Post List

Social Science posts

January 11, 2013
01:20 PM
172 views

A Mess in Texas: What Happened in Dallas with West Nile Virus?

That insistent buzzing drone you hear? It’s the sound of our burgeoning mosquito problem and the nasty diseases that they carry wreaking havoc throughout the world. 2012 was a prodigious year for mosquito-borne arboviral diseases, with West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, dengue and yellow fever outbreaks and epidemics raging in the United States, the Sudan, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Peru, Brazil and many other nations besides.

If you live in the US, you might kn........ Read more »

Soverow, J., Wellenius, G., Fisman, D., & Mittleman, M. (2009) Infectious Disease in a Warming World: How Weather Influenced West Nile Virus in the United States (2001-2005). Environmental Health Perspectives. DOI: 10.1289/ehp.0800487

January 11, 2013
05:37 AM
96 views

Kremer’s O-ring theory of economic development

by Jason Collins in Evolving Economics

The latest issue of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization has a new paper by Garett Jones (ungated version here) on the O-ring theory of economic development. Its been floating around as a working paper for a few years, so its nice to see it get a home. But before I post about that paper, I thought [...]The post Kremer’s O-ring theory of economic development appeared first on Evolving Economics.... Read more »

Kremer, M. (1993) The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3), 551-575. DOI: 10.2307/2118400

January 11, 2013
12:31 AM
241 views

English for everyone is unfair

by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move

Knowledge of English has come to be seen as the key talent of the 21st century, a way to perfect an individual’s character and to modernize societies; a central facet of global development. China, for instance, introduced an ambitious universal … Continue reading →... Read more »

Hu, G., & Alsagoff, L. (2010) A public policy perspective on English medium instruction in China. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31(4), 365-382. DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2010.489950

January 9, 2013
12:30 PM
191 views

Price Winning Research: Do children keep their mother from working?

by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality

“Do children keep their mother from working?” I used this title for a poster presented at a PhD conference, two years ago. The intentionally provocativeprovocative title, of course, spurred some discussion about the world being a little more complex than it suggested. Of course it is, I know. But it got the attention of many. Today, I won a best research award.... Read more »

Rense Nieuwenhuis, Ariana Need, & Henk van der Kolk. (2012) Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women's Employment in 18 OECD Countries, 1975-1999. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(June), 614-630. info:/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00965.x

January 9, 2013
12:48 AM
208 views

Are Multiple Bank Accounts Nudging You to Spend Or Save?

by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons

Among the seven holy grails of behavioral economics is a way of encouraging people to save more and spend less. One idea based on “mental accounting” (pdf) is that people might be less prone to spend if they have multiple accounts. It’s harder to spend your grocery money on Bieber tickets when the two piles [...]... Read more »

Mishra, H., Mishra, A., Rixom, J., & Chatterjee, P. (2012) Influence of motivated reasoning on saving and spending decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.10.003

Thaler, R. (1999) Mental Accounting Matters. Behavioral Decision Making. info:/

January 7, 2013
07:12 PM
197 views

Early study abroad students in young adulthood

by Bong Jeong Lee in Language on the Move

Readers of Language on the Move will be familiar with South Korea’s English fever, the sweeping zeal for learning English. Parents enrol children in English medium-preschools, arts and sports classes, nursery schools with native-speaking English staff, toddler gyms with English … Continue reading →... Read more »

Cummins, Jim. (2000) Language, power and pedagogy: bilingual children in the crossfire, . Multilingual Matters. info:/

January 6, 2013
09:31 PM
408 views

Have We Killed Half of our Soldiers with Cigarettes?

by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox

Two long-term studies yield grim stats, and women are no exception.

We know that smoking kills. But until the results of 50 years’ worth of observations on British male smokers was published by Richard Doll and coworkers in the British Journal of Medicine in 2004, we didn’t know how many. Cigarettes will kill at least half of those who smoke them past the age of 30—possibly more. In older, specific populations, possibly as many as 2/3.

It took a prospective study of more ........ Read more »

Pirie, K., Peto, R., Reeves, G., Green, J., & Beral, V. (2012) The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: a prospective study of one million women in the UK. The Lancet. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61720-6

January 6, 2013
03:14 PM
112 views

dialogue with infidel women in Matthew of Edessa’s chronicle

by Douglas Galbi in purple motes

Via Armenian captive's dialogue with infidel women, Matthew of Edessa points to capabilities of eye and ear beyond grand public prophecy and chronicle. ... Read more »

MacEvitt, Christopher. (2007) The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa: Apocalypse, the First Crusade, and the Armenian Diaspora. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 157-181. info:/

January 3, 2013
06:30 PM
249 views

The exotic Chinese language

by Chen Xiaoxiao 陈潇潇 in Language on the Move

Ingrid’s blog post “Character challenge” has set me thinking about Chinese language learning these days. I have found her observation about learning Chinese characters as “the most intriguing pastime” particularly impressive, especially when I look again at the data I … Continue reading →... Read more »

Jaworski, A., Thurlow, C., Lawson, S., & Ylänne-McEwen, V. (2003) The Uses and Representations of Local Languages in Tourist Destinations: A View from British TV Holiday Programmes. Language Awareness, 12(1), 5-29. DOI: 10.1080/09658410308667063

January 3, 2013
08:00 AM
137 views

Tortured Confessions – The Science of Waterboarding, Torture, and “Intense Stress”

by Ryo in Skeptikai

The new movie “Zero Dark Thirty” has been met with a lot of criticism about the role waterboarding played in getting information that contributed to the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

This article looks at the question of waterboarding not in ethical terms, but in efficacy terms. Is waterboarding effective at what it's supposed to do? Science provides the answer.... Read more »

O'Mara S. (2009) Torturing the brain: On the folk psychology and folk neurobiology motivating 'enhanced and coercive interrogation techniques'. Trends in cognitive sciences, 13(12), 497-500. PMID: 19781978

Kassin, S., & Sukel, H. (1997) Coerced confessions and the jury: An experimental test of the "harmless error" rule. Law and Human Behavior, 21(1), 27-46. DOI: 10.1023/A:1024814009769

O’Mara, S. (2011) On the Imposition of Torture, an Extreme Stressor State, to Extract Information From Memory. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 219(3), 159-166. DOI: 10.1027/2151-2604/a000063

January 2, 2013
12:52 PM
186 views

Should you tell Facebook about your resolutions?

by Melanie Tannenbaum in PsySociety

Now that you’ve set your difficult, specific, and attainable resolutions for 2013, should you tell people about your plans? Before you update your Facebook status proclaiming your intention to lose 15 pounds, run a marathon, or publish 20 papers, you … Continue reading →... Read more »

Gollwitzer, P., Sheeran, P., Michalski, V., & Seifert, A. (2009) When Intentions Go Public: Does Social Reality Widen the Intention-Behavior Gap?. Psychological Science, 20(5), 612-618. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02336.x

Hollenbeck, J. R., Williams, C. R., & Klein, H. J. (1989) An empirical investigation of the antecedents of commitment to difficult goals. Journal of Applied Psychology, 18-23. info:/

Gopinath, M., & Nyer, P. (2009) The effect of public commitment on resistance to persuasion: The influence of attitude certainty, issue importance, susceptibility to normative influence, preference for consistency and source proximity. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 26(1), 60-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2008.08.003

Fishbach, A., Dhar, R., & Zhang, Y. (2006) Subgoals as substitutes or complements: The role of goal accessibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(2), 232-242. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.91.2.232

January 1, 2013
05:57 PM
152 views

Gog and Magog behind Alexander the Great’s wall in China

by Douglas Galbi in purple motes

Gog and Magog, Alexander the Great's wall, and a great wall in China coalesced in an official report to Abbasid Caliph al-Wathiq about 845.... Read more »

Donzel, E. J. van, Andrea B. Schmidt, and Claudia Ott. (2009) Gog and Magog in early Syriac and Islamic sources: Sallam's quest for Alexander's wall. Leiden: Brill. info:/

December 31, 2012
09:33 AM
302 views

Ethical Challenges for Clinical Genome Sequencing

by Daniel Koboldt in Massgenomics

Clinical genome sequencing holds great promise for the diagnosis and treatment of human disease, but also brings many ethical challenges. What if key variants are found in the genome of a patient who died? Should those results be returned to the family, and if so, how? [...]... Read more »

Chan, B., Facio, F., Eidem, H., Hull, S., Biesecker, L., & Berkman, B. (2012) Genomic Inheritances: Disclosing Individual Research Results From Whole-Exome Sequencing to Deceased Participants’ Relatives. The American Journal of Bioethics, 12(10), 1-8. DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2012.699138

December 31, 2012
02:49 AM
232 views

The Year In Sports Research

by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons

Think that being an academic is incompatible with being a die-hard sports nut? Think again. The greatest minds of our time are still hard at work figuring out exactly what’s going on with athletes, teams, and fans. Here’s the best of what they uncovered in 2012: Tax rates matter. A pair of new studies examined [...]... Read more »

Kopkin, N. (2011) Tax Avoidance: How Income Tax Rates Affect the Labor Migration Decisions of NBA Free Agents. Journal of Sports Economics, 13(6), 571-602. DOI: 10.1177/1527002511412194

Wang, L., & Keith Murnighan, J. (2013) The generalist bias. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120(1), 47-61. DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.09.001

Hallmann, K., Breuer, C., & Kühnreich, B. (2012) Happiness, pride and elite sporting success: What population segments gain most from national athletic achievements?. Sport Management Review. DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2012.07.001

December 30, 2012
07:56 AM
205 views

Finally, Hard Evidence Against The "Autism Epidemic"?

by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic

The idea of an 'autism epidemic' has a lot of people very worried.No-one disputes that diagnosed rates of autism have increased enormously over the past 15 years or so, around the world. However, other people write it off as essentially a cultural phenomenon: we're getting better at detecting the disorder and more willing to label kids as having it.I subscribe to the latter view, but there's very little hard evidence for it. To prove that diagnostic changes have occurred, rather than a true incr........ Read more »

Mazumdar S, Winter A, Liu KY, & Bearman P. (2012) Spatial clusters of autism births and diagnoses point to contextual drivers of increased prevalence. Social Science And Medicine. PMID: 23267775

December 30, 2012
05:23 AM
225 views

Scientists Rediscover the Violence Gene, MAOA-2R

by nooffensebut in The Unsilenced Science

New research shows that MAOA-2R induces violence and delinquency far more than the so-called “warrior gene,” MAOA-3R. It is also far more common in African-American men than white men. Plus, MAOA’s designation as a cancer gene could influence the development of therapies.... Read more »

Alpini G, Invernizzi P, Gaudio E, Venter J, Kopriva S, Bernuzzi F, Onori P, Franchitto A, Coufal M, Frampton G.... (2008) Serotonin metabolism is dysregulated in cholangiocarcinoma, which has implications for tumor growth. Cancer research, 68(22), 9184-93. PMID: 19010890

Beaver, K., Wright, J., Boutwell, B., Barnes, J., DeLisi, M., & Vaughn, M. (2013) Exploring the association between the 2-repeat allele of the MAOA gene promoter polymorphism and psychopathic personality traits, arrests, incarceration, and lifetime antisocial behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(2), 164-168. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.014

Brunner HG, Nelen MR, van Zandvoort P, Abeling NG, van Gennip AH, Wolters EC, Kuiper MA, Ropers HH, & van Oost BA. (1993) X-linked borderline mental retardation with prominent behavioral disturbance: phenotype, genetic localization, and evidence for disturbed monoamine metabolism. American journal of human genetics, 52(6), 1032-9. PMID: 8503438

Cases O, Seif I, Grimsby J, Gaspar P, Chen K, Pournin S, Müller U, Aguet M, Babinet C, & Shih JC. (1995) Aggressive behavior and altered amounts of brain serotonin and norepinephrine in mice lacking MAOA. Science (New York, N.Y.), 268(5218), 1763-6. PMID: 7792602

Caspi A, McClay J, Moffitt TE, Mill J, Martin J, Craig IW, Taylor A, & Poulton R. (2002) Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science (New York, N.Y.), 297(5582), 851-4. PMID: 12161658

Crabtree, G. (2013) Our fragile intellect. Part II. Trends in Genetics, 29(1), 3-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2012.10.003

Fergusson DM, Boden JM, Horwood LJ, Miller A, & Kennedy MA. (2012) Moderating role of the MAOA genotype in antisocial behaviour. The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 200(2), 116-23. PMID: 22297589

Gallardo-Pujol D, Andrés-Pueyo A, & Maydeu-Olivares A. (2012) MAOA genotype, social exclusion and aggression: an experimental test of a gene-environment interaction. Genes, brain, and behavior. PMID: 23067570

Guo, G., Roettger, M., & Cai, T. (2008) The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Social-Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths. American Sociological Review, 73(4), 543-568. DOI: 10.1177/000312240807300402

Guo, G., Ou, X., Roettger, M., & Shih, J. (2008) The VNTR 2 repeat in MAOA and delinquent behavior in adolescence and young adulthood: associations and MAOA promoter activity. European Journal of Human Genetics, 16(5), 626-634. DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201999

Huang L, Frampton G, Rao A, Zhang KS, Chen W, Lai JM, Yin XY, Walker K, Culbreath B, Leyva-Illades D.... (2012) Monoamine oxidase A expression is suppressed in human cholangiocarcinoma via coordinated epigenetic and IL-6-driven events. Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology, 92(10), 1451-60. PMID: 22906985

Jones, R., Brown, C., & Ship, J. (1995) Odor identification in young and elderly African-Americans and Caucasians. Special Care in Dentistry, 15(4), 138-143. DOI: 10.1111/j.1754-4505.1995.tb00501.x

Mahmut, M., & Stevenson, R. (2012) Olfactory Abilities and Psychopathy: Higher Psychopathy Scores Are Associated with Poorer Odor Discrimination and Identification. Chemosensory Perception, 5(3-4), 300-307. DOI: 10.1007/s12078-012-9135-7

Malorni W, Giammarioli AM, Matarrese P, Pietrangeli P, Agostinelli E, Ciaccio A, Grassilli E, & Mondovi B. (1998) Protection against apoptosis by monoamine oxidase A inhibitors. FEBS letters, 426(1), 155-9. PMID: 9598998

McDermott R, Tingley D, Cowden J, Frazzetto G, & Johnson DD. (2009) Monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) predicts behavioral aggression following provocation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(7), 2118-23. PMID: 19168625

Moffitt, T., Caspi, A., & Rutter, M. (2006) Measured Gene-Environment Interactions in Psychopathology. Concepts, Research Strategies, and Implications for Research, Intervention, and Public Understanding of Genetics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(1), 5-27. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00002.x

Murphy SM, Puwanant A, Griggs RC, & Consortium for Clinical Investigations of Neurological Channelopathies (CINCH) and Inherited Neuropathies Consortium (INC) Consortia of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network. (2012) Unintended effects of orphan product designation for rare neurological diseases. Annals of neurology, 72(4), 481-90. PMID: 23109143

Pietrangeli, P. (2004) Amine Oxidases and Tumors. NeuroToxicology, 25(1-2), 317-324. DOI: 10.1016/S0161-813X(03)00109-8

Reti IM, Xu JZ, Yanofski J, McKibben J, Uhart M, Cheng YJ, Zandi P, Bienvenu OJ, Samuels J, Willour V.... (2011) Monoamine oxidase A regulates antisocial personality in whites with no history of physical abuse. Comprehensive psychiatry, 52(2), 188-94. PMID: 21295226

Roush, W. (1995) Conflict marks crime conference. Science, 269(5232), 1808-1809. DOI: 10.1126/science.7569909

Scott, A., Bortolato, M., Chen, K., & Shih, J. (2008) Novel monoamine oxidase A knock out mice with human-like spontaneous mutation. NeuroReport, 19(7), 739-743. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282fd6e88

Shih JC, Ridd MJ, Chen K, Meehan WP, Kung MP, Seif I, & De Maeyer E. (1999) Ketanserin and tetrabenazine abolish aggression in mice lacking monoamine oxidase A. Brain research, 835(2), 104-12. PMID: 10415365

Sjöberg, R., Ducci, F., Barr, C., Newman, T., Dell'Osso, L., Virkkunen, M., & Goldman, D. (2007) A Non-Additive Interaction of a Functional MAO-A VNTR and Testosterone Predicts Antisocial Behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33(2), 425-430. DOI: 10.1038/sj.npp.1301417

Tuinier S, Verhoeven WMA, Scherders MJWT, Fekkes D, & Pepplinkhuizen L. (1995) Neuropsychiatric and biological characteristics of X-linked MAOA deficiency syndrome: A single-intervention case study. New Trends in Experimental and Clinical Psychiatry, 11(4), 99-107. info:/

Wong CC, Caspi A, Williams B, Craig IW, Houts R, Ambler A, Moffitt TE, & Mill J. (2010) A longitudinal study of epigenetic variation in twins. Epigenetics : official journal of the DNA Methylation Society, 5(6), 516-26. PMID: 20505345

December 29, 2012
06:58 AM
208 views

Warming brings home the value of a meal

by Andy Extance in Simple Climate

Research into how climate change affects agriculture, and therefore the food we eat, shows the challenges farmers face and the knock-on costs to the rest of us. ... Read more »

Qian, C., Yan, Z., & Fu, C. (2011) Climatic changes in the Twenty-four Solar Terms during 1960–2008. Chinese Science Bulletin, 57(2-3), 276-286. DOI: 10.1007/s11434-011-4724-4

Schewe, J., & Levermann, A. (2012) A statistically predictive model for future monsoon failure in India. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 44023. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044023

Schwalm, C., Williams, C., Schaefer, K., Baldocchi, D., Black, T., Goldstein, A., Law, B., Oechel, W., Paw U, K., & Scott, R. (2012) Reduction in carbon uptake during turn of the century drought in western North America. Nature Geoscience, 5(8), 551-556. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1529

Laurie T. Johnson and Chris Hope. (2012) The social cost of carbon in U.S. regulatory impact analyses: an introduction and critique. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. DOI: 10.1007/s13412-012-0087-7

Diffenbaugh, N., Hertel, T., Scherer, M., & Verma, M. (2012) Response of corn markets to climate volatility under alternative energy futures. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1491

December 29, 2012
05:32 AM
187 views

Mental Illness and Crime, Yet Again

by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic

As if on cue, a major study about the relationship (if any) between mental disorder and crime has appeared just when everyone's talking about that.Although having said that, people seem to be interested in that issue most of the time nowadays, in the UK at any rate, with schizophrenia topping the list of supposedly scary syndromes.So - should we be worried?The new research, from Australian team Morgan et al, surveyed everyone born in the state of Western Australia between 1955 and 1969. About 1......... Read more »

Morgan VA, Morgan F, Valuri G, Ferrante A, Castle D, & Jablensky A. (2012) A whole-of-population study of the prevalence and patterns of criminal offending in people with schizophrenia and other mental illness. Psychological medicine, 1-12. PMID: 23234722

December 27, 2012
11:35 AM
179 views

Spot Your Jury Leader

by Persuasion Strategies in Persuasive Litigator

By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm: Who leads and who follows? That question can be critical to understanding and adapting to your jury. The individual who sets the agenda, guides the discussion, and leads uncommitted or wavering jurors to a conclusion is obviously worth a closer look than those who take their cues from others. A failure to know and to thoroughly learn about that future leader can have big consequences for your case. Samsung learned that recently when following Apple's historic $1 billion pa........ Read more »

Cheng JT, Tracy JL, Foulsham T, Kingstone A, & Henrich J. (2012) Two Ways to the Top: Evidence That Dominance and Prestige Are Distinct Yet Viable Avenues to Social Rank and Influence. Journal of personality and social psychology. PMID: 23163747

December 27, 2012
05:29 AM
143 views

Fireworks: not fun for everyone (or every dog)

by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?

(source)Hi Julie,I hope you have had a lovely Christmas, we certainly did! The sun has been shining and we’ve enjoyed seeing our friends and family over the past few days.I’ve got my eye on New Year’s Eve now that Christmas has passed, but not because I’m planning a big night out. It’s all to do with fireworks. My two dogs demonstrate very different reactions to fireworks. One used to default into a shaking ball and tuck herself away into a corner somewhere (usually unde........ Read more »

Blackwell Emily, Casey Rachel, & Bradshaw John. (2005) Firework fears and phobias in the domestic dog. RSPCA / University of Bristol. http://www.rspca.org.uk/ImageLocator/LocateAsset?asset

Dale AR, Walker JK, Farnworth MJ, Morrissey SV, & Waran NK. (2010) A survey of owners' perceptions of fear of fireworks in a sample of dogs and cats in New Zealand. New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 58(6), 286-291. DOI: 10.1080/00480169.2010.69403

Bowen Jon. (2008) Behaviour: Firework fears and phobias. Companion Animal, 13(8), 59-63. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-3862.2008.tb00529.x

Dreschel Nancy A., & Granger Douglas A. (2005) Physiological and behavioral reactivity to stress in thunderstorm-phobic dogs and their caregivers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 95(3-4), 153-168. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2005.04.009

Levine Emily D., Ramos Daniela, & Mills Daniel S. (2007) A prospective study of two self-help CD based desensitization and counter-conditioning programmes with the use of Dog Appeasing Pheromone for the treatment of firework fears in dogs (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105(4), 311-329. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2006.11.006

Cracknell Nina R., & Mills Daniel S. (2008) A double-blind placebo-controlled study into the efficacy of a homeopathic remedy for fear of firework noises in the dog (Canis familiaris). The Veterinary Journal, 177(1), 80-88. DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.04.007

Bolster Christine. (2012) Fireworks are no fun for pets. Veterinary Nursing Journal, 27(10), 387-390. DOI: 10.1111/j.2045-0648.2012.00224.x