My Science - Blog / Mein Naturwissenschaftsblog

Hopefully some interesting bits of information extracted from science and non-fiction literature. (For historical reasons there are some poems scattered throughout this blog.) Sachthemen und Sachtexte. (Historisch finden sich auf diesem Blog auch einige Gedichte und Aphorismen.) [Just collecting some exciting bits of information here.] [Eine Sammlung von interessanten Texten, Fragen und Antworten will das hier sein. Nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger.]

Montag, 27. Juli 2015

Romantic Love and Sexual Desire in Close Relationships

Romantic Love and Sexual Desire in Close Relationships
GC Gonzaga et al. (2006)

Abstract

Drawing on recent claims in the study of relationships, attachment, and emotion, the authors hypothesized that romantic love serves a commitment-related function and sexual desire a reproduction-related function. Consistent with these claims, in Study 1, brief experiences of romantic love and sexual desire observed in a 3-min interaction between romantic partners were related to distinct feeling states, distinct nonverbal displays, and commitment- and reproductive-related relationship outcomes, respectively. In Study 2, the nonverbal display of romantic love was related to the release of oxytocin. Discussion focuses on the place of romantic love and sexual desire in the literature on emotion.

[Romantic love has something to do with behavioral synchronization; sexual desire isn't necessarily connected with the "urge for behavioral synchronization". In the case of biparental care behavioral synchronization is necessary or at least beneficial.]

Day-to-Day Changes in Intimacy Predict Heightened Relationship Passion, Sexual Occurrence, and Sexual Satisfaction : A Dyadic Diary Analysis

Day-to-Day Changes in Intimacy Predict Heightened Relationship Passion, Sexual Occurrence, and Sexual Satisfaction : A Dyadic Diary Analysis
Harris Rubin and Lorne Campbell (2012)

Abstract

The current research tested a model proposed by Baumeister and Bratslavsky (1999) suggesting that passion’s association with intimacy is best understood as being linked with changes in intimacy over time. Within this framework, when intimacy shows relatively large and rapid increases, levels of passion should be high. When intimacy remains unchanged over time, levels of passionate experience should be low. To test this hypothesis, 67 heterosexual couples involved in long-term relationships completed daily measures of intimacy, passion, and sexual satisfaction for 21 consecutive days. Analyses guided by the actor–partner interdependence model (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) demonstrated that day-to-day changes in intimacy for both partners predicted relationship passion, sexual frequency, and sexual satisfaction in a manner conforming to Baumeister and Bratslavksy’s model. These results represent the first empirical support for this model of intimacy and passionate experience.

Samstag, 4. Juli 2015

Do We Have Valid Country-Level Measures of Personality?

Do We Have Valid Country-Level Measures of Personality?
[MQ Summer 2015 - p 70-92 / 360-382], Gerhard Meisenberg (2015)

Abstract

While country-level differences in psychometric intelligence and school achievement are used increasingly in cross-cultural research, far less is known about country-level differences in personality. This article summarizes cross-country research with measures of the Big Five personality dimensions. The conclusion is that these measures have limited reliability and validity when used at the level of country averages. Possible reasons and remedies for this situation are discussed.

[via James Thompson; see also: MQ Spring 2015 & Two free gifts in return for an Anthropologist]

Happiness in modern society: why intelligence and ethnic composition matter

Happiness in modern society: why intelligence and ethnic composition matter
Satoshi Kanazawa &, Norman P. Li (2015)
Journal of Research in Personality

Abstract

Recent developments in evolutionary psychology suggest that living among others of the same ethnicity might make individuals happier and further that such an effect of the ethnic composition on life satisfaction may be stronger among less intelligent individuals. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health showed that White Americans had significantly greater life satisfaction than all other ethnic groups in the US and this was largely due to the fact that they were the majority ethnic group; minority Americans who lived in counties where they were the numerical majority had just as much life satisfaction as White Americans did. Further, the association between ethnic composition and life satisfaction was significantly stronger among less intelligent individuals. The results suggest two important factors underlying life satisfaction and highlight the utility of integrating happiness research and evolutionary psychology.

Abonnieren Posts (Atom)

">"[Wir] sagen, es sei uns etwas Erlebnis, wenn wir damit meinen, dass uns etwas nicht fremd und distant geblieben, sondern zu einem Stück unseres Selbst geworden sei."

(Philipp Lersch)

"gerade die Großartigkeit mancher Lösungen ist eng verbunden mit dem Grad an Intuition."

(Gerhard Roth)

"Thinking is hard work. If my students are any guide, many have never experienced working to their maximum (except on standardized tests) so do not even know what they are capable of until pushed."

(Linda S. Gottfredson)

"If our professions do not allow us to devote more than two hours a day to a subject, do not abandon the work on the pretext that we need four or six. As Payot wisely noted, 'A little each day is enough, as long as a little is produced each day.' "

(Santiago Ramon y Cajal)

"I have always fiercly defended the position that we should base our view of the world on the state of our knowledge, on fact, and not on what we would like it to be."

(James Watson)

"So zu lesen und zu studiren, daß es sich immer ansezt, kan ich rathen, obgleich die Welt nicht an mir den Nutzen dieses Rathes sieht, ich gebe ihn nicht weil ich ihn durch häufige Erfahrung nützlich befunden habe, sondern, weil ich jezt sehe und deutlich, daß ich ihn hätte befolgen sollen."

(Georg Cristoph Lichtenberg)

"no matter who your are, your joie de vivre mostly derives from paying attention to someone or something that interests you."

(Winifred Gallagher)

"Almost anything can be interesting once. Only a few things ever become endlessly fascinating, and nothing is endlessly fascinating for everyone."

(Paul Silvia)

"Every organism, whether a bacterium or a member of Homo sapiens, has a set of things in the world that matter to it and which it (therefore) needs to discriminate and anticipate as best it can."

(Daniel C. Dennett)

"Hehle nimmer mit der Wahrheit! Bringt sie Leid, nicht bringt sie Reue; ..."

(Theodor Storm)

"Und sollt er auch straucheln überall ..."

(Friedrich Schiller)

"we don't actually go to art for information. The information content is not the primary thing. It's the experience."

(Roger Scruton)

"You have to be somebody before you can share yourself."

(Jaron Lanier)

"because when you start getting bored without constant external stimulation, that's when stuff starts coming up from the inside[.]"

(John Cleese)

"The key, Paul [Silvia] explained, is that novelty for the beginner comes in one form, and novelty for the expert in another. For the beginner, novelty is anything that hasn't been encountered before. For the expert, novelty is nuance."

(Angela Duckworth)

"So I discovered early on if you want anything you went for it and you got it. And most people don't ever go anywhere or want anything, so they never get anything."

(Ray Bradbury)

"But thinking is to be a corrective in our life, it's not supposed to be the center of our lives. Living is supposed to be the center of our lives."

(Ray Bradbury)

"when a man talks from his heart, in his moment of truth, he speaks poetry."

(Ray Bradbury)

"The PE is therefore a signal that states: 'This is good stuff, by your standards - maybe the best you are capable of, under current circumstances. Don't ignore it, don't forget it, and try to understand it'."

(Bruce Charlton)

"the physical universe has structure, and one’s perceptions of this structure, one’s partiality to some of its characteristics and aversion to others, are precisely the elements that make up one’s taste."

(Chen Ning Yang)

Genialität als ein Etwas, das uns in die Lage versetzt, Wert zu detektieren, und das uns danach streben lässt, Wert hervorzubringen.

In seinen lebendigsten Stunden findet der Mensch Erfüllung.

Aufgabe der Philosophie: Den Charakter dieser Welt einzufangen; in deutlichen und klaren Worten. Unter Miteinbezug innerer Erfahrung.

Dem Philosophierenden geht es darum, fundamentale Einsichten in den Charakter dieser Welt zu gewinnen.

Einen Menschen sehen, in voller Stärke, ganz und gar in seinem Element ...

Der Reiz mancher Gedanken erschöpft sich nicht. An manchen Gedanken können wir wieder und wieder und wieder Anteil nehmen.

Das tun, was in der eigenen Macht liegt. Der Rest ist Schicksal.

Menschen, die auch im Schmerz noch singen. Denen der Mut nie abhanden kommt.

Freiheit: Die Bestrebung, das "Ich muss" zu entfernen, und, als Ersatz, das "Ich will" zu kultivieren.

Es gibt Richtungsentscheidungen, im Leben, die zu einem Mehr an wertvollem Leben hinführen, oder von solchem Leben entschieden wegführen.

Die Welt ist in einer Weise beschaffen, dass wir in ihr zutiefst positive Erfahrungen sammeln können.

Life comes in distinct flavors.

Every scientific field has its distinct population of ideas and statements.