Monday, April 25, 2022

Dark Triad 18 cultures (Europe, America, Africa, Asia): Men higher than women on all traits in most cultures, gender differences generally larger in European countries (Senegal findings shows women higher in psychopathy)

Dark Triad Traits, Social Position, and Personality: A Cross-Cultural Study. Anton Aluja et al. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, January 26, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221211072816

Abstract: This research explores the Dark Triad traits in 18 cultures from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. We examined the relationships among Dark Triad traits, as measured by the SD3, with gender, age, social status, and two personality models, HEXACO and Zuckerman’s alternative five factor model (AFFM). There were 10,298 participants (5,410 women and 4,888 men) with a mean age of 40.31 (SD = 17.32) years old. Between 6% and 16% of the variance in the Dark Triad traits was accounted by culture. Men scored higher than women on all three traits in most cultures, but gender differences were generally larger in European countries. The relationship between the Dark Triad traits dimensions and age is negative, but the largest effect size is small (Psychopathy; η2 = .018). Psychopathy is associated with low Social Position, and Narcissism with high Social Position. In regard to Personality traits, Narcissism is positively related to Extraversion, and Psychopathy is negatively related to Conscientiousness for the HEXACO, and Narcissism is positively related to Activity and Sensation Seeking, and Machiavellianism and Psychopathy are positively related to Aggressiveness and Sensation Seeking for the AFFM.

Keywords: Dark Triad traits, SD3, HEXACO, AFFM, cross-cultural, personality


Hadza hunter-gatherers are not deontologists and do not prefer deontologists as social partners

Hadza hunter-gatherers are not deontologists and do not prefer deontologists as social partners. Kristopher M. Smith, Coren L. Apicella. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 101, July 2022, 104314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104314

Abstract: Researchers hypothesize that social selection resulting from partner choice may have shaped deontological moral reasoning in humans. People in Western societies judge deontologists to be more trustworthy than utilitarians and prefer them as cooperative partners. We test if the preference for deontologists as social partners generalizes to the Hadza, hunter-gatherers residing in Tanzania. We presented 134 Hadza participants with three ecologically-relevant sacrificial dilemmas and asked them to judge whether the actor should sacrifice one person to save five. We then randomly assigned participants to hear that the actor made either a deontological or utilitarian decision and asked them to make partner choice judgments about the actor in the dilemma. Compared to 249 US Mechanical Turk participants, Hadza participants were more likely to think the actor should choose the utilitarian option. Regardless of what option they thought the actor should choose, Hadza participants showed no preference for the deontological or utilitarian decision-maker, whereas Mechanical Turk participants who thought the actor should choose the deontological option had a strong preference for the deontological actor. These results suggest the preference for deontological decision-makers as cooperative partners is culturally variable.

Keywords: Moral dilemmaDeontologyUtilitarianPartner choiceMoral characterPerson perception


Peers often recognize Nobel laureates as “Renaissance” intellects; prize committees often award their prizes for transdisciplinarity & integration; the Nobel laureates often describe their polymathy as *conscious* choice to optimize creative potential

Polymathy Among Nobel Laureates As a Creative Strategy— The Qualitative and Phenomenological Evidence. Michele Root-Bernstein & Robert Root-Bernstein. reativity Research Journal, Apr 25 2022. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2051294

Abstract: Previous statistical studies found that polymathic networks of vocational and avocational interest predominate among Nobel Prize winners, discriminating them from less-successful peers. Here we confirm qualitatively and phenomenologically that this multidisciplinarity is a considered creative strategy. Peers often recognize Nobel laureates as “Renaissance” intellects; Nobel Prize committees often award their prizes for transdisciplinarity and integration; Nobel laureates often describe their polymathy as conscious choice to optimize creative potential. That so many Nobel laureates should develop diverse interests and harness them to creative ends is, probably, the result of a confluence of factors. Laureates experience, on average, enhanced access to education; they train differently and more broadly than their peers; they retrain and extend themselves as serious amateurs; and they meld vocational and avocational sets of skills and knowledge into integrated networks of transdisciplinary enterprise. In effect, this combinatorial approach to learning and doing enables them to perceive unusual problems at the intersections of disciplines, to transfer ideas and techniques from one field to another, and/or to synthesize knowledge across domains. Specializing in breadth can be a path to innovation comparable to, and (at least in terms of Nobel Prizes) arguably better than, specialization alone.


After a database of gun holders was publicized, burglaries increased in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits

Guns, Privacy, and Crime. Alessandro Acquisti & Catherine Tucker. NBER Working Paper 29940, Apr 2022. DOI 10.3386/w29940

Abstract: Open government holds promise of both a more efficient but more accountable and transparent government. It is not clear, however, how transparent information about citizens and their interaction with government, however, affects the welfare of those citizens, and if so in what direction. We investigate this by using as a natural experiment the effect of the online publication of the names and addresses of holders of handgun carry permits on criminals' propensity to commit burglaries. In December 2008, a Memphis, TN newspaper published a searchable online database of names, zip codes, and ages of Tennessee handgun carry permit holders. We use detailed crime and handgun carry permit data for the city of Memphis to estimate the impact of publicity about the database on burglaries. We find that burglaries increased in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits, after the database was publicized.


Sunday, April 24, 2022

The immune system can paradoxically mediate lethal effects when it is over-activated; an explanation is a function to restrict the cumulative risk of transmission of highly mutating environmental pathogens that may endanger species

To protect or to kill: a persisting Darwinian immune dilemma. Hugo O. Besedovsky, Adriana del Rey. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, April 22 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.04.019

Abstract: The immune system, which evolved as a protective system, can paradoxically mediate lethal effects when it is over-activated. These effects can be traced back to infected insects and are mainly mediated by phylogenetically old cytokines that have been found already in starfishes and sponges. We hypothesize that these anti-homeostatic effects are important for restricting the cumulative risk of transmission of highly mutating environmental pathogens that may endanger species, particularly when they start to originate and expand. Considering the Darwinian view that evolution is a permanent process, this anti-homeostatic program is preserved and expressed even when there is no risk for the species. Here, we review these aspects and discuss how evolutionary-imposed anti-homeostatic immune programs are expressed during acute and chronic human diseases, which can be further aggravated in the absence of medical interventions. The relevance of early identification of ancestral biomarkers that predict a shift from protective to deleterious immune outcomes is emphasized.


The peak-end rule: When people retrospectively evaluate an experience (e.g., the previous workday), they rely more heavily on the episode with peak intensity and on the final (end) episode than on other episodes in the experience

All’s well that ends (and peaks) well? A meta-analysis of the peak-end rule and duration neglect. Balca Alaybek et al. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Volume 170, May 2022, 104149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2022.104149

Highlights

• The peak-end rule is an efficient heuristic for evaluating past experiences.

• The meta-analytic peak-end effect is large and robust across moderators examined.

• The peak-end effect is stronger than the duration, beginning, and trough effects.

• The peak-end effect is stronger than the trend and variability effects.

• The peak-end effect is comparable to the overall average effect.

Abstract: The peak-end rule (Fredrickson & Kahneman, 1993) asserts that, when people retrospectively evaluate an experience (e.g., the previous workday), they rely more heavily on the episode with peak intensity and on the final (end) episode than on other episodes in the experience. We meta-analyzed 174 effect sizes and found strong support for the peak-end rule. The peak-end effect on retrospective summary evaluations was: (1) large (r = 0.581, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.487–0.661), (2) robust across boundary conditions, (3) comparable to the effect of the overall average (mean) score and stronger than the effects of the trend and variability across all episodes in the experience, (4) stronger than the effects of the first (beginning) and lowest intensity (trough) episodes, and (5) stronger than the effect of the duration of the experience (which was essentially nil, thereby supporting the idea of duration neglect; Fredrickson & Kahneman, 1993). We provide a future research agenda and practical implications.

Keywords: PeakEndTroughDuration neglectHeuristicsRetrospective evaluationsGestalt characteristics


Among white Americans, therefore, Democrats experienced a substantially greater increase in distress in response to the pandemic than Republicans

Distressed Democrats and relaxed Republicans? Partisanship and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sean Bock, Landon Schnabel. PLoS April 21, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266562

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic was a potent stressor, yielding unprecedented levels of mental distress. However, public health responses and personal reactions to the pandemic were politically polarized, with Democrats highlighting and Republicans downplaying its severity. Did Republicans subsequently experience as much mental distress as Democrats during the COVID-19 pandemic? This study examines partisan patterns in mental health outcomes at three time points throughout the pandemic. Results demonstrate a clear partisan distress gap, with Democrats consistently reporting worse mental health than Republicans. Trend data suggest that the 2020 pandemic patterns are a continuation and exacerbation of an existing partisan distress gap. Consideration of race, however, demonstrates a widening partisan distress gap, specific to white Americans. Among white Americans, therefore, Democrats experienced a substantially greater increase in distress in response to the pandemic than Republicans.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a powerful stressor, leading to increased distress among Americans. Distress during the pandemic was politically polarized, however, such that Democrats reported consistently higher distress levels compared to Republicans, suggesting a clear partisan distress gap. This gap did not simply emerge as a result of the pandemic, but rather reflects a pre-existing partisan distress gap. Yet, marked intra-party variation in experiences with the pandemic results in a more nuanced story: White Democrats experienced the largest increase in distress along several measures from the pandemic, which produced a widening distress gap among white partisans. Further, over-time data show the pandemic accelerated a long-running trend of a closing of the racial happiness gap among Democrats. Whereas the partisan gap used to be disproportionately driven by the unhappiness of black Democrats, it is now driven primarily by the unhappiness of white Democrats. These patterns highlight the importance of race for trends in partisanship and polarization more generally.

The results point to several possible extensions. The data for this study are from the summer of 2020, before widespread vaccine roll out. As the pandemic wears on, we are experiencing a mental health crisis. Isolation, distress about the present, and uncertainty about the future—not to mention lost friends and family—are taking a toll. Partisan vaccine uptake further highlights the partisan nature of pandemic response, but it may have changed the equation in ways that should be examined in future research. With vaccines, Democrats may be able to regain some of the normalcy and connections they lost in isolation. And serious illness and death have become visibly partisan with the vaccines, and the greater loss experienced among Republicans, and perhaps eventual acceptance of COVID-19 as a real threat and the pandemic something to worry about, may fuel greater distress among them than in the past. Beyond the partisan nature of mental wellbeing in the pandemic, we hope this study will motivate future research on race (and ethnicity) in these processes more generally. These data were effective for highlighting race trends between black and white Americans over decades and future research should further disentangle racial and ethnic trends in partisanship and distress among and between more groups.


Saturday, April 23, 2022

Power in the Wild: The Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Ways Animals Strive for Control over Others

Power in the Wild: The Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Ways Animals Strive for Control over Others. Lee Alan Dugatkin. The University of Chicago Press, Apr 2022. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo127023354.html

From the shell wars of hermit crabs to little blue penguins spying on potential rivals, power struggles in the animal kingdom are as diverse as they are fascinating, and this book illuminates their surprising range and connections.

The quest for power in animals is so much richer, so much more nuanced than who wins what knock-down, drag-out fight. Indeed, power struggles among animals often look more like an opera than a boxing match. Tracing the path to power for over thirty different species on six continents, writer and behavioral ecologist Lee Alan Dugatkin takes us on a journey around the globe, shepherded by leading researchers who have discovered that in everything from hyenas to dolphins, bonobos to field mice, cichlid fish to cuttlefish, copperhead snakes to ravens, and meerkats to mongooses, power revolves around spying, deception, manipulation, forming and breaking up alliances, complex assessments of potential opponents, building social networks, and more. Power pervades every aspect of the social life of animals: what they eat, where they eat, where they live, whom they mate with, how many offspring they produce, whom they join forces with, and whom they work to depose. In some species, power can even change an animal’s sex. Nor are humans invulnerable to this magnificently intricate melodrama: Dugatkin’s tales of the researchers studying power in animals are full of unexpected pitfalls, twists and turns, serendipity, and the pure joy of scientific discovery.


Letters To A Spanish Youngster CCLXVIII

Letters To A Spanish Youngster CCLXVIII

[...]


Your Honor the young person of sensibility & beauty to whom I ask for mercy,/Su Señoría el joven de sensibilidad y hermosura a quien pido piedad,


I read V Nabokov's words about himself and his marriage*/He leído las palabras de V Nabokov sobre sí mismo y su matrimonio, dirigidas a su esposa:


[I know that I am a very boring and unpleasant man, drowned in literature... But I love you.]

[Sé que soy una persona muy aburrida y desagradable, sumergido en la literatura... Pero te quiero.]


I am also boring and unpleasant... But I love you, Your Honor :-( ./ Yo también soy aburrido y desagradable... Pero le quiero, Su Señoría :-( .


---

I also keep writing down the young ibn Gabirol’s poems**:/Sigo reproduciendo los poemas del joven ibn Gabirol:


[On love's instability/De la inestabilidad del amor]

                                                      [Que solo en la presencia de las gentes

                                                       sonríen los que aman,

                                                       mas en sus tiendas lloran      y amargamente gimen.]


[To a friend in illness/A un amigo enfermo]

                                                      [Amigos, habladle dulzuras;

                                                       tal vez haga entonces que torne su juicio a mi alma.

                                                       Pues él dispersaba mi llanto

                                                       al tiempo que yo lo reuniera,

                                                       y cuando mi alma se hallaba dispersa,

                                                       aquél la reunía.

                                                       [...]

                                                       [Mi alma ha sido acrisolada

                                                       en el horno de las aflicciones]]


[Giving thanks for a letter and a gift/Agradeciendo una carta y un regalo]

                                                      [Vive Dios, que conoce mi alma y que entiende

                                                       las cosas ocultas de su pensamiento,

                                                       que te amó desde aquel mismo día

                                                       en que yo te escuchara

                                                       y que fuiste honorable y preciado a sus ojos.

                                                       Y yo debo aplacar a mi amado,

                                                       [...]

                                                       [llevar la dulzura a Su cara.]

                                                       Mas perdona mi falta y espera

                                                       como el juez que pronuncia sus juicios con pausa.]


[Commending a generous man/Alabanza a un hombre generoso]

                                                      [¡Ay, que mis huesos ruedan!, pues se entremezlan

                                                       mis aflicciones.

                                                       [...] mis amigos

                                                       cuando se fueron

                                                       se llevaron mi alma con mi sosiego.

                                                       Por eso lloro:

                                                       no se interrumpen

                                                       ni de noche mis lágrimas ni de día.

                                                       Si las puertas del rezo Dios ha cerrado,

                                                       clausuradas no han sido las de las lágrimas;

                                                       pues mis angustias

                                                       y mis temores

                                                       sobre mí han aumentado y han recrecido.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Alabados han sido en él la risa

                                                       de su boca y el júbilo de su cara

                                                       así como sus dádivas.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Este poema habla de su clemencia,

                                                       llenos están de gozo por él sus versos.]


[On a friend/Describiendo a un amigo]

                                                      [Si es el lirio el remate sobre una rama,

                                                       ¿tu, sobre el fuste,

                                                       un capitel de oro no eres acaso?

                                                       Como un sol que camina pausadamente

                                                       sobre el Zodiaco,

                                                       ¡ay!, va robando

                                                       sin violencia y despacio los corazones.

                                                       Es un cervato;

                                                       cuando se ruborice por tu presencia,

                                                       verás al alabastro trocar su aspecto

                                                       por el del pórfido.

                                                       [...]

                                                       De querubín de oro tiene la imagen:

                                                       extendidas sus alas, como extendidas

                                                       las tenían los ángeles situados

                                                       sobre el Propiciatorio.]


[Complaining of being abandoned by a benefactor/Quejas por el desvío de un mecenas]

                                                      [Desnudo está mi brazo contra los golpes

                                                       de la fortuna

                                                       y en contra mía

                                                       la espada del destino desenvainada.

                                                       En riada de angustias fui anegado,

                                                       como espiga agostada permaneciera;

                                                       en cuidado me tienen mis aflicciones

                                                       y resuello y jadeo, pues me ha absorbido

                                                       aspirándome el hado.]


[To someone who sees him as a rival/En contestacion a quien le cree su enemigo]

                                                      [Oculto está en mi alma      mi amor por ti y lo muestra

                                                       mi corazón haciéndolo patente.]


[Funeral hymn for his father/Endecha por su padre]

                                                      [de tu queja, los cielos se anublaron

                                                       [...]

                                                       [...] de tanto

                                                       padecer, me dejaron las angustias

                                                       endurecido [...]

                                                       [...] fue tu mal mi daño,

                                                       sobre mí fue gravoso y prolongado.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Si contigo las joyas de la tierra

                                                       compararan, entonces menguaría

                                                       su valor como el tuyo ascendería.]


Fully grasping the degree in which Your soul was prized with the gods' favor, & how much You were loved by the gold goddess, my benevolent master, Yours faithfully/Alcanzando plena consciencia del grado en que Su alma fue premiada con el favor de los dioses y cuánto fue Vd. amado por la diosa dorada, mi dueño benevolente, Suyo fielmente

                 a. r. ante Su Señoría


--

Notes

*  V Nabokov's Letters to Véra. Penguin Books, 2016. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/176961/letters-to-vera/9780141192246.html

**  Adapted from Selected Poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol, translated by Peter Cole (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2001), & the Spanish version from Selomó ibn Gabirol—Poesía secular, by Elena Romero (Madrid: Alfaguara, 1978)


The Autodidactic Universe: An approach to cosmology in which the Universe learns its own physical laws

The Autodidactic Universe. Stephon Alexander, William J. Cunningham, Jaron Lanier, Lee Smolin, Stefan Stanojevic, Michael W. Toomey, Dave Wecker. arXiv Sep 2 2021. https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.03902

Abstract: We present an approach to cosmology in which the Universe learns its own physical laws. It does so by exploring a landscape of possible laws, which we express as a certain class of matrix models. We discover maps that put each of these matrix models in correspondence with both a gauge/gravity theory and a mathematical model of a learning machine, such as a deep recurrent, cyclic neural network. This establishes a correspondence between each solution of the physical theory and a run of a neural network. This correspondence is not an equivalence, partly because gauge theories emerge from N→∞ limits of the matrix models, whereas the same limits of the neural networks used here are not well-defined. We discuss in detail what it means to say that learning takes place in autodidactic systems, where there is no supervision. We propose that if the neural network model can be said to learn without supervision, the same can be said for the corresponding physical theory. We consider other protocols for autodidactic physical systems, such as optimization of graph variety, subset-replication using self-attention and look-ahead, geometrogenesis guided by reinforcement learning, structural learning using renormalization group techniques, and extensions. These protocols together provide a number of directions in which to explore the origin of physical laws based on putting machine learning architectures in correspondence with physical theories. 


In high-income countries, relation of women’s labor force participation & fertility is now positive; father contribution rates to child-raising are more important for fertility; & fathers seem most interested in children in Norway, the least in Russia

The Economics of Fertility: A New Era. Matthias Doepke, Anne Hannusch, Fabian Kindermann & Michèle Tertilt. NBER Working Paper 29948. Apr 2022. DOI 10.3386/w29948

Abstract: In this survey, we argue that the economic analysis of fertility has entered a new era. First-generation models of fertility choice were designed to account for two empirical regularities that, in the past, held both across countries and across families in a given country: a negative relationship between income and fertility, and another negative relationship between women's labor force participation and fertility. The economics of fertility has entered a new era because these stylized facts no longer universally hold. In high-income countries, the income-fertility relationship has flattened and in some cases reversed, and the cross-country relationship between women's labor force participation and fertility is now positive. We summarize these new facts and describe new models that are designed to address them. The common theme of these new theories is that they view factors that determine the compatibility of women's career and family goals as key drivers of fertility. We highlight four factors that facilitate combining a career with a family: family policy, cooperative fathers, favorable social norms, and flexible labor markets. We also review other recent developments in the literature, and we point out promising new directions for future research on the economics of fertility.

---

h/t Tyler Cowen https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/04/new-developments-in-the-economics-of-fertility.html : Another result is that quality vs. quantity tradeoff models for children no longer perform very well.  And fertility-education relationships are greatly weakened, just as the income-fertility relationships are.  The marketization of childcare is likely an important cause of this shift.

Italy and Spain are two countries where the income-fertility relationship is not being reversed.

Father contribution rates to child-raising are growing in importance for fertility.  Fathers seem most interested in their children in Norway, and least interested in Russia, of the countries sampled.

If a couple disagrees on having another kid, the chance they do is relatively small.

In Denmark in 2015, six percent of all births occurred with some kind of medical help related to conception.

There are now positive correlations between public childcare provision, though I do not in this paper see any reliable causal estimate.

The paper has a section on social norms, but it oddly fails to consider religion.

There is some evidence for peer effects mattering for fertility, for instance in a workplace.


21% of autosomal DNA in eastern chimpanzees derives from western chimpanzee introgression & all four chimpanzee lineages share a common ancestor about 987,000 y ago (much earlier than thought), with a male reproductive & dispersal skew

Estimating bonobo (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) evolutionary history from nucleotide site patterns. Colin M. Brand et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 22, 2022 | 119 (17) e2200858119 | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200858119

Significance: There is genomic evidence of widespread admixture in deep time between many closely related species, including humans. Our closest living relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, may also exhibit such patterns. However, assessing the exact degree of interbreeding remains challenging because previous studies have resulted in multiple inconsistent demographic models. We use an approach that addresses these gaps by analyzing all lineages, simultaneously estimating parameters, and comparing previously models. We find evidence of considerable introgression from western into eastern chimpanzees. We also show more breeding females than males and evidence of male-biased dispersal in western chimpanzees. These findings highlight the extent of admixture in bonobo and chimpanzee evolutionary history and are consistent with substantial differences between past and present chimpanzee biogeography.

Abstract: Admixture appears increasingly ubiquitous in the evolutionary history of various taxa, including humans. Such gene flow likely also occurred among our closest living relatives: bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). However, our understanding of their evolutionary history has been limited by studies that do not consider all Pan lineages or do not analyze all lineages simultaneously, resulting in conflicting demographic models. Here, we investigate this gap in knowledge using nucleotide site patterns calculated from whole-genome sequences from the autosomes of 71 bonobos and chimpanzees, representing all five extant Pan lineages. We estimated demographic parameters and compared all previously proposed demographic models for this clade. We further considered sex bias in Pan evolutionary history by analyzing the site patterns from the X chromosome. We show that 1) 21% of autosomal DNA in eastern chimpanzees derives from western chimpanzee introgression and that 2) all four chimpanzee lineages share a common ancestor about 987,000 y ago, much earlier than previous estimates. In addition, we suggest that 3) there was male reproductive skew throughout Pan evolutionary history and find evidence of 4) male-biased dispersal from western to eastern chimpanzees. Collectively, these results offer insight into bonobo and chimpanzee evolutionary history and suggest considerable differences between current and historic chimpanzee biogeography.


Friday, April 22, 2022

Parental sexual orientation and gender identity do not in themselves determine success in parenting or child development: Sexual & gender minority parents & their children have shown remarkable resilience, even in the face of many challenges

Parental sexual orientation, parental gender identity, and the development of children. Charlotte J. Patterson. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, April 22 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2022.03.002

Abstract: In recent years, many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adults have become parents. LGBTQ parenthood does, however, remain a controversial topic across the United States and around the world. Several questions have been raised. For instance, to what extent do LGBTQ adults make capable parents? Do children who have LGBTQ parents grow up in healthy ways? What factors contribute to positive family functioning in families with LGBTQ parents? A growing body of social science research has addressed these questions, and the findings suggest both that LGBTQ adults are successful in their roles as parents and that their children develop in positive ways. Overall, the findings to date suggest that parental sexual orientation and gender identity do not in themselves determine success in parenting or child development; indeed, sexual and gender minority parents and their children have shown remarkable resilience, even in the face of many challenges. Contextual issues, as well as implications of research findings for law and policy around the world are discussed.

Keywords: Sexual orientationParentLesbianGayBisexualTransgenderGender identity


Investigating the Pink Tax: Evidence Against a Systematic Price Premium for Women in personal care products

Moshary, Sarah and Tuchman, Anna and Bhatia, Natasha, Investigating the Pink Tax: Evidence Against a Systematic Price Premium for Women in CPG (December 16, 2021). SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3882214

Abstract: This paper provides evidence on price disparities for personal care products targeted at different genders using a national dataset of grocery, convenience, drugstore, and mass merchandiser sales. We find that women’s products are more expensive in some categories (e.g., deodorant) but less expensive in others (e.g., razors). Further, in an apples-to-apples comparison of women’s and men’s products with similar ingredients, the women’s variant is less expensive in three out of five categories. Our results call into question the need for and efficacy of recently proposed and enacted legislation mandating price parity across gendered products.

Keywords: Price Discrimination, Gender, Pink Tax

JEL Classification: L66, M31, D63


Poorly governing ethnic parties persist because core supporters remain loyal in the face of poor governance because of dignity concerns, and are most likely to forgive ethnic parties for failing to address bread-and-butter issues

Malik, Mashail, Discrimination & Defiant Pride: How the Demand for Dignity Can Create Slack for Poor Governance (February 24, 2022). SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4043185

Abstract: Why do poorly governing ethnic parties persist? Dominant approaches to ethnic voting explain this persistence by arguing that core supporters receive material benefits in exchange for loyal support. In this paper, I argue that within-group variation in continued support for ethnic parties is not explained by such instrumental theories. Instead, I show that core supporters remain loyal in the face of poor governance because of dignity concerns. Those in-group members who face more discrimination from state arms dominated by other ethnic groups are also those who place a higher value on the provision of group status through descriptive representation. As a result, these subgroups are also more willing to trade-off good governance with descriptive representation. This creates a perverse incentive for ethnic parties to under-serve their most loyal supporters. Because individuals from lower social classes are more exposed to state discrimination, this means that those who would benefit most from improvements in public goods and services are also (1) least likely to see these improvements, and (2) most likely to forgive ethnic parties for failing to address bread and-butter issues. This argument is supported by ethnographic, descriptive, and experimental evidence from the megacity of Karachi, Pakistan.


Thursday, April 21, 2022

The sexes do not differ in general intelligence, but they do in some specifics: Female advantages in writing, male advantages at higher math ability levels

The sexes do not differ in general intelligence, but they do in some specifics. Matthew R.Reynolds, Daniel B. Hajovsky, Jacqueline M. Caemmerer. Intelligence, Volume 92, May–June 2022, 101651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2022.101651

Highlights

• Despite no differences in general intelligence, there are sex differences in specific abilities.

• Reliable and meaningful female advantages are found in processing speed and writing.

• Reliable and meaningful male advantages are found in visual processing.

• Sex differences research should consider construct breadth and moving beyond mean differences only.

Abstract: Reliable and meaningful sex differences exist in specific cognitive abilities despite no reliable or meaningful sex difference in general intelligence. Here we use Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory to highlight research findings related to sex differences in intelligence, with a focus on studies of test scores from comprehensive intelligence measures that were obtained from large and representative samples of children and adolescents. Female advantages in latent processing speed and male advantages in latent visual processing are the most meaningful and consistently reported sex differences regarding CHC broad cognitive abilities. Differences have been reported in narrow and specific ability constructs such as mental rotation and object memory location. In academic achievement, the largest and most consistent findings are female advantages in writing, whereas male advantages at higher math ability levels are also found. Empirical descriptions of sex differences should consider the breadth of the construct under study and incorporate analysis beyond simple mean differences. Score analysis methods that utilize multiple-group confirmatory factor models and multiple-indicator multiple cause models are useful to address the former, and analysis methods such as quantile regression and male-female ratio calculations along score distributions are useful to address the latter. An understanding of why specific ability differences exist in combination and in the presence of similarities will improve researchers' understanding of human cognition and educational achievements.

Keywords: Sex differencesCattell-Horn-Carroll theoryIntelligenceHuman cognitive abilities


Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Three accounts of the cognitive abilities that facilitated the emergence and transmission of cumulative culture in the recent hominin lineage

Henrich, Heyes and Tomasello on the Cognitive Foundations of Cultural Evolution. Cecilia Heyes. September 13 2021. To appear in: The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution, Eds. Rachel Kendal, Jamie Tehrani & Jeremy Kendal. https://users.ox.ac.uk/~ascch/Celia's%20pdfs/Heyes%20&%20Moore%20AAC%20pdf.pdf

Abstract: We give a brief overview of three accounts of the cognitive abilities that facilitated the emergence and transmission of cumulative culture in the recent hominin lineage. These accounts were developed by Joseph Henrich (e.g., 2015), Cecilia Heyes (e.g., 2018), and Michael Tomasello (e.g., 1999, 2008, 2014) in collaboration with others. We pay particular attention to the different abilities that these authors think are foundational to human cultural evolution, and to questions about whether these abilities first arose as products of genetic or cultural evolution. Our hope is that by clarifying the similarities and differences between these accounts, we will identify points of disagreement that could be tested empirically, and areas where further conceptual clarification is required.

Keywords: cultural evolution, cultural learning, human cognition, adaptations, Henrich, Heyes, Tomasello



Very small advantage of the religious: When comparing a maximally nonreligious atheist group against several maximally religiously affiliated groups, atheists largely showed health parity

Throw BABE Out With the Bathwater? Canadian Atheists are No Less Healthy than the Religious. David Speed. Journal of Religion and Health, Apr 18 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-022-01558-w

Abstract: The belief-as-benefit effect (BABE) is a broad term for the positive association between religion/spirituality (R/S) and health outcomes. Functionally, religious variables and religious identities predict greater wellness, which implies that atheists should report worse health relative to religious groups. Using Cycle 29 of the cross-sectional General Social Survey from Statistics Canada (N > 15,900), I explored health differences in stress, life satisfaction, subjective physical wellbeing, and subjective mental wellbeing across R/S identities (atheists, agnostics, Nones, Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Religions). Results indicated that (1). religious attendance, prayer, and religiosity were generally unrelated to all health outcomes for all R/S identities, (2). averagely religious atheists reported health parity with averagely religious members of all other R/S identities, and (3). when comparing a maximally nonreligious atheist group against several maximally religiously affiliated groups, atheists largely showed health parity. If both low R/S and high R/S are associated with comparable wellness, researchers should actively question whether R/S is genuinely salutary.


Letters To A Spanish Youngster CCLXVII

Letters To A Spanish Youngster CCLXVII

[...]

Your Honor whose being so far from this humble being makes Your follower crushed by aprehension and pain, which at times seem to guiding him to the kingdom of death,/Su Señoría cuyo estar tan alejado de este humilde ser hace a Su seguidor aplastado por la congoja y el dolor, que parecen a veces conducirle al reino de la muerte,

I keep making good use of this poet, the young ibn Gabirol*:/Sigo haciendo uso de este poeta, el joven ibn Gabirol:

[To some Jacob/A un tal Jacob]

                                                      [Mi alma del miedo de amar agoniza,

                                                       [...]

                                                       De ir en su zaga mis juicios se hicieron endebles;

                                                       el hado me acosa

                                                       y yo estoy exangüe.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Estoy hastiado de mis pensamientos,

                                                       combato el tumulto de angustia que encierra mi alma

                                                       y estoy prosternado.

                                                       [...]

                                                       desde hace algún tiempo naufrago en un mar de torpeza.

                                                       ¿Quién es quien camina

                                                       en alas de mi alma

                                                       y planta en el huerto de amores un árbol

                                                       de amor?

                                                       [...]

                                                       Amigo, a ti vienen los versos más dulces:

                                                       con ellos se ablanda mi alma y se hiende.

                                                       Mi espíritu ofrezco en rescate de un canto de loa,

                                                       que surte de fuente preciada

                                                       y fluye de un río esplendente;

                                                       que cae cual rocío encima del heno;

                                                       retorna las almas de aquellos que son sus amantes

                                                       y así las redime de ir al sheol.

                                                       Le son de mis cantos los temas livianos;

                                                       pues tal es la altura de sus cualidades

                                                       que llega hasta el cielo.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Al ver frente a frente su cara, librose

                                                       mi alma que ayer expiraba.]


[On rab Nisim/Sobre rab Nisim]

                                                      [Acerca de mi alma preguntasteis

                                                       quién fuera su sustento;

                                                       y cuando las angustias aumentaron,

                                                       qué quien la mantenía.      Estabais asombrados

                                                       de que la golpearan las tristezas

                                                       y en pie se mantuviera, no logrando

                                                       la pena derribarla.

                                                       Que esto no os asombre: asombraos

                                                       de [Martin], que habita dentro de ella.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Vosotros, mis amigos      más íntimos, llevadle

                                                       saludos a mi amado;

                                                       la bendición reciba de un discípulo

                                                       en cuyos ojos es      más caro que su alma,

                                                       la cual ahora derrama en su presencia.

                                                       [...]

                                                       En ti cavilo siempre:

                                                       si tú fueras el uno,      yo te prolongaría;

                                                       malhaya si olvidara      mi alma tu alianza

                                                       y lloro sin descanso. [...]

                                                       Que paz en abundancia      y gracias tengas cerca

                                                       y tanta salvaguardia      que nadie la calcule.]

The "one" is a reference to "Yahweh is one," and to the reward that the tradition promises to those who extend "one" while making the declaration of faith./El uno es por la cláusula "Yahvé es uno", y el premio que la tradición asigna al que prolonga "uno" al recitar la profesión de fe.


[On rabbi Isaac's leaving/Ante la partida de rabí Isaac]

                                                      [Amigos míos,

                                                       suplicadle mi sueño:

                                                       quizás en sueños logre ver sus relámpagos.

                                                       [...]

                                                       lloremos por los días de adolescencia

                                                       como el mercador llora

                                                       la decadencia de los mercados.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Despojó el corazón de [muchos];

                                                       yo fui de los primeros que ha despojado.

                                                       [...]

                                                       De esperanza y de espera me dejó preso;

                                                       ¿quién me diera que fuera de sus librados?

                                                       [...]

                                                       ¿Y como va a dejar en mi seno el pago

                                                       de mi amor [...]?

                                                       Que justicia y clemencia son sus asiduos;

                                                       le amamantan la ciencia y el buen consejo.

                                                       Ojalá yo no sea sino el amigo

                                                       que retribuye el pago de los amores

                                                       y sus decretos.

                                                       Yo te elogio y tú eres el mismo elogio de mis palabras;

                                                       y un cuello tan hermoso que sus ollares

                                                       los engalana.]


[To a wise and powerful man/A un hombre sabio y poderoso]

                                                      [Exulta, alma mía, y en canto prorrumpa tu habla.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Arranca una rosa, un lirio desprende, un mirto desgaja;

                                                       [...]

                                                       Agarra en las manos un cáliz y un vaso

                                                       tomando al amado por suerte y fortuna

                                                       y huélgate estando los vates reunidos.

                                                       Exige alborozo; expulsa la pena; el júbilo excava;

                                                       [...]

                                                       Profiere alegría; en el campamento

                                                       el juicio aposenta. Adquiere sapiencia

                                                       y alumbra las faces de tu principal.

                                                       Entónale un cántico al noble varón

                                                       cumplido y excelso.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Y ¡qué esplendoroso, qué limpio y qué puro es su dicho!,

                                                       cabeza de honrados, alférez, señor de tu siglo.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Es árbol frondoso, plantel de delicias y fiel mensajero;

                                                       es dulce cual es el maná.

                                                       [...] tiene un rocío que alumbra el camino de todas sus

                                                                                                                           hablas.

                                                       [...] aunque es muy humilde,

                                                       se goza la luna de ser su sirviente.

                                                       [...] tiene la gracia del ciervo

                                                       y un bálsamo lleva en su boca.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Joyel son sus hablas

                                                       [...]

                                                       En el aposento de lo deleitable

                                                       él solo se yergue.

                                                       [...] se recubre

                                                       de luz cual de un manto.

                                                       El brillo del alba lo infunde su aspecto,

                                                       la luz de la luna la emana su lustre

                                                       y de sus destello proviene el destello.

                                                       Es bueno de acciones; humilde y modesto de espíritu;

                                                       [...]

                                                       Saberes expresa;

                                                       [...]

                                                       Su fruto codicias;

                                                       feliz tú si pones en él tu esperanza.

                                                       [...]

                                                       Es roja y radiante la luz del amado y hermano,

                                                       es gozo de aquel que suspira.

                                                       Exulta, alma mía, y en canto prorrumpa tu habla.]


Weeping gently for being so far from Your voice and body features as the merchant weeps for the failing market, Yours faithfully/Llorando suavemente por estar tan lejos de Su voz y formas corporales como el mercader llora por la decadencia de los mercados*, Suyo fielmente

                 a. r. ante Su Señoría

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Notes

*  Adapted from Selected Poems of Solomon ibn Gabirol, translated by Peter Cole (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2001), & the Spanish version from Selomó ibn Gabirol—Poesía secular, by Elena Romero (Madrid: Alfaguara, 1978)