Pleasantly disposed
Sex Differences in Wild Chimpanzee Behavior Emerge during Infancy
Elizabeth Lonsdorf et al.
PLoS ONE, June 2014
Abstract:
The role of biological and social influences on sex differences in human child development is a persistent topic of discussion and debate. Given their many similarities to humans, chimpanzees are an important study species for understanding the biological and evolutionary roots of sex differences in human development. In this study, we present the most detailed analyses of wild chimpanzee infant development to date, encompassing data from 40 infants from the long-term study of chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Our goal was to characterize age-related changes, from birth to five years of age, in the percent of observation time spent performing behaviors that represent important benchmarks in nutritional, motor, and social development, and to determine whether and in which behaviors sex differences occur. Sex differences were found for indicators of social behavior, motor development and spatial independence with males being more physically precocious and peaking in play earlier than females. These results demonstrate early sex differentiation that may reflect adult reproductive strategies. Our findings also resemble those found in humans, which suggests that biologically-based sex differences may have been present in the common ancestor and operated independently from the influences of modern sex-biased parental behavior and gender socialization.
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Kate Bradshaw et al.
Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study reports the results of a comprehensive online survey of 1,612 current or former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) many of whom engaged in psychotherapy in an effort to cope with (understand, accept, or change) their same-sex attractions. Data obtained from written and quantitative responses showed that therapy was initiated over a very wide age range and continued for many years. However, counseling was largely ineffective; less than 4% reported any modification of core same-sex erotic attraction. Moreover, 42% reported that their change-oriented therapy was “not at all effective,” and 37% found it to be moderately to severely harmful. In contrast, affirming psychotherapeutic strategies were often found to be beneficial in reducing depression, increasing self-esteem, and improving family and other relationships. Our data suggest that the very low likelihood of a modification of sexual orientation and the ambiguous nature of any such change should be important considerations for highly religious sexual minority individuals considering reorientation therapy.
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David Lick, Kerri Johnson & Simone Gill
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Perceivers use gender-atypical nonverbal cues to categorize others as lesbian/gay, and the same cues help to explain the occurrence of antigay prejudice. Although these patterns replicate across recent studies, their proximal causes have received little attention. It remains unclear, for example, why the gender-atypical appearances common among sexual minority individuals arouse negative evaluations. Here, we tested whether perceptions of communicative intent — believing that targets’ visible features are deliberately enacted in order to convey aspects of their identities — may help to explain observed links between sexual orientation categorization, gender typicality, and prejudice. In Study 1, gender-atypical body motions were associated with the perception that targets were intentionally trying to communicate their identity, and perceptions of communicative intent predicted expressions of antigay prejudice. Study 2 replicated these effects with static facial images. Collectively, these findings highlight communicative intent as an important factor predicting antigay prejudice in the early moments of social perception.
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Hands of a surgeon: Second to fourth digit ratios in the surgical profession
C.W. Joyce et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, October 2014, Pages 28–31
Abstract:
Second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is a sexually dimorphic trait and a low ratio has been shown to be linked with a heightened visuospatial ability. Surgeons are typically renowned for good visuospatial awareness and this is now a requirement to gain access on to surgical training programmes. We hypothesized that a lower 2D:4D would be found in a cohort of surgeons compared to an age and gender matched control group. Digit ratios were measured in each group and compared. We found that male surgeons had a significantly reduced 2D:4D ratio compared to the controls. There was no difference observed between female surgeons and the female control. We have demonstrated that male surgeons have a significantly lower 2D:4D ratio compared to an age and gender matched control. This would be in keeping with published reports that a low 2D:4D ratio is associated with improved visuospatial ability.
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British colonialism and the criminalization of homosexuality
Enze Han & Joseph O'Mahoney
Cambridge Review of International Affairs, forthcoming
Abstract:
What explains the global variation in laws criminalizing homosexual conduct? Recent research has claimed that British colonialism is largely responsible for the criminalization of homosexuality around the world. This article utilizes a newly constructed dataset that includes up-to-date data on 185 countries to assess this claim. We find that British colonies are much more likely to have criminalization of homosexual conduct laws than other colonies or other states in general. This result holds after controlling for other variables that might be expected to influence the likelihood of repressive lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights legislation. However, we also find that the evidence in favour of the claim that British imperialism ‘poisoned’ societies against homosexuality is weak. British colonies do not systematically take longer to decriminalize homosexual conduct than other European colonies.
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Michelle Birkett, Stephen Russell & Heather Corliss
American Journal of Public Health, June 2014, Pages 1124-1128
Objectives: We examined sexual-orientation identity disparities in truancy and academic achievement, and the mediational role of victimization in a large high-school sample.
Methods: We utilized pooled data, measuring sexual identity, from the 2005 and 2007 Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System Surveys. Multilevel logistic regression modeling estimated the odds of low grades and truancy because of feeling unsafe comparing lesbian/gay, bisexual, (LGB) and unsure students to heterosexuals. We stratified models by gender. Indicators of victimization were examined to mediate the relationship between identifying as a sexual minority and school achievement or truancy.
Results: LGB-identified youths reported significantly elevated odds of truancy and low grades (odds ratios = 1.6–3.2; all P < .05). Additionally, both genders noting uncertainty about their sexual identity showed increased odds of truancy. Victimization indicators mediated the relationship between identifying as a sexual minority and experiencing negative school outcomes, with greater victimization indicators being associated with increased truancy and lower grades, and the extent of mediation differed by gender.
Conclusions: As early disparities in academic achievement and school engagement have indicated a lifetime of increased health and behavioral risk factors, early intervention targeting school victimization is necessary.
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David Lick & Kerri Johnson
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Psychologists have amassed robust evidence of antigay prejudice by assessing participants’ global attitudes toward sexual minorities and their reactions to behavioral descriptions of hypothetical targets. In daily interactions, however, perceivers make decisions about others’ sexual orientations based upon visible cues alone. Does antigay prejudice arise on the basis of such visual exposure, and if so, why? Three studies revealed that perceivers evaluated women they categorized as lesbians more negatively than women they categorized as straight. Moreover, prejudice against lesbian women was strongly tethered to gendered aspects of their facial appearance: Women categorized as lesbians tended to appear gender-atypical, and women who appeared gender-atypical were perceived to be unattractive, leading to prejudice. Similar findings did not emerge for men categorized as gay. As such, we argue that gendered appearance cues lay the perceptual foundation for prejudice against women, but not men, who are categorized as sexual minorities.
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Is subjective ambivalence toward gays a modern form of bias?
Mark Hoffarth & Gordon Hodson
Personality and Individual Differences, October 2014, Pages 75–80
Abstract:
Theoretically, modern racism and sexism are characterized by ambivalence. We directly examined the consequence of being higher in subjective ambivalence toward gays (i.e. attitudes that feel “torn”) with regard to gay rights support. In Study 1, greater subjective ambivalence was associated with more negative attitudes (and not more positive attitudes), more ideological opposition to gays, more negative intergroup emotions, and less gay rights support. In Study 2, less opposition to gay bullying was predicted by: (a) greater subjective ambivalence (through lower intergroup empathy); and (b) experimentally-salient bullying justification norms (through lower collective guilt). These effects held controlling for Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men (i.e., traditional negative attitudes). Although not overtly negative, individual differences in subjective ambivalence tap a unique, subtle, and less objectionable form of bias, consistent with aversive racism and justification–suppression frameworks of explaining modern biases.
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Testosterone across successive competitions: Evidence for a ‘winner effect’ in humans?
Samuele Zilioli & Neil Watson
Psychoneuroendocrinology, September 2014, Pages 1–9
Abstract:
In many species testosterone fluctuates in concert with outcome-dependent changes in social status, such that winning a competition leads to an increase in circulating testosterone (i.e. competition effect). Although this phenomenon has been well studied in humans, the cumulative endocrine impact of multiple successive competitions is poorly understood. Moreover, although changes in testosterone after a competition seem to predict immediate aggressive behavior, competitive motivation, risk-taking, and affiliation, whether this endocrine response also has long-term behavioral effects, as suggested by studies in non-human animals, has not been examined. In this study, salivary testosterone was collected from pairs of male participants engaging, on two consecutive days, in head-to-head competitions on a previously validated laboratory task. We found that testosterone reactivity on the first day, which was congruent with the competition effect (i.e. net testosterone increase in randomly assigned winners), predicted the task performance on the second day. Further, when looking at testosterone reactivity on the second day, those individuals that lost both competitions experienced the steepest decline in testosterone compared to those individuals who lost on the second day but won on the first day. Testosterone fluctuations on the second day were also analyzed considering the type of status hierarchy (stable vs. unstable) that emerged as a result of the combined outcomes of the two competitions. In accordance with the Challenge Hypothesis, men in unstable hierarchies (first day winners/second day losers and first day losers/second day winners) experienced an increase in testosterone compared to men in the stable hierarchies (double winners and double losers). Results are discussed within a comparative perspective, drawing parallels with the Winner Effect and the Challenge Hypothesis observed in non-human animals.
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The moderating effect of prior attitudes on intergroup face-to-face contact
Heather Graham, Mark Frame & Jared Kenworthy
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study examined cooperative contact as an antecedent to reducing negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, as measured by Herek's Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale—Short Form (ATLG). In a scripted role-play, participants were paired with a confederate who declared their character's sexual orientation as either heterosexual or homosexual. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that contact with homosexual individuals affected participants' attitudes toward gay men and lesbians over and above the participants' prior ATLG scores. A moderating effect for prior ATLG scores was also found. The effect of confederate's sexual orientation was stronger for participants with more negative ATLG scores compared to those with more favorable attitudes. Implications for decreasing homophobia in organizations are discussed.
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Jennifer Bossio et al.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, July 2014, Pages 941-952
Abstract:
Unlike men, heterosexual women’s genital arousal is gender nonspecific, such that heterosexual women show relatively similar genital arousal to sexual stimuli depicting men and women but typically report greater subjective arousal to male stimuli. Based on the ovulatory-shift hypothesis — that women show a mid-cycle shift in preferences towards more masculine features during peak fertility — we predicted that heterosexual women’s genital and subjective arousal would be gender specific (more arousal towards male stimuli) during peak fertility. Twenty-two naturally-cycling heterosexual women were assessed during the follicular and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle to examine the role of menstrual cycle phase in gender specificity of genital and subjective sexual arousal. Menstrual cycle phase was confirmed with salivary hormone assays; phase at the time of first testing was counterbalanced. Women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal patterns were gender nonspecific, irrespective of cycle phase. Cycle phase at first testing session did not influence genital or subjective arousal in the second testing session. Similar to previous research, women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal varied with cues of sexual activity, but neither genital nor subjective sexual arousal varied by gender cues, with the exception of masturbation stimuli, where women showed higher genital arousal to the stimuli depicting male compared to female actors. These data suggest that menstrual cycle phase does not influence the gender specificity of heterosexual women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal.