Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world's top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers - often implicitly - assume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these "standard subjects" are as representative of the species as any other population. Are these assumptions justified? Here, our review of the comparative database from across the behavioral sciences suggests both that there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations and that WEIRD subjects are particularly unusual compared with the rest of the species - frequent outliers. The domains reviewed include visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, self-concepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ. The findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans. Many of these findings involve domains that are associated with fundamental aspects of psychology, motivation, and behavior - hence, there are no obvious a priori grounds for claiming that a particular behavioral phenomenon is universal based on sampling from a single subpopulation. Overall, these empirical patterns suggests that we need to be less cavalier in addressing questions of human nature on the basis of data drawn from this particularly thin, and rather unusual, slice of humanity. We close by proposing ways to structurally re-organize the behavioral sciences to best tackle these challenges.

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The WEIRDest People in the World

/pdf/weird-languages-have-misled-us-too-comment-on-henrich-et-al-57dmcdjt24.pdf

WEIRD languages have misled us, too [Comment on Henrich et al.]

国際生活機能分類(International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: ICF)にみた福祉・保健・医療の専門職協働における連携に関する貢献と課題

Meta-analytic procedures were used to test the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, empathy/desensitization, and prosocial behavior. Unique features of this meta-analytic review include (a) more restrictive methodological quality inclusion criteria than in past meta-analyses; (b) cross-cultural comparisons; (c) longitudinal studies for all outcomes except physiological arousal; (d) conservative statistical controls; (e) multiple moderator analyses; and (f) sensitivity analyses. Social-cognitive models and cultural differences between Japan and Western countries were used to generate theory-based predictions. Meta-analyses yielded significant effects for all 6 outcome variables. The pattern of results for different outcomes and research designs (experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal) fit theoretical predictions well. The evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior. Moderator analyses revealed significant research design effects, weak evidence of cultural differences in susceptibility and type of measurement effects, and no evidence of sex differences in susceptibility. Results of various sensitivity analyses revealed these effects to be robust, with little evidence of selection (publication) bias.

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Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Current research on prosocial behavior covers a broad and diverse range of phenomena. We argue that this large research literature can be best organized and understood from a multilevel perspective. We identify three levels of analysis of prosocial behavior: (a) the “meso” level—the study of helper-recipient dyads in the context of a specific situation; (b) the micro level—the study of the origins of prosocial tendencies and the sources of variation in these tendencies; and (c) the macro level—the study of prosocial actions that occur within the context of groups and large organizations. We present research at each level and discuss similarities and differences across levels. Finally, we consider ways in which theory and research at these three levels of analysis might be combined in future intra- and interdisciplinary research on prosocial behavior.

https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~schaller/Psyc591Readings/PennerDovidioPiliavinSchroeder2005.pdf

Prosocial Behavior: Multilevel Perspectives

Pathogenese, Diagnostik und Behandlung von Redeflussstörungen

Female fertility, which changes across the menstrual cycle, as an important factor in human mate choice has been in the scope of evolutionary psychological research for some time now. Many studies report effects of fertility on the female perception of many different mate choice-relevant traits, especially in short-term mating. One trait not studied so far from this perspective is verbal proficiency, a trait closely related to creativity and thus possibly a potential indicator of good genes. Using an experimental design, we tested whether high male verbal proficiency is more preferred by fertile than by non-fertile women. Three audio files were used as stimuli in which a male actor performed scripted verbal self-presentations. The script content was the same in each presentation but was delivered with three levels of verbal proficiency with respect to lexical, grammatical, and speech fluency features. Fertile and non-fertile women (N = 305) had to rate one randomly selected audio file for short-term and long-term attractiveness. An effect on short-term attractiveness was found, but not on long-term attractiveness. Contrary to the expectation, non-fertile women rated men with the highest verbal proficiency as more attractive as a short-term mate than high-fertile women. Verbal proficiency may be an indicator of resources (e.g., via income) that can be provided in long-term mating rather than an indicator of good genes in short-term mating.

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Sounding Hot? Experimental Research on Verbal Proficiency as a Menstrual Cycle-Dependent Female Mate Choice Criterion

Summary Background: Because documentation and report writing in fi beroptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) is time consuming and susceptible to omissions, a software solution to ameliorate these problems by maintaining document quality is desirable. Material/Methods: Based on the FEES procedure of Langmore, a documentation software (DS) which presents a digitized FEES recording and masks with precast text fi elds was designed to facilitate and unify data input. The oropharyngeal secretion scale of Murray and the penetration-aspiration scale of Rosenbek were integrated to increase comparability of dysphagia information. Four independent examiners analyzed 12 digitized FEES-recordings, 6 without and 6 with the DS, to determine its effect on the times needed for total evaluation, interpretation, documentation, report writing, and report completeness. Results: The documentation software (DS) reduced the total evaluation time from 42 min to 18 min and increased the evaluation completeness from 55% to 95%, both with very large effect sizes. The time saving was mainly due to an automated report generation at the end of the analysis. Conclusions: The DS can be offered as a valuable and effective tool in daily clinical routine and for research purposes.

Computer-assisted documentation of the fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing

Two illusions about the nature of human families are the Illusion of Gender Sameness and the Illusion of Family Socialization. The assumption of gender sameness is critically evaluated and found to be deficient. The lack of sex differences on many variables is not disputed, but on variables where sex-specific past selection pressures can be assumed, the differences are considerable. Neglecting to cut nature at its joints, to use Socrates’ butcher metaphor, and using effect size estimates averaged over “wrongly cut” areas gives a mistaken impression of the absence of sex differences. Moreover, socially important sex differences may appear as variance differences. How evolutionarily designed sex differences invade mating, parenting, grandparenting, and extended family relationships, and produce asymmetries in family life, is exemplified, particularly with respect to grandparenting. The Illusion of Family Socialization denotes the belief that the human adult personality is formed by parenting practices. Robust data from behaviorial genetics attest that the shared environment, and thus family-specific socialization practices, does not—with exceptions—account for the variances in personality. Considerations from evolutionary theory, particularly life history theory and parent–child conflict, deliver plausible reasons why parents are not able to mold permanently their offspring’s personality. A human evolutionary behavioral science is well equipped to expose and debunk these illusions.

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The Psychology of Families

398 participants rated on a 7-point scale how much their aunts and uncles had been concerned about their welfare and whether the matrior patrilateral aunt and uncle was the more concerned. The matrilateral aunt was more often chosen as the more concerned one than the patrilateral aunt, and the same for uncles. The ANCOVA of the kin investment ratings, adjusted for difference in age and residential distance of aunts and uncles, showed a sizable sex effect (aunts more concerned than uncles), a small but significant laterality effect (matrilateral aunts/uncles more concerned) and a significant interaction (matrilateral bias stronger in aunts than in uncles). These German results are comparable to those of Gaulin et al. (1997) from the US. The participants were also asked by which name they addressed their grandparents and aunts/uncles. Independent observers rated the emotional proximity of the various address forms. Whereas the discriminative solicitude of the four grandparents is reflected both in the number of address forms given as well as in rated emotional proximity of address forms (most for maternal grandmother, least for paternal grandfather), the same did not apply to aunts and uncles. Various studies have consistently found the matrilateral investment bias to be stronger in female than in male relatives. Possible explanations for this sex difference are discussed. Three years ago at our meeting in Cambridge (Euler & Weitzel, 1995) we talked about grandparents and showed how reproductive strategy and paternity confidence explained discriminative grandparental caregiving, i.e. the fact that grandmothers care more for grandchildren than grandfathers do, and maternal grandparents more than paternal ones. So the grandparent most concerned about grandchildren is the mother of the mother, and she is also the grandparent most of us like best. The grandparent least concerned is the father of the father. Almost thirty percent of the variance in discriminative grandparental solicitude could be accounted for by the sex-specific reproductive strategy and paternity confidence. Last year at Ghent we talked about grandparent-parent relationships, especially about relationships to in-law daughters and sons (Euler, Hoier & Weitzel, 1997). We showed how these relationships are clearly structured along evolutionary factors. We tried to explain, for example, why the sons-in-law have a relatively good standing for in-laws, whereas the daughters-in-law often get a rough deal. We pointed to a possible ultimate explanation: The son-in-law is the husband of a daughter, and to support her in her time-consuming reproductive strategy is in the best reproductive interest of the grandparents themselves. A welcome-strategy towards the son-in-law is a good adaptation here. The daughter-in-law, Euler et al., Kin investment of aunts and uncles. ESS Meeting Moscow 1998. moscow03.doc Page 2 of 11 however, is the wife of a son, and insofar as the son is inclined towards a strategy of maximizing mates, it is a good adaptation for his parents to interact with the daughter-in-law in terms of a good-bye strategy (and not in terms of a good-buy strategy), as if they wanted to communicate unconsiously to their son to try another mate. The mother-in-law/daughter-inlaw is the most conflict-prone of the parent-grandparent relationships. Very often she is just not good enough. The father-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship fares a little better, for a particular reproductive reason, that is, the daughter-in-law is a potential mate for the father-inlaw. We seem to have touched quite relevant questions here because we received a lot of popular resonance to this research in Germany, especially from the yellow press. If the yellow press is interested, it's safe to assume evolutionary relevance. Today we want to complete our tiny trilogy with a talk about aunts and uncles, and what their contribution is to the wider family, which we may consider as joint venture for reproductive profit. When talking about aunts and uncles we mean the sisters and brothers of mom and dad, and not their spouses. The role of paternity uncertainty is well known to you, so there is no need to explicate this factor. We are all familiar with the phenomenon of the avunculate, the particular rights and obligations (e. g. inheritance; Flinn, 1981) of the mother's brother, particularly in those societies with a high incidence of extra-pair copulations and a consequent low paternity certainty (Gaulin & Schlegel, 1980). If paternity certainty drops too low it is adaptive for a male to divert paternal investment away from the progeny of his sexual partner to the progeny of his sister. Remnants of this fact can still be found in different role names in traditional German for the maternal and paternal brother. Only the paternal brother was called "Onkel" (like the English 'uncle') in past times, and today this word still has connotations of unfamiliarity and distance. For example, a potentially mean strange man is called a "boser Onkel" in Germany. I also learned that in some languages (e.g. Serbo-Croatian) this name distinction between these two kinds of uncles is made. The maternal brother, however, used to be called "Oheim" in Germany, and he played particular roles in the family not bestowed on an uncle. So we predict that kin investment in nephews and nieces is higher for maternal uncles and aunts than for paternal ones. The second relevant factor is the sex-specific reproductive strategy. Mothers and grandmothers invest more in their descendents than fathers and grandfathers. Females are 'kin Euler et al., Kin investment of aunts and uncles. ESS Meeting Moscow 1998. moscow03.doc Page 3 of 11 keepers', as sociological family researchers sometimes say. Does this sex effect also apply to collateral kins? Do aunts care more for nephews and nieces than uncles do?

Harald A. Euler

Papers

Pathogenese, Diagnostik und Behandlung von Redeflussstörungen

Sounding Hot? Experimental Research on Verbal Proficiency as a Menstrual Cycle-Dependent Female Mate Choice Criterion

Computer-assisted documentation of the fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing

The Psychology of Families

Kin investment of aunts and uncles: Why is the matrilateral bias stronger in women?