality in particular, are a rebellion," but he doesn't have the courage to mention gay paederasty, which is more rebellious and confronts more directly "heterosexual Norm."

Bradley, you are ducking the big questions, the big fights, the great sexual traditions.

Are there means to help optimize the (science, technology, and enterprise) components of Earth System predictability research? Would a top-down Systems-of-Systems design & development approach help advance research?

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020. Earth System Predictability Research and Development: Proceedings of a Workshop in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, Jul 2020. https://doi.org/10.17226/25861

Panelist Ruby Leung, Department of Energy Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, emphasized that model biases are limiting understanding of Earth system predictability and the ability to make predictions. [Jean-Francois] Lamarque agreed, pointing out that several of these biases have been present in climate models for decades, but the reasons for them are not well understood. Improving understanding of how to resolve these biases has not been a focus of climate model intercomparison efforts.

Increasing model resolution could be a game changer in how persistent model biases and improving predictability are addressed, said Leung, because it would allow simulation of subgrid-scale processes that are currently parameterized. Furthermore, fully representing subgrid moist convection processes could help address the lack of variability or chaotic behavior in the models that results in misrepresentation of the signal-to-noise ratio used to estimate predictability. Similarly, fully simulating mesoscale eddies could improve modeling of air-sea interactions that contribute to subseasonal-to-interannual predictability.

Multi-disciplinary teams of observationalists, modelers, software engineers, computational scientists, and data analysts are needed to make progress in Earth system modeling, said Lamarque.


NEW RESEARCH FRAMEWORK FOR PRACTICABLE EARTH SYSTEM PREDICTABILITY

Development of a national approach and strategy to knit together predictability-focused theoretical work with observational, modeling, and technology research is an imperative for advancing practicable prediction, said session chair Jenni Evans, The Pennsylvania State University. This session explored opportunities to break down compartmentalization of communities. By making convergent research the new normal, and developing and sustaining a creative workforce, a new foundation on the science and applications of Earth system predictability research can be created.

Duane Waliser, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, started off the session by suggesting the application of a more formal systems engineering approach (see Box 2), to break down the complexity of Earth system predictability into a coordinated and collaborative outcome-driven program. The need for a systems engineering approach stems from the sheer complexity of the questions and objectives being considered: Earth system science is complex, the technology and tools (including models and observations) are rapidly evolving, and the programmatic aspects of the enterprise (including civil, commercial and social) are challenging to optimally coordinate. Waliser argued that a system of systems (SoS) approach could be a way to judiciously integrate and evolve the underlying components to maximize value and societal impacts.

Waliser explained that the Earth system prediction enterprise could be roughly equated to a “collaborative” SoS (Box 2), one that has developed over the last 50 years on a somewhat ad-hoc basis. While this type of SoS tends to rely on a voluntary approach to coordination, it has yielded significant environmental forecast capabilities and decision support guidance. However, given the critical importance of Earth system prediction to the security and resilience of society, there may be reasons to consider moving to an SoS approach that would entail a more formal design and management process, in order to achieve future advances. Waliser posed the questions: “Are there means to help optimize the (science, technology, and enterprise) components? Would a top-down SoS design and development approach help advance Earth system predictability? Are there aspects of a systems engineering approach that would help to achieve an overall vision for Earth system prediction and the decision-support guidance it enables? Is there a need for a coordinating office or body that could direct effort and resources, one that takes into account the strengths and complementary elements of the various agencies and commercial enterprises that have a role and stake in contributing to this critical national capability?” To answer these questions, Waliser suggested assembling a team of systems engineering and Earth system prediction experts to assess the value of more formally engaging an SoS perspective to help guide the nation’s Earth systems predictability roadmap and prioritizations.

Panelist Paula Bontempi, NASA, highlighted the need for having a structure in place that integrates communities and avoids compartmentalization. Bontempi urged agencies to create opportunities that encourage disciplines, as well as scientists and managers, to work together towards common objectives. She said that one solution is to craft solicitations and competitions for federal research and development funding in ways that inspire the next generation to be creative in proposing ideas that break down compartmentalization.

Panelist Waleed Abdalati, NOAA/CIRES and University of Colorado at Boulder, reinforced the need to employ systems-level thinking. Abdalati spoke of the importance of a shared focus, shared vision, and shared strategy to empower agencies to prioritize a collective effort and move away from the sum of the parts approach for Earth systems predictability research. Abdalati said that agencies need to be liberated to do more than just play in the sandbox together; they need to build the sandbox together.

Panelist Chris Bretherton, University of Washington, reiterated the need for a coordinated interagency research agenda and identified other challenges to avoiding compartmentalization. To foster an environment of interdisciplinary research, it is important to have open, accessible, well-documented and publicized community models and data sets. An investment in software engineering is needed to make existing data and models as useful for interdisciplinary research as possible by lowering barriers to access. Furthermore, Bretherton advised clearly defining shared goals that naturally bring communities together.

Several panelists emphasized that achieving a new research framework to progress understanding of Earth system predictability requires an inspired next generation of scientists and engineers. Bretherton explained that students need to be educated on Earth system predictability as interdisciplinary research. According to Abdalati, to attract a talented workforce, a perception needs to prevail that this research is of utmost importance and is recognized and supported from leaders of all sectors of society.

Box 2: What is Systems Engineering? 

Systems engineering concentrates on understanding, designing, and managing complex systems, namely, systems of interworking components that synergistically work together to perform a useful function (e.g. spacecraft, robotics, software, manufacturing processes, communication systems, healthcare, defense, etc.). 

Systems engineering includes requirements development, logistics, team coordination, testing and evaluation, costs, reliability, work processes, optimization, risk management, and often the overlaps between technical and human systems. 

Systems of systems (SoS) can be defined by the degree to which it relies upon formal design and management processes: 

• Virtual SoS lack a central management authority and centrally recognized purpose but results in an emergent, useful behavior.
• Collaborative SoS involve voluntary actions by component systems to meet recognized central purposes.
• Acknowledged SoS have recognized central purposes, as well as a designated manager and resources, while component systems retain independence.
• Directed SoS entail an integrated SoS that is built and managed to meet specific purposes. 

Source: MITRE. 2014. Systems Engineering Guide: Collected Wisdom from MITRE’s Systems Engineering Experts. Bedford, MA: The MITRE Corporation.

All the 4 facets of justice sensitivity were moderately heritable (21%–33%) & the non-shared environmental factors accounted for the rest variations (67%–79%); sensitivity to others’ suffering is grounded upon genetic origin

Heritability of justice sensitivity. Wang,Yun 1,2,3 ; Luo,Yu 3,4 ; Wu, Shengtao 5 ; Zhou, Yuan. PsyChinaXiv, Jul 10 2020. http://psych.chinaxiv.org/abs/202007.00020

Abstract: Justice is one of fundamental principles in human evolution, and justice sensitivity, both from the proself perspective (e.g., as victim) and the prosocial perspective (e.g., as observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator), matters in mental wellness and social interaction. However, it remains unclear to what extent individual difference in justice sensitivity is influenced by genetic versus environmental factors. Using a sample with 244 twin pairs, the present research was an attempt to determine what extent genetic factor plays a role in the inter-individual difference of justice sensitivity as well as whether different facets of justice sensitivity, namely, proself and prosocial perspective, share common genetic basis. Results showed that (1) all the four facets of justice sensitivity were moderately heritable (21%–33%) and that the non-shared environmental factors accounted for the rest variations (67%–79%); (2) associations between the prosocial facets of justice sensitivity were driven by common genetics (rg: .50–.65) and non-shared environmental (re: .24–.65) influences, whereas no strong evidence supported a genetic correlation between proself and prosocial justice sensitivity. The current findings provide novel evidence that sensitivity to injustice, especially to others’ suffering, is fundamentally grounded upon genetic origin, thus shedding light on the nature and nurture aspects of justice behavior.

DOI：10.12074/202007.00020
Keywords: justice sensitivity; heritability; twin study; behavioral genetics

Children Are Not Losing Contact with Nature: They have less experience with traditional extensive farming activities, but have much more experience with nature, connected with recreational and field-trip activities

Are Children Actually Losing Contact with Nature, or Is It That Their Experiences Differ from Those of 120 years Ago? Petr Novotný et al. Environment and Behavior, July 1 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916520937457

Abstract: We compared the experience with nature of today’s children with data from the beginning of the 20th century to determine whether we can confirm a loss of experience and contribute to the description of changes in children’s relationship with nature. We used a questionnaire originally published in 1900 for this survey. Results from contemporary participants tested by ANOVA showed no difference in level of experience according to the age of the respondents. Comparing historical data with current data by a Z-test for proportions and Cohen’s h, we found a significant increase in contemporary children’s summary experiences. Although children of the 21st century have less experience with traditional extensive farming activities and biotechnologies, they have much more experience with nature, apparently connected with recreational and field-trip activities. We cannot confirm a decrease in experience among generations, on the contrary, we found a summary increase in experience.

Keywords: human-nature interactions, experience of nature, biophilia, historical comparison, nature-deficit disorder

From 2019... Resistance, Subversion, and the Absence of Religion in Traditional Societies

From 2019... Resistance, Subversion, and the Absence of Religion in Traditional Societies. June 2019. Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Richard Sosis. Jun 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333618468

Description: How prevalent is religious doubt among the traditional, small-scale populations typically studied by anthropologists? Do traditional peoples resist religious mores? If so, how? Our chapter aims to answer these questions. We first consider the claim that some small-scale populations lack religion, or certain forms of religion, by examining several ethnographic case studies from around the world. We then discuss cases where populations incorporate subversion into religious traditions. We conclude by looking forward and recommending directions for future research on nonbelief and doubt among traditional populations.

Germany 2003-2017: Overall physical activity remained stable among youths in the past ten years, however, there is an ongoing trend towards organized forms of PA at the expense of unorganized sports and playing outside

The physical activity of children and adolescents in Germany 2003-2017: The MoMo-study. Steffen C. E. Schmidt ,Bastian Anedda,Alexander Burchartz,Doris Oriwol,Simon Kolb,Hagen Wäsche,Claudia Niessner,Alexander Woll. PLoS One, July 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236117

Abstract: With digitalization and virtual entertainment being the megatrends of the 21st century, there is reasonable concern about the role of physical activity (PA) in the daily life of children and adolescents. To identify risk-groups with insufficient PA and to guide interventions, continuous and representative tracking of PA is crucial. In this paper, representative PA data of children and adolescents from the Motorik-Modul (MoMo) baseline study (2003–2006, N = 4,528) is compared to those of Wave 2 (2014–2017, N = 3,708). Participants aged 4–17 were drawn out of 167 sample points in Germany and the data was weighted to ensure representativeness for Germany. Organized (sports clubs and schools) and unorganized (unorganized sports and playing outside) PA was measured by questionnaire and stratified by sex, age, and socioeconomic status. Contrary to common expectation, overall PA remained stable among youths in the past ten years, however, there is an ongoing trend towards organized forms of PA at the expense of unorganized sports and playing outside. Besides different trends in settings, there is inequality in PA distribution among socioeconomic status and gender, unequally pronounced in different settings.

4 Discussion

The MoMo Wave 2 data confirm the trend of decreasing unorganized PA and increasing organized PA among children and adolescents living in Germany. The results are consistent with the results of Wave 1 (2009–2012) data [8]. However, a slight overall increase in PA that has been found in the data from 2003 to 2012 [8] could not be confirmed. Additionally, a closer look at the settings and disadvantaged groups revealed significant, setting-specific socioeconomic inequalities in PA behavior that should be used to tailor target-group and setting-specific interventions.

4.1 Organized physical activity

Whereas time spent in curricular sports remained stable from 2003 to 2017, the overall time spent in extracurricular sports increased from 6.1 to 16.6 minutes per week. This finding verifies the trend we observed from Wave 1 data [8], evolving extracurricular activities to an important setting for organized PA in Germany. One reason for this development might be the extensive implementation of daytime schools in Germany in the last years. The fear of a "PA cannibalism" at the expense of PA in sports clubs with increasing PA in schools and other extracurricular activities [26] is not confirmed. However, this study shows evidence for a general PA cannibalism, but at the expense of unstructured PA. Boys reported slightly higher amounts of extracurricular PA in school compared to girls, especially at the age of 11 to 13, but mean differences between genders are small. Taking into account the apparent gender inequality in sports clubs, extracurricular sports could be used as a vehicle to promote PA among girls in the school setting.

Considering the 15-year trend from Baseline to Wave 2, an increase in participation rates from 53.5% to 60.0% and 89.4 to 99.1 minutes PA in sports clubs was observed. Official numbers from the DOSB also report relatively stable rates of sports club memberships during the 2000s and 2010s with rates peaking at 79.8% among 7-to-14-year-old boys and 61.1 among 7-to-14-year-old girls [10]. In sum, a total of 60.0% of children and adolescents living in Germany report to participate in PA in sports clubs (Table 1). Overall rates of participation in sports clubs peak as early as between the age of six to ten and then decline slowly until adulthood. This decline in PA participation during adulthood is also reported in Canadian studies [27, 28]. Studies with non-humans show that a decline in PA of up to 50% appears at the maturation from adolescence to adulthood in nearly every living being [29]. However, Farooq and colleagues stated in a recent study that PA declines as early as from the age of 7 years in western civilizations and that there was no evidence indicating a substantially smaller decline during childhood than during the transition between adolescence and adulthood [30]. Considering the overall average time spent with PA per week (Table 2) compared to PA participation rates, a decline is delayed to late adolescents, as training volumes increase with age which, in turn, compensate for drop-outs. However, sports clubs are still the most important setting for the PA of children and adolescents in Germany and become more important worldwide [31]. A critical question is how to foster the active participation of adults in sports clubs. Offering a broader range of sports, including new trend sports and sports-related activities, as well as age-appropriated forms of motivation and competition are just some of many possible examples for interventions in the setting sports club.

4.2 Unorganized physical activity & playing outside

Data from Wave 1 showed that in Germany, unorganized sports activity as well as playing outside decreased between 2003 and 2012. This decline could be confirmed by our recent Wave 2 data. Other international studies also reported a declining trend in active play [32]. Reviews state that active, unstructured play in developed countries is decreasing for various reasons, including increased screen time, safety concerns (e.g. traffic, stranger danger), emphasis on organized youth sports, and parental work [5]. Although studies show that PA, particularly unorganized activity, is an effective way to decrease obesity in children [33], active play is likely of light intensity and to date, still, the significance of light and/or incidental PA among children and adolescents, is widely unknown [5]. One promising approach in promoting unorganized PA such as playing outside or active commuting is to improve walkability [34]. Walkability is, in turn, linked to unorganized sports activity and outside play in children [34]. Even though, there is some evidence that active commuting is not, or even negatively linked to organized PA in children under 10 years of age [35]. However, it may be a source of unorganized PA for older children and adolescents, just because of the fact they cross and use playgrounds on their way [36].

4.3 Overall PA & socioeconomic inequalities

Our study shows that overall PA among children and adolescents in Germany did not decline significantly during the 2000s and 2010s, although this expectation was expressed in previous research [37]. Other national studies and previous research support this finding [7, 8]. Referring to international PA recommendations [4] overall PA is on an unsatisfying level in Germany [38]. Nevertheless, the signaled crisis in childhood PA [5, 6] did not get worse during the 2000s and 2010s in Germany and there is a lack of representative data from periods before 2000 to discuss earlier trends.

However, as our survey assessed mainly sports activity, shifts in light PA may have been unobserved in our study. A recent Norwegian study among a representative sample of 9-year-olds found, that the prevalence of children and adolescents meeting the Norwegian PA recommendations was similar in 2005–2006 and 2011–2012. Yet, their accelerometer data indicated that both children and adolescents substituted time spent in light PA for time spent sedentary [39].

The decrease of unorganized PA among children and adolescents since the beginning of this study is alarming and needs to be observed meticulously. It is yet unclear, whether the lack of unorganized PA can be compensated in organized settings with the expertise of trained instructors. Although, participants in sports clubs typically spend 40–50% of their time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [40] and intensities of PA during organized sports are relatively high compared to other settings [14, 41]. Current studies indicate that sports clubs become a more and more important source of PA all over the world [31] and sports club participants are more likely to meet PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4, [31]). The question of the pros and cons of a mainly structured and guided PA at the expense of unorganized playing outside becomes increasingly important and should be the focus of further experimental research.

Although there is not much change in the total amount of PA, previous research that focused on biological and environmental correlates [42], different settings [8], and socio-structural factors [43] revealed that there is social and environmental inequality in PA attendance and PA behavior in Germany. The SES has been identified as an important correlate of PA and a healthy lifestyle [5, 34]. Socioeconomic disparities in health behavior have been found by numerous studies all over the world and account for a large amount of PA inequality [44–46]. By analyzing different PA-relevant settings, the present study shows that these socioeconomic differences are not evenly pronounced in each setting. For example, there is no gender gap in curricular sports, and gender differences in extracurricular sports are small and age-dependent (Table 2). Adding the SES as a factor, our study shows that a prevalent gender gap in unorganized PA is mainly due to differences between gender among youths from families with low SES (Table 3) and can therefore not be generalized. In families with an intermediate SES, girls do even more unorganized PA compared to their male counterparts. The fact that different social groups participate in different types of settings provides the opportunity for target-group-specific interventions. An example would be the development of additional programs for extracurricular sports in schools utilizing cooperations between schools and sports clubs to reach out especially for girls from low SES families or girls with migration backgrounds. On the other hand, these setting-specific trends sharpen the scope of shifts in the importance of those settings. For example, the shift from unorganized PA to PA in sports clubs may leave boys from low SES families with lesser overall PA.

The large meta-analysis from Althoff et al. (2017) about PA data from smartphones found these inequalities in PA to be crucial for the prevalence of inactivity driven diseases such as overweight and obesity.

4.4 Strength and limitations

The present study is limited to its observational nature and we do not intend to infer causality from paralleled trends or significant correlations. The main goal of MoMo is to track and report PA and fitness of children and adolescents in a nationwide sample, and significant effort was put into collecting representative data from 167 sample points all over the country.

PA was assessed by self-reports. This method has various limitations including recall bias and social desirability. Measuring PA by objective methods such as accelerometers is more accurate in most types of PA, but is always limited to a short time interval, and unless a diary is added, the setting in which the PA took place is not captured. Since accelerometers capture any form of PA in a specific time frame, the correlation with self-reported habitual PA in specific settings is expected to be restricted, even when summarized. An accelerometer is also a very responsive tool towards socially desired behavior, and children drop it for some sports like swimming, martial arts, and sometimes even curricular sports in school. Using a questionnaire offered the chance to assess different types of exercise as well as other PA parameters like setting and sports club membership during a normal week, even when the person is, for example, on vacation or ill.

Mixed cyber aggressor-victims reported more social dominance and dating partners, and highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims reported more sexual partners, when compared to uninvolved peers

Social advantages and disadvantages associated with cyber aggression-victimization: A Latent Class Analysis. Kiana R. Lapierre, Andrew V. Dane. Computers in Human Behavior, July 20 2020, 106497, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106497

Highlights
• Evolutionary functions apply to cyber aggression and victimization.
• Empirical analyses show groups involved in both cyber aggression and victimization.
• Cyber aggressive-victim groups differ in frequency of reactive aggression.
• Cyber aggression-victimization is associated with social advantages.
• Highly reactive cyber aggression-victimization is linked to social disadvantages.

Abstract: This study examines cyber aggression and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending the literature by: (1) employing Latent Class Analysis to identify cyber aggression-victimization status groups using proactive and reactive cyber aggression, and cyber victimization, as indicators; and (2) examining whether cyber aggression-victimization status groups experience social advantages and disadvantages similar to those in traditional aggression research. In this study, a three-class model best described adolescents’ cyber aggression and victimization; in the sample of 400 adolescents ages 12–18, 79.4% were uninvolved, 13.1% were mixed cyber aggressor-victims (moderate proactive and reactive cyber aggression, and cyber victimization), and 7.4% were highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims (moderate proactive cyber aggression and cyber victimization, but high reactive cyber aggression). These groups contrast with those found in empirical traditional aggression research as pure cyber aggressors and cyber victims were not identified. Consistent with evolutionary theory and aggression research that suggest it has adaptive functions, mixed cyber aggressor-victims reported more social dominance and dating partners, and highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims reported more sexual partners, when compared to uninvolved peers. However, highly reactive cyber aggressor-victims also reported more friendship anxiety and less implicit social power than the mixed and uninvolved group, consistent with traditional research suggesting that reactive aggression is more strongly linked to social disadvantages and less strongly linked to social advantages, than is proactive aggression. Although cyber aggression is a relatively new form of aggression, an evolutionary perspective can illuminate why it continues to be a social problem despite intervention efforts.

Keywords: Proactive cyber aggressionReactive cyber aggressionCyber victimizationEvolutionary perspective

Rolf Degen summarizing... People differ systematically in the tendency to see the best or worst in others, with women and the less educated being more likely to take a rosy view

Seeing the Best or Worst in Others: A Measure of Generalized Other-Perceptions. Richard Rau et al. Assessment, February 26, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120905015

Abstract: How positively or negatively people generally view others is key for understanding personality, social behavior, and psychopathology. Previous research has measured generalized other-perceptions by relying on either explicit self-reports or judgments made in group settings. With the current research, we overcome the limitations of these past approaches by introducing a novel measurement instrument for generalized other-perceptions: the Online-Tool for Assessing Perceiver Effects (O-TAPE). By assessing perceivers’ first impressions of a standardized set of target people displayed in social network profiles or short video sequences, the O-TAPE captures individual differences in the positivity of other-perceptions. In Study 1 (n = 219), the instrument demonstrated good psychometric properties and correlations with related constructs. Study 2 (n = 142) replicated these findings and also showed that the O-TAPE predicted other-perceptions in a naturalistic group setting. Study 3 (n = 200) refined the nomological network of the construct and demonstrated that the O-TAPE is invulnerable to effects of social desirability.

Keywords: generalized other-perception, perceiver effect, interpersonal perception, person judgment, positivity bias

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People differ systematically in the tendency to see the best or worst in others, with women and the less educated being more likely to take a rosy view

More text: https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/the-better-people-are-educated-less.html

Decline in adolescent drinking: Some possible explanations

Decline in adolescent drinking: Some possible explanations. Ingeborg Rossow  Hilde Pape  Leila Torgersen. Drug and Alcohol Review, July 19 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13132

Abstract
Introduction and Aims: Adolescent drinking has decreased in numerous high‐income countries in the 2000s, and how to explain this downward trend is far from clear. Focussing on the decline in drinking to intoxication among youth in Norway, we examined the following potential explanatory factors: family/home‐based and peer‐oriented leisure‐time activities, perceived parental drinking, drug substitution, school conscientiousness and delinquency.

Design and Methods: Data stemmed from cross‐sectional surveys of adolescents aged 13–17 years in the four largest cities in Norway in 2002 (n = 1204) and in 2013/2015 (n = 31 441). We examined the extent to which the decline in intoxication prevalence was attributable to the possible explanatory variables using logistic regression analysis.

Results: The proportion reporting any past‐year intoxication episodes dropped markedly from 2002 (41%) to 2013/2015 (22%). Family/home‐oriented leisure‐time activities and school conscientiousness increased, whereas hanging out with friends in the evening and delinquent behaviours decreased. These factors together accounted for 43% of this decline. Decrease in going out with friends was the most important factor. We found no empirical support for assumptions that perceived parental drinking or drug substitution had contributed to the decrease in drinking to intoxication.

Discussion and Conclusions: Since the millennium shift, urban adolescents in Norway have become more home‐, family‐ and school‐oriented, and less involved in unsupervised socialising with peers and delinquency. These changes may have contributed to some of the reduction in the prevalence of intoxication in this population group.


DISCUSSION
The intoxication frequency among urban adolescents in Norway decreased substantially from 2002 to 2013/2015. Concomitantly, adolescents' leisure‐time activities, school commitment and delinquent behaviour also changed markedly. We found no empirical support for assumptions that parents had modified their own drinking practice, or that adolescents substituted alcohol with cannabis. However, substantial changes in leisure‐time activities, school conscientiousness and delinquency could explain—in statistical terms—a large proportion of the decrease in drinking to intoxication.

The sizable temporal changes, both in adolescent drinking and in factors associated with drinking, corroborate the research findings from many countries [1]. Thus, concurrent with the downward drinking trend in the 2000s, substantial cross‐national changes in adolescents' lifestyles, leisure‐time activities and priorities have occurred. First, most studies indicate that hanging out with friends in the evenings occurs less frequently [14, 17, 18], and that a marked increase in time spent on screen activities has occurred [28]. Some studies have also found an increase in spending time with parents [17, 29], as well as other changes that are indicative of closer ties to parents [30, 31]. This fits a broader picture of improved parenting and family relationships. Parents' knowledge about their adolescent offspring's whereabouts has increased, and alcohol‐specific parenting practices have become more restrictive [6, 11-13]. At least in the Nordic countries, it seems that young people want to perform better at school than previously, with higher academic ambitions [8, 32], which fits our findings of more school conscientiousness. Finally, and well in line with the above‐mentioned changes in young people's lives, delinquency and other risk‐taking behaviours have declined in several countries [8, 10, 30, 31], as we also found.

The single most important factor to explain the decline in drinking in our study was the decrease in time hanging out with friends in the evening. Some previous studies [14, 17-19] have also found that a decrease in hanging out with friends contributed to a decrease in drinking. The decrease in unsupervised socialising with peers probably implies fewer opportunities for drinking to intoxication. It has been suggested that the rise in time spent on using information and communication technologies is important in this regard, as adolescents have become too busy with their media pursuits at the expense of activities, such as substance use, that typically occur in face‐to‐face social interactions [7, 10]. However, the extant body of research does not support this assumption [19, 33], and a possible role of the use of digital media in this regard may be complex [1].

We also found that indicators of school conscientiousness accounted for a sizable part of the drop in intoxication prevalence. Truancy has also previously been shown to be of some importance in this regard [12, 14]. We found that the time spent on homework increased and that school misconduct decreased, and that these changes also contributed to explain the drop in drinking to intoxication. This fits well with a recent finding that a stronger emphasis on academic performance is not compatible with heavy alcohol consumption and frequent drinking to intoxication [32]. Hegna et al. [34] noted that the ‘educational explosion’ over the past few decades has left fewer options for those who do not complete senior high school, and it has been claimed that this has led to a more ‘conformist’ youth generation [35]. Our finding of a decrease in delinquency fits well into the picture of a more conformist lifestyle.

Several studies indicate that increased parental knowledge and stricter alcohol‐specific parenting have contributed to the downward drinking trend [6, 11-13]. Kraus et al . [7] suggested that parents have also become less likely to drink in front of their adolescent children. However, we found no empirical support for this suggestion, as perceived parental drinking frequency did not change. On the other hand, we observed an increase in time spent on activities with parents. This observation is in line with previous findings of changes in family dynamics and closer parent–child relationships [7, 17, 29-31], which are predictive of reduced drinking [16, 36]. These changes could also account for some of the reduction in intoxication frequency, and may suggest that adolescents' leisure time to a lesser extent includes social situations compatible with drinking, but rather favours ‘competing activities’ [37].

The Opioid Epidemic Was Not Caused by Economic Distress But by Factors that Could be More Rapidly Addressed

The Opioid Epidemic Was Not Caused by Economic Distress But by Factors that Could be More Rapidly Addressed. Janet Currie, Hannes Schwandt NBER Working Paper No. 27544, July 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w27544

Abstract: Without the opioid epidemic, American life expectancy would not have declined in recent years. In turn, the epidemic was sparked by the development and marketing of a new generation of prescription opioids and provider behavior is still helping to drive it. There is little relationship between the opioid crisis and contemporaneous measures of labor market opportunity. Cohorts and areas that experienced poor labor market conditions do show lagged increases in opioid mortality, but the effect is modest relative to the scale of the epidemic. Instead, we argue that there are specific policies and features of the U.S. health care market that led to the current crisis. It will not be possible to quickly reverse depressed economic conditions, but it is possible to implement policies that would reduce the number of new opioid addicts and save the lives of many of those who are already addicted.

Effects of credit restrictions in the Netherlands and lessons for macroprudential policy: 1960s-1990s

Effects of credit restrictions in the Netherlands and lessons for macroprudential policy. Gabriele Galati, Jan Kakes and Richhild Moessner. BIS Working Papers, No 872, July 20 2020. https://www.bis.org/publ/work872.htm

Focus: Macroprudential instruments, which play a key role in the current policy debate, have a long history. Some of the tools in current use originated as monetary policy instruments that were deployed in order to influence the credit supply. For example, the Netherlands used credit restrictions as a monetary policy instrument from the 1960s to the early 1990s. We study the effects of these credit restrictions on the balance sheet structure of banks and other financial institutions.

Contribution: Our contribution is to study the effects of credit restrictions on the balance sheet structure of banks and non-bank financial institutions. We analyse the effects separately for different types of bank - commercial banks, cooperatives, saving banks and mortgage banks - and institutional investors, since credit restrictions were not applied uniformly across different types of financial institution. This lets us compare "treated" with "untreated" institutions. We can also investigate to what extent credit controls led to leakages through cross-sectoral substitution and regulatory arbitrage.

Findings: We find that banks responded to credit restrictions by switching to long-term funding with a view to facilitating credit supply while still meeting the restrictions. Most categories of lending were not affected by credit controls and some even increased following the implementation of restrictions. Arguably, the restrictions were effective in reaching their main goal, ie containing money growth. Our results also suggest that the credit restrictions contributed to financial stability by making Dutch financial institutions more reliant on stable sources of funding.

Abstract: Credit restrictions were used as a monetary policy instrument in the Netherlands from the 1960s to the early 1990s. We study the effects of credit restrictions being active on the balance sheet structure of banks and other financial institutions. We find that banks mainly responded to credit restrictions by making adjustments to the liability side of their balance sheets, particularly by increasing the proportion of long-term funding. Responses on the asset side were limited, while part of the banking sector even increased lending after the installment of a restriction. These results suggest that banks and financial institutions responded by switching to long-term funding to meet the restriction and shield their lending business. Arguably, the credit restrictions were therefore still effective in reaching their main goal, i.e. containing money growth.

JEL classification: E42, E51, E52, E58, G28
Keywords: credit restrictions, monetary policy, macroprudential policy

Canada was left with a self-selected group who didn't want much from life: an agrarian, very religious, austere population of peasants and labourers who tended to see a consumer economy as generally sinful excess

Maximum Canada: Toward a Country of 100 Million Paperback. Doug Saunders. August 20, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Canada-Million-Canadians-Enough/dp/0735273103

"Americans were the first major population group to settle permanently in Canada in more than token numbers, and they dominated Canada's population for six decades.  From the 1770s until the 1830s, the majority of English-speaking Canadians were U.S.-born [...].

"Over the preceding decades, most ambitious and inventive immigrants to Canada had quickly departed for the United States.  The colonies were left with a self-selected group who didn't want much from life: an agrarian, very religious, austere population of peasants and labourers who tended to see change and growth as a threat rather than an opportunity and a consumer economy as generally sinful excess."

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From the editor:
Canada’s population has always grown slowly, when it has grown at all. That wasn’t by accident. For centuries before Confederation and a century after, colonial economic policies and an inward-facing world view isolated this country, attracting few of the people and building few of the institutions needed to sustain a sovereign nation. In fact, during most years before 1967, a greater number of people fled Canada than immigrated to it. Canada’s growth has faltered and left us underpopulated ever since.

Increased pillow talk (i.e., communication after sexual activity) produces greater relationship satisfaction for men (but not women), but does not benefit either group’s physiological stress responses

Exploring the effects of pillow talk on relationship satisfaction and physiological stress responses to couples’ difficult conversations. Amanda Denes, John P Crowley, Kara L Winkler, Anuraj Dhillon, Ambyre LP Ponivas, Margaret Bennett. Communication Monographs, Mar 2 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2020.1726424

Description: This study examined the effects of pillow talk (i.e., communication after sexual activity) on relationship satisfaction and physiological stress responses to difficult conversations. Fifty heterosexual couples were randomly assigned to either a pillow talk condition in which they doubled their pillow talk for three weeks or a control condition. After three weeks, participants came to the lab to engage in a conflict conversation. Saliva samples taken before and after the conversation were assayed for cortisol, a physiological marker of stress. The results indicate that increased pillow talk produces greater relationship satisfaction for men (but not women), but does not benefit either group’s physiological stress responses. The findings suggest that pillow talk has distinct benefits for romantic relationships.

KEYWORDS: Post sex communication, pillow talk, stress, resilience, affectionate communication

Whites with darker skin will be motivated to protect the boundaries of Whiteness due to the loss of status they would face if not White; they are more likely to hold conservative political views on racialized issues

Shades of Privilege: The Relationship Between Skin Color and Political Attitudes Among White Americans. Nicole Yadon & Mara C. Ostfeld . Political Behavior (2020). Jul 18 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-020-09635-0

Abstract: Shifting racial dynamics in the U.S. have heightened the salience of White racial identity, and a sense that Whites’ social status and resources are no longer secure. At the same time, the growing size of non-White populations has also renewed attention to skin color-based stratification and the potential blurring of racial boundaries. We theorize that Whites with darker skin will be motivated to protect the boundaries of Whiteness due to the loss of status they would face from blurring racial boundaries. Consistent with growing evidence of skin color’s importance for Whites, we demonstrate that darker-skinned Whites—measured via a light-reflectance spectrophotometer—identify more strongly with their White racial identity and are more likely to hold conservative political views on racialized issues than lighter-skinned Whites. Together, these findings offer new insights into the evolving meaning of race and color in American politics.

No direct association between contraceptives use and the risk of female sexual dysfunction was found; nevertheless, declining sexual desire was significantly associated with contraceptives use

Huang M, Li G, Liu J, et al. Is There an Association Between Contraception and Sexual Dysfunction in Women? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Based on Female Sexual Function Index. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX–XXX.

Abstract
Background: A growing body of research investigates the sexual functioning status in women with contraceptives use; however, the evidence is still inconclusive.

Aim: To examine whether contraceptives use is associated with a higher risk of female sexual dysfunction (FSD).

Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library databases, and PsychINFO were systematically screened for eligible studies before December 2019. We only included those studies assessing women's sexual functioning by the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). This study was registered on the PROSPERO (ID: CRD42020167723, http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO).

Outcomes: The strength of the association between contraceptives use and risk of FSD was presented by calculating the standard mean dierences (SMDs) and the relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). The pooled results were calculated using a random-effects model.

Results: A total of 12 studies (7 cross-sectional studies, 3 cohorts, and 1 case-control study) involving 9,427 participants were included. The mean age in the contraceptive users ranged from 22.5 ± 2.4 years to 38.2 ± 4.6 years, while the mean age in the nonusers was 22.5 ± 2.4 years to 36.0 ± 1.0 years. Pooled results showed that no significant difference in the total FSFI scores was observed between contraceptives use and noncontraception (SMD = −1.03, 95% CI: −2.08 to 0.01, P = .053; heterogeneity: I2 = 98.2%, P < .001). In line with this finding, the pooled RR also yielded no association between contraception use and the risk of FSD (RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 0.72–2.28, P = .392; heterogeneity: I2 = 76.0%, P = .0015). However, the subscale sexual desire showed a significant reduction in women who received contraceptives than those did not use contraception (SMD = −1.17, 95% CI: −2.09 to −0.24, P = .014; heterogeneity: I2 = 97.7%, P < .001), while no significant differences were found in sexual arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain domain.

Clinical Implications: Though evidence from this meta-analysis did not support an association between contraceptives use and the risk of FSD, the sexual desire could be significantly impaired by contraceptives use.

Strengths & Limitations: This is the first meta-analysis quantifying the relationship between contraceptives use and the risks of FSD. However, substantial heterogeneities were presented across the included studies.

Conclusion: No direct association between contraceptives use and the risk of FSD was found. Nevertheless, declining sexual desire was significantly associated with contraceptives use. Additional double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials are still warranted.

Key Words: ContraceptionFemale Sexual DysfunctionMeta-analysisFemale Sexual Function Index

Feynman on utter honesty & scientific integrity: "Cargo Cult Science," 1974

Feynman on utter honesty & scientific integrity: "Cargo Cult Science," 1974. http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm

We have learned a lot from experience about how to handle some of the ways we fool ourselves.  One example: Millikan measured the charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops and got an answer which we now know not to be quite right.  It’s a little bit off, because he had the incorrect value for the viscosity of air.  It’s interesting to look at the history of measurements of the charge of the electron, after Millikan.  If you plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little bigger than Millikan’s, and the next one’s a little bit bigger than that, and the next one’s a little bit bigger than that, until finally they settle down to a number which is higher.

Why didn’t they discover that the new number was higher right away?  It’s a thing that scientists are ashamed of—this history—because it’s apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan’s, they thought something must be wrong—and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong.  When they got a number closer to Millikan’s value they didn’t look so hard.  And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that.  We’ve learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don’t have that kind of a disease.

But this long history of learning how to not fool ourselves—of having utter scientific integrity—is, I’m sorry to say, something that we haven’t specifically included in any particular course that I know of.  We just hope you’ve caught on by osmosis.

Effects of Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men & women

Engelman, Joel, Glen Milstein, Irvin S. Schonfeld, and Joshua B. Grubbs. 2019. “Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Orthodox Jewish Disaffiliation from an Immigration Psychology Perspective.” PsyArXiv. December 5. doi:10.1080/13674676.2020.1744547

Abstract: This study explored psychological variables associated with disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism (a covenantal community), and subsequent wellness. A web-based survey (N = 206) assessed factors previously used to study immigrants: push (distress within origin community), pull (toward destination community), and goal attainment. Psychological and emotional wellness, perceived stress, overall health, and loneliness were also assessed. Findings included: 1) strong pull toward opportunities for physical and ideological autonomy; 2) those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; 3) goal attainment was associated with increased wellness 4) significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men and women; 5) most who disaffiliated left religion altogether; those who remained religious decreased their participation, few joined non-Jewish faith communities. Results demonstrate that this immigration paradigm can be adapted to advance research on individuals who disaffiliate from covenantal communities.

Initiation of Drug and Alcohol Use and Personality Development During Adolescence: initiation of substance use leads to changes in personality; cocaine and cigarettes were the substances that had the largest impact

Wright, Amanda J., and Joshua J. Jackson. 2020. “What Happens After Your First Time? Initiation of Drug and Alcohol Use and Personality Development During Adolescence.” PsyArXiv. July 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gpsj4

Abstract: Personality traits predict both the initiation and continued usage of alcohol and drugs. Less established is if substance use is associated with subsequent changes in personality, especially during the sensitive period of adolescence. We used three novel approaches to disentangle selection and socialization effects to address whether substance use is associated with personality development (impulsivity, sensation-seeking, depression, self-esteem). First, we used a multi-wave longitudinal sample of adolescents (N = 8,303) from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth - Child and Young Adult dataset to study the first use of a controlled substance. Second, we used propensity score weighting to equate users and abstainers on a range of background variables. Third, we investigated changes before, during, and after initiation of substances. Overall, there was unique variability and effects in personality across time for average levels, trajectories, and magnitudes of change both between users and abstainers as well as within users of specific substances. Results suggest that initiation of substance use leads to changes in personality; the specifics of which are largely contingent upon the substance being used. Impulsivity and sensation-seeking were the traits that changed the most while cocaine and cigarettes were the substances that had the largest impact.

Gray Matter Microstructure: While macrostructural features, like brain volume, are mainly genetically influenced, there are genetic & environmental influences on microstructure

Quantifying Genetic and Environmental Influence on Gray Matter Microstructure Using Diffusion MRI. Madhura Baxi, Maria A Di Biase, Amanda E Lyall, Suheyla Cetin-Karayumak, Johanna Seitz, Lipeng Ning, Nikos Makris, Douglas Rosene, Marek Kubicki, Yogesh Rathi. Cerebral Cortex, bhaa174, July 17 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa174

Abstract: Early neuroimaging work in twin studies focused on studying genetic and environmental influence on gray matter macrostructure. However, it is also important to understand how gray matter microstructure is influenced by genes and environment to facilitate future investigations of their influence in mental disorders. Advanced diffusion MRI (dMRI) measures allow more accurate assessment of gray matter microstructure compared with conventional diffusion tensor measures. To understand genetic and environmental influence on gray matter, we used diffusion and structural MRI data from a large twin and sibling study (N = 840) and computed advanced dMRI measures including return to origin probability (RTOP), which is heavily weighted toward intracellular and intra-axonal restricted spaces, and mean squared displacement (MSD), more heavily weighted to diffusion in extracellular space and large cell bodies in gray matter. We show that while macrostructural features like brain volume are mainly genetically influenced, RTOP and MSD can together tap into both genetic and environmental influence on microstructure.

Keywords: imaging genetics, MSD, non-Gaussian model, RTOP, twin study

Check also Sleep duration over 28 years, cognition, gray matter volume, and white matter microstructure: a prospective cohort study. Jennifer Zitser et al. Sleep, zsz290, January 6 2020. https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2020/01/no-differences-in-cognitive-or.html

Abstract
Study Objectives: To examine the association between sleep duration trajectories over 28 years and measures of cognition, gray matter volume, and white matter microstructure. We hypothesize that consistently meeting sleep guidelines that recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night will be associated with better cognition, greater gray matter volumes, higher fractional anisotropy, and lower radial diffusivity values. 

Methods: We studied 613 participants (age 42.3 ± 5.03 years at baseline) who self-reported sleep duration at five time points between 1985 and 2013, and who had cognitive testing and magnetic resonance imaging administered at a single timepoint between 2012 and 2016. We applied latent class growth analysis to estimate membership into trajectory groups based on self-reported sleep duration over time. Analysis of gray matter volumes was carried out using FSL Voxel-Based-Morphometry and white matter microstructure using Tract Based Spatial Statistics. We assessed group differences in cognitive and MRI outcomes using nonparametric permutation testing. 

Results: Latent class growth analysis identified four trajectory groups, with an average sleep duration of 5.4 ± 0.2 hours (5%, N = 29), 6.2 ± 0.3 hours (37%, N = 228), 7.0 ± 0.2 hours (45%, N = 278), and 7.9 ± 0.3 hours (13%, N = 78). No differences in cognition, gray matter, and white matter measures were detected between groups. 

Conclusions: Our null findings suggest that current sleep guidelines that recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night may not be supported in relation to an association between sleep patterns and cognitive function or brain structure. 

Keywords: aging, cognition, gray matter, sleep, white matter 

Statement of Significance: Up to a third of adults report between 6 and 7 hours of sleep per night, and thus fail to meet sleep guidelines which recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Although extreme short sleep (e.g. ≤5 hours per night) has repeatedly been associated with poor cognitive health, it is currently unclear if such relationships subsist for more moderate short-sleep durations. We found no differences in cognitive or structural MRI measures between groups that reported, on average, 5.4 hours, 6.2 hours, 7.0 hours, and 7.9 hours sleep per night over 5 timepoints spanning 28 years. If replicated with longitudinal markers of cognitive health, such null results could challenge the suitability of current sleep guidelines on cognitive outcomes.

At least 16 species of deep-sea fishes have ultra-black skin; by reducing reflectance, ultra-black fish can reduce the sighting distance of visual predators more than 6-fold compared to fish with 2% reflectance

Ultra-black Camouflage in Deep-Sea Fishes. Alexander L. Davis, Kate N. Thomas, Freya E. Goetz, Bruce H. Robison, Sonke Johnsen, Karen J. Osborn. Current Biology 30, 1–7, September 7, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/%20j.cub.2020.06.044

Highlights
*  Reflected bioluminescence can reveal deep-sea animals to predators or prey
*  At least 16 species of deep-sea fishes have ultra-black skin (<0.5% reflectance)
*  Fish achieve low reflectance using a continuous layer of melanosomes in the skin
*  The size and shape of these melanosomes are optimal for reducing reflectance

Summary: At oceanic depths >200 m, there is little ambient sunlight, but bioluminescent organisms provide another lightsource that can reveal animals to visual predators and prey [1–4]. Transparency and mirrored surfaces—common camouflage strategies under the diffuse solar illumination of shallower waters—are conspicuous when illuminated by directed bioluminescent sources due to reflection from the body surface [5, 6]. Pigmentation allows animals to absorb light from bioluminescent sources, rendering them visually undetectable against the dark background of the deep sea [5]. We present evidence suggesting pressure to reduce reflected bioluminescence led to the evolution of ultra-black skin (reflectance <0.5%) in 16 species of deep-sea fishes across seven distantly related orders. Histological data suggest this low reflectance is mediated by a continuous layer of densely packed melanosomes in the exterior-most layer of the dermis [7, 8] and that this layer lacks the unpigmented gaps between pigment cells found in other darkly colored fishes [9–13]. Using finite-difference, time-domain modeling and comparisons with melanosomes found in other ectothermic vertebrates [11, 13–21], we find the melanosomes making up the layer in these ultra-black species are optimized in size and shape to minimize reflectance. Low reflectance results from melanosomes scattering light within the layer, increasing the optical path length and therefore light absorption by the melanin. By reducing reflectance, ultra-black fish can reduce the sighting distance of visual predators more than 6-fold compared to fish with 2% reflectance. This biological example of efficient light absorption via a simple architecture of strongly absorbing and highly scattering particles may inspire new ultra-black materials.

Negative relationship quality, notably, criticism received from one’s spouse or partner, heightens older adults’ risk of mortality

Bookwala, J., & Gaugler, T. (2020). Relationship quality and 5-year mortality risk. Health Psychology, 39(8), 633–641. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000883

Abstract
Objective: The present study examined positive and negative aspects of relationship quality with one’s spouse or partner as predictors of mortality and the role of gender in moderating this link.
Method: Data were drawn from 2 waves, 5 years apart, of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 1,734). Positive aspects of relationship quality (frequency of opening up to the partner to talk about worries and relying on the partner) and negative aspects (frequency of the partner making too many demands and criticism by the partner) were assessed. Survival/mortality status was recorded at the time of Wave 2 data collection 5 years later (1,567 alive; 167 deceased). Covariates included sociodemographic variables, relationship type, health status, and the network size of close family relationships and friendships.
Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that negative relationship quality with one’s spouse or partner was associated with significantly higher odds for mortality after 5 years (odds ratio [OR] = 1.20, 95% CI [1.03, 1.38], p < .001), after including the statistical covariates. Also, age, gender, education, self-rated health, and medication use were significantly related to mortality. Propensity score matching replicated these findings. Follow-up analyses revealed that criticism from one’s spouse or partner, in particular, was linked to a higher mortality risk (OR = 1.44, 95% CI [1.10, 1.88]). Gender did not moderate the relationship-quality–mortality link.
Conclusions: Negative relationship quality, notably, criticism received from one’s spouse or partner, heightens older adults’ risk of mortality. These results suggest the value of developing interventions that target reducing expressed criticism in couple relationships.

Individuals who moved in with a partner/got married/separated from a partner primarily experienced changes in openness in the first year; & those who separated from a partner/got divorced became less emotionally stable

Asselmann, E., & Specht, J. (2020). Taking the ups and downs at the rollercoaster of love: Associations between major life events in the domain of romantic relationships and the Big Five personality traits. Developmental Psychology, Jul 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001047

Abstract: Personality predicts how we interact with others, what partners we have, and how happy and lasting our romantic relationships are. At the same time, our experiences in these relationships may affect our personality. Who experiences specific major relationship events, and how do these events relate to personality development? We examined this issue based on data from a nationally representative household panel study from Germany (N = 49,932). In this study, the occurrence of major relationship events (moving in with a partner, marriage, separation, and divorce) was assessed yearly, and the Big Five personality traits were measured repeatedly in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017 with the short version of the Big Five Inventory. We applied multilevel analyses to simultaneously model selection effects as well as different types of personality changes in the years before and after these events in the total sample and separately in women and men. Our findings revealed that less agreeable individuals were more likely to experience each of the examined relationship events. Moreover, each event was associated with personality changes, which only occurred after (not before) these events and considerably varied by event and gender. Individuals who moved in with a partner, got married, or separated from a partner primarily experienced changes in openness in the first year thereafter, and individuals who separated from a partner or got divorced became less emotionally stable in the following years. However, there was little evidence for “maturation” effects, except that individuals who moved in with a partner (especially men) became more conscientious in the following years.