An Evolutionary Perspective on Humor: Sexual Selection or Interest Indication?

An Evolutionary Perspective on Humor: Sexual Selection or Interest Indication?
Norman P Li et al.; 2009
http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/normanli/lietal2009.pdf


Abstract

Are people who are funny more attractive? Or does being attractive lead people to be seen as funnier? The answer may depend on the underlying evolutionary function of humor. While humor has been proposed to signal “good genes,” the authors propose that humor also functions to indicate interest in social relationships—in initiating new relationships and in monitoring existing ones. Consistent with this interest indicator model, across three studies both sexes were more likely to initiate humor and to respond more positively and consider the other person to be funny when initially attracted to that person. The findings support that humor dynamics —and not just humor displays—influence romantic chemistry for both men and women, suggesting that humor can ultimately function as a strategy to initiate and monitor social relationships. 

 [Humor produces mental pleasures and possesses a social grooming function.]

The Great Porn Experiment

The Great Porn Experiment
Marnia Robinson; 2011
http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/30012/thegreatpornexp.pdf


[See also: The Great Porn Experiment; Gary Wilson at TEDxGlasgow
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSF82AwSDiU (the husband of Marnia Robinson]
[Articles on porn use: http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/understanding_porn_addiction]

Sex Differences in Depression

>Girls and women are more prone to depression and anxiety than men (Brody & Hall, 1993). But depression can be more finely differentiated. One form, called interpersonal depression, appears more often in people who are preoccupied with personal relationships and fear abandonment by others. This of course bears a close correspondence with communion (with its emphasis on connectedness to others) and as we could expect, there are  significant sex differences in this form of depression. For excample, among third- to 12th-grade students, girls more often endorse interpersonal symptoms of depression including lonliness, not liking themselves, and wanting more friends (Leadbetter, Blatt, & Quinlan, 1995). (Self-critical depression on the other hand is seen more commonly in people who are preoccupied with issues of self-worth and are practicularly concerned about failing to meet personal goals or appearing incompetent. Predictably, men show greater depressive vulnerability in this area than women.) People who are vulnerable to interpersonal depression also place an intense value on emotional closeness and are preoccupied by fears of being abandoned or neglected in relationships. Because relationships are highly valued, their loss is a severe blow. Girls report more stress than boys in connection with close relationships (Gore, Aseltine, & Colten, 1993) and display stronger associations between stressful relationship events and behavioral problems (Cohen, Gottlieb, Kershner, & Wehrspann, 1985).<


A mind of her own, Anne Campbell, 2013

Intellect as distinct from Openness: differences revealed by fMRI of working memory.

Intellect as distinct from Openness: differences revealed by fMRI of working memory.
CG DeYoung et al.; Nov, 2009
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805551/


Abstract

Relatively little is known about the neural bases of the Big Five personality trait Openness/Intellect. This trait is composed of 2 related but separable aspects, Openness to Experience and Intellect. On the basis of previous behavioral research (C. G. DeYoung, J. B. Peterson, & D. M. Higgins, 2005), the authors hypothesized that brain activity supporting working memory (WM) would be related to Intellect but not to Openness. To test this hypothesis, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan a sample of 104 healthy adults as they performed a difficult WM task. Intellect (and not Openness) was found to correlate with WM accuracy and with accuracy-related brain activity, in left lateral anterior prefrontal cortex and posterior medial frontal cortex. Neural activity in these regions mediated the association between Intellect and WM performance, implicating these regions in the neural substrate of Intellect. Intellect was also correlated significantly with scores on tests of intelligence and WM capacity, but the association of Intellect with brain activity could not be entirely explained by cognitive ability.

Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance

Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance
James G Pfaus et al.; 2012
http://www.recherche.ouvaton.org/telechargement/pfaus_2012.pdf


Abstract

Although sexual behavior is controlled by hormonal and neurochemical actions in the brain , sexual experience induces a degree of plasticity that allows animals to form instrumental and Pavlovian associations that predict sexual outcomes, thereby directing the strength of sexual responding. This review describes how experience with sexual reward strengthens the development of sexual behavior and induces sexually-conditioned place and partner preferences in rats. In both male and female rats, early sexual experience with partners scented with a neutral or even noxious odor induces a preference for scented partners in subsequent choice tests. Those preferences can also be induced by injections of morphine or oxytocin paired with a male rat’s first exposure to scented females, indicating that pharmacological activation of opioid or oxytocin receptors can‘‘stand in’’for the sexual reward-related neurochemical processes normally activated by sexual stimulation. Conversely, conditioned place or partner preferences can be blocked by the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone. A somatosensory cue (a rodent jacket) paired with sexual reward comes to elicit sexual arousal in male rats, such that paired rats with the jacket off show dramatic copulatory deficits. We propose that endogenous opioid activation forms the basis of sexual reward, which also sensitizes hypothalamic and mesolimbic dopamine systems in the presence of cues that predict sexual reward. Those systems act to focus attention on ,and activate goal directed behavior toward, reward-related stimuli. Thus, a critical period exists during an individual’s early sexual experience that creates a‘‘love map’’or Gestalt of features, movements, feelings, and interpersonal interactions associated with sexual reward.

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"It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a critical period of sexual behavior development that forms around an individual’s first experiences with sexual arousal and desire, masturbation, orgasm, and sexual intercourse itself. During this period, the sensory and motor mechanics of the behavior become integrated and crystallized along with the development of preferences for ideal activities and physical features of a partner."

The Flynn effect, group differences, and g loadings

The Flynn effect, group differences, and g loadings
Jan te Nijenhuis; July 2013
Personality and Individual Differences
http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/LinkedDocuments/nijenhuis2013ip.pdf


Abstract

Flynn effect gains are predominantly driven by environmental factors. Might these factors also be responsible for group differences in intelligence? Group differences in intelligence have been clearly shown to strongly correlate with g loadings. The empirical studies on whether the pattern of Flynn effect gains is the same as the pattern of group differences yield conflicting findings. We present new evidence on the topic using a number of datasets from the US and the Netherlands. Score gains and g loadings showed a small negative average correlation. The general picture is now that there is a small, negative correlation between g loadings and Flynn effect gains. It appears that the Flynn effect and group differences have different causes.

Freud’s Follies: Psychoanalysis as religion, cult, and political movement.

Freud’s Follies: Psychoanalysis as religion, cult, and political movement. 
MacDonald, K. B.; 1996
Reprinted in The Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, Michael Shermer (Ed.); 2002
http://www.csulb.edu/~kmacd/paper-CrewsFreud.html