Physical Constraints on the Evolution of Cooperation

The evolution of psychological adaptations for cooperation is still puzzling due to a tendency to frame social interaction in mathematical and game-theoretical terms, without systematically examining its causal structure and underlying mechanisms. Complementarily, empirical approaches to cooperation tend to focus on isolated components of mechanisms without sufficiently indicating how different components are combined into a single mechanism and different mechanisms fit into a single organism. An alternative approach to the evolution of cooperation is proposed, starting from a description of basic physical properties of individuals and their environment, and the limited physical or mechanistic possibilities to generate adaptive responses to those properties. This approach reveals that some forms of symmetrical cooperation do not require mechanisms “specifically designed for” benefiting others, whereas effective helping requires a specific mechanism that relatively unconditionally and persistently responds to the vulnerability of other individuals. Unraveling the causal structure of different types of other-benefiting shows that a mechanism for asymmetrical helping may considerably improve symmetrical cooperation through properties such as tolerance, patience, and the human capacity to experience a wide variety of moral emotions. The proposed mechanistic approach to cooperation provides the mathematical/game-theoretical approach with realistic assumptions about psychological adaptations, and helps to integrate the scattered facts about mechanisms gathered by the empirical approach. It also helps to build bridges between the two approaches by providing a common language for thinking about psychological mechanisms

Asymmetric hemisphere activation in tenderness: evidence from EEG signals

Emotions are processed asymmetrically by the human brain. Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as measured by electroencephalographic (EEG) power in the alpha band (8-13 Hz), is a sensitive indicator of asymmetric brain activity in the frontal cortex. The current study aimed to analyze the frontal EEG asymmetries in terms of valence and motivational direction. We presented 37 participants with three film excerpts that were selected from the standard emotional film database to elicit three target emotions: tenderness, anger, and neutrality. Participants&#39; self-reports on their induced emotional responses and EEG signals were recorded and analyzed. The results showed that individuals displayed lower alpha power in the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere when they were watching a tender film, indicating that tenderness was positive and related to approach motivation. In contrast, when watching an angry movie, participants showed higher alpha power in the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere, suggesting that anger was negative and associated with withdrawal motivation. These findings help to link positive and approach-motivated tenderness with greater left hemispheric activation and state-anger with greater right hemispheric activation through the analysis of FAA.</p

Living with primary ciliary dyskinesia: a prospective qualitative study of knowledge sharing, symptom concealment, embarrassment, mistrust, and stigma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a chronic respiratory disease for which there is little psycho-social research and no qualitative studies of individuals living with the condition. A questionnaire-based survey in 2003 found evidence of stigmatisation in some individuals with PCD. Although the questionnaire had face and construct validity, stigmatisation was not cross-validated against interviews. The present study had the twin aims of carrying out a qualitative study of the adult patients living with PCD, and using a structured design to validate the questionnaire measure of stigma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Interviews were carried out with six pairs of individuals with PCD, matched for sex, situs, and age, one with a high stigma score in 2003 and the other with a low stigma score. Depth-qualitative interviews were conducted by one author to explore themes surrounding the psycho-social impact of PCD using a grounded theory analysis. The interviewer was blind to the stigma scores of participants, and after the qualitative analysis was completed, the interviewer made an assessment of which member of each pair seemed the more stigmatised, after which the code was broken.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Interviews revealed a number of themes, including other people's knowledge of PCD, the sharing of knowledge about PCD, the concealment of symptoms of PCD, embarrassment at symptoms, changes of behaviour in response to PCD, mistrust of medical care, in particular in relation to problems in diagnosis, a mistrust of general practitioners who were seen as poorly informed, and the importance of expert care at tertiary referral centres. Although stigmatisation as such was rarely mentioned directly by respondents, when the interviewer's judgement on level of stigmatisation was correlated with stigma scores from 2003, it was found that the more stigmatised member had been correctly identified in all six pairs (p = .016).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that some people with PCD feel isolated through mistrust in medicine, and lack of knowledge surrounding PCD. Many responses to PCD can be explained in terms of stigmatisation, and in particular felt stigma. The correlation between questionnaire used several years previously, and the interviewer's judgements of stigmatisation suggest that the stigma questionnaire had both predictive validity and long-term stability. As in other chronic conditions, stigmatisation occurs only in some individuals with PCD, and the present study explores the basis of stigmatisation, and validate the questionnaire as a measure of difference in stigma.</p