Testing the effects of pathogen threat and sexual strategies on political ideology

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie J. Shook ◽  
Benjamin Oosterhoff

AbstractDisgust has been consistently associated with greater political conservatism. Two explanations have been proposed for this link. According to a pathogen threat model, disgust serves a pathogen-avoidance function, encouraging more conservative ideology, whereas a sexual strategies model suggests that this link is explained by variability in short-term versus long-term mating goals. In two preregistered studies using a college student and community sample (total N = 1,950), we examined whether experimentally manipulating pathogen threat and mate availability produced differences in political ideology and whether these differences were explained by disgust and sociosexual attitudes. Across both studies, we did not find evidence that manipulating pathogen threat or mate availability resulted in change in political ideology. In Study 1, manipulating mate availability was indirectly associated with greater political conservativism through stronger sociosexual attitudes that favor monogamy. These findings failed to replicate in Study 2. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 746
Author(s):  
Yifan Wang ◽  
Dengju Wang ◽  
Rong Zhao

To achieve the dual goal of poverty alleviation and ecological restoration, the policy of ecological forest rangers (EFRs) was implemented in rural poverty-stricken areas in China, where local residents commonly depend on nearby forest resources for livelihoods. This study aimed to analyze the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the EFRs policy in China mainly in poverty alleviation and income growth, with a brief discussion on the ecological effect of the policy. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four counties in the Karst rocky desertification region in southwest China. By combing through the early literature on REDD+, community forestry, leasehold forestry, etc., this paper summarizes the experience and lessons of similar community forest management models, aiming to explain the unsustainability of EFRs policy from the perspective of forest tenure and governance. The findings of the effectiveness analysis of EFRs policy in the four poverty-stricken counties reflect different degrees of effect in rural households with different income levels. We believe that the EFRs policy has played important roles in short-term regional poverty alleviation while its potential for long-term income growth has not been stimulated. For the amendment of EFRs policy, we put forward the following points: (1) It is necessary to redesign the selection and recruitment mechanism, as well as the exit mechanism of EFRs adapting to the local conditions. (2) It is advisable to further improve the local assessment and monitoring system of forest protection quality of EFRs and optimize the establishment of benefit linkage mechanism between protection effectiveness and EFRs remuneration. (3) The EFRs remuneration standards should be dynamically raised to assure the active participation of EFRs in forest protection. Furthermore, there is a need for one more effective integration model of forest protection and rural livelihoods improvement, which is considered as a potential future research direction.


2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens B. Asendorpf ◽  
Lars Penke ◽  
Mitja D. Back

We studied initial and long–term outcomes of speed–dating over a period of 1 year in a community sample involving 382 participants aged 18–54 years. They were followed from their initial choices of dating partners up to later mating (sexual intercourse) and relating (romantic relationship). Using Social Relations Model analyses, we examined evolutionarily informed hypotheses on both individual and dyadic effects of participants’ physical characteristics, personality, education and income on their dating, mating and relating. Both men and women based their choices mainly on the dating partners’ physical attractiveness, and women additionally on men's sociosexuality, openness to experience, shyness, education and income. Choosiness increased with age in men, decreased with age in women and was positively related to popularity among the other sex, but mainly for men. Partner similarity had only weak effects on dating success. The chance for mating with a speed–dating partner was 6%, and was increased by men's short–term mating interest; the chance for relating was 4%, and was increased by women's long–term mating interest. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 852-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnout R.H. Fischer ◽  
L.P.A. (Bea) Steenbekkers

Purpose Lack of acceptance of insects as food is considered a barrier against societal adoption of the potentially valuable contribution of insects to human foods. An underlying barrier may be that insects are lumped together as one group, while consumers typically try specific insects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which Dutch consumers, with and without insect tasting experience, are more or less willing to eat different insects. Design/methodology/approach In a quasi-experimental study (n=140), the participants with and without prior experience in eating insects were asked to give their willingness to eat a range of insects, and their attitudes and disgust towards eating insects. Findings Insects promoted in the market were more preferred than the less marketed insects, and a subgroup of preferred insects for participants with experience in eating insects was formed. Research limitations/implications Although well-known insects were more preferred, general willingness to eat remained low for all participants. The results indicate that in future research on insects as food the specific insects used should be taken into account. Practical implications Continued promotion of specific, carefully targeted, insects may not lead to short-term uptake of insects as food, but may contribute to willingness to eat insects as human food in the long term. Originality/value The paper shows substantial differences between consumers who have and who have not previously tasted insects, with higher acceptance of people with experience in tasting insects for the specific insects that are frequently promoted beyond their generally more positive attitude towards eating insects.


Author(s):  
Victoria I. Michalowski ◽  
Denis Gerstorf ◽  
Christiane A. Hoppmann

Aging does not occur in isolation, but often involves significant others such as spouses. Whether such dyadic associations involve gains or losses depends on a myriad of factors, including the time frame under consideration. What is beneficial in the short term may not be so in the long term, and vice versa. Similarly, what is beneficial for one partner may be costly for the other, or the couple unit over time. Daily dynamics between partners involving emotion processes, health behaviors, and collaborative cognition may accumulate over years to affect the longer-term physical and mental health outcomes of either partner or both partners across adulthood and into old age. Future research should move beyond an individual-focused approach to aging and consider the importance of and interactions among multiple time scales to better understand how, when, and why older spouses shape each other’s aging trajectories, both for better and for worse.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Hammarström ◽  
Pekka Virtanen

Background and aim: Referring to the ecosocial theory and utilising the ‘natural experiment’ setting provided by the global recession at the beginning of 1990s, the aim of our study was to analyse the short- and long-term associations between trade and mental health in young students followed until mid-adulthood. Method: The study was based on two prospective cohort studies, the older and the younger Northern Swedish Cohort which both consisted of all pupils in a middle-sized industrial town in Northern Sweden. At age 21, the younger cohort entered the labour market during the deep recession of the early 1990s, while the older cohort entered the labour market during the boom of the 1980s. Both cohorts were followed up with a high response rate in mid adulthood. For this study, all students were selected at age 21. Results: At age 21, those who studied during recession had more depressive and functional somatic symptoms than those who studied during boom. The cohort differences did not remain over age: by the follow-up in early middle age the differences between the cohorts were non-significant, most notably due to decreased depressive symptoms in the younger cohort and increase of functional somatic symptoms in the older cohort. Conclusions: The short-term mental health consequences of the business cycle seem to be more extensive than limited only to those who are unemployed, even though the possible long-term consequences seem to be more complex. Thus, the macrolevel had a great short-term impact on the individual level in relation to the microlevel setting of university/school. The chronosystem was also of major importance. Future research would benefit from taking the context into account.


2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia C Moser

There is a wealth of literature on neurotoxicological outcomes of acute and short-term exposure to pesticides in laboratory animals, but there are relatively few studies of- long-term exposure. Many reports in the literature describing `chronic' exposures to pesticides are, in fact, as short as five days and rarely longer than three months. Furthermore, routes of administration range from subcutaneous to dietary. Doses used in many of the studies produce signs of acute or overt toxicity. In contrast, human symptoms have been reported following exposures that are prolonged and often without obvious toxic effects. A survey of the literature was conducted to identify rodent studies with neurobehavioral and neurophysiological endpoints of pesticide exposures lasting 30 days or longer. This survey indicated that the majority of studies concentrate on cholinesterase inhibitors (organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides). Various neuromotor, cholinergic, physiological, affective and cognitive disorders were reported at doses producing cholinesterase inhibition; however, there were a fewer effects at non-inhibiting doses. Other classes of pesticides produced similar effects, with the exception of cholinergic signs. In many studies, the changes were subtle, which may correspond to the nonspecific changes in psychomotor and cognitive function reported in humans. It appears, then, that the data from animal and human pesticide exposures are generally comparable, but the specific outcomes are influenced by many experimental differences. Future research should concentrate on analogous exposures and outcomes to facilitate interpretation. Human & Experimental Toxicology (2007) 26, 321—331


1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Rose

This paper reports the results of a forensic phonetic experiment which investigates the nature of long- and short-term within-speaker differences in the F-pattem of the same word hello said by six similar-sounding male speakers of Australian English. Short-term differences are obtained from recordings separated by about one minute, long-term differences from recordings separated by at least a year. Within-spcaker variation in the centre frequencies of the first four formants at well-defined points in the word is quantified by ANOVA, Scheffé's F and Euclidean distances. Very few significant differences occur in either the long- or short-term, and they appear largely random. Bom long- and short-term mean within-speaker differences are shown to be less than the corresponding mean between-speaker differences. Implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.


2004 ◽  
Vol 92 (S1) ◽  
pp. S31-S34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin R. Yeomans

The effects of alcohol on food and energy intake in human subjects have been the subject of a number of controlled studies recently. Unlike the evidence for other macronutrients, there is minimal evidence for any compensatory reduction in food intake in response to energy ingested as alcohol. In contrast, all studies testing intake within 1 h of preload ingestion report a higher intake of food following alcohol relative to energy-matched controls, although this short-term stimulatory effect is not evident if the test meal is delayed beyond 1 h. This time-course suggests that short-term stimulation of appetite may be mediated by the pharmacological action of alcohol on the appetite control system, either through enhanced orosensory reward or impaired satiety. In the long term, energy ingested as alcohol is additive to energy from other sources, suggesting that moderate alcohol consumption results in long-term passive over-consumption alongside short-term active over-consumption of energy through appetite stimulation. Despite the consistency of enhanced energy intake after moderate alcohol, evidence of an association between alcohol in the diet and obesity remains contentious, although the most recent results suggest that alcohol intake correlates with BMI. Future research needs to address this issue and clarify the mechanisms underlying appetite stimulation by alcohol.


Author(s):  
Deborah L. Nelson ◽  
Kim-Phuong L. Vu

Participants in this study were assigned to one of three different password generation groups: image-based mnemonic, text-based mnemonic, or proactive password checking restrictions alone; and asked to generate and later recall passwords for five separate fictitious online accounts. Password accuracy and recall time were measured following both a short-term (10-minute) and long-term (1-week) delay. Results indicated that passwords were more quickly generated and accurately recalled when they were generated using the image-based mnemonic technique or proactive password restrictions alone, as opposed to the text-based mnemonic technique. Furthermore, use of the image-based mnemonic technique resulted in the generation of passwords that were more resistant to forgetting. Implications and future research considerations are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
Helle L. Thulesius ◽  
Anders Cervin ◽  
Max Jessen

Objectives: Rhinomanometry before and after decongestion distinguishes a nasal airway organic stenosis from congestion of nasal mucosa in patients with nasal stuffiness. Together with rhinoscopy and patient history, it is used to decide if nasal surgery would benefit the patient. Rhinomanometry measurements should thus be reliable and reproducible. Materials and methods: We performed repetitive active anterior rhinomanometry in 9 persons during 5 months to test reproducibility of nasal airway resistance (NAR) over time. We also did test-retest measurements in several participants. Xylometazoline hydrochloride was applied in each nasal cavity to minimize effects of mucosal variation and the nasal cavity was examined with rhinoscopy. The participants evaluated subjective nasal stuffiness on a visual analogue scale (VAS). Results: The long term mean coefficient of variation (CV) of NAR over time was 27% for the whole group while the short term CV was 7 - 17% for test-retest within an hour. Mean NAR reduction after decongestion was 33%, but 13% of NAR values were not reduced after decongestion. Participants had difficulties estimating stuffiness on a VAS in 15% of the assessments, but there was no correlation between the VAS estimates and NAR. Conclusion: We found a high NAR variation over a period of five months. This implies low long-term rhinomanometry reproducibility and we suggest future research on standardised decongestion to increase the reproducibility.


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