Metallurgical and Corrosion Assessment of Submerged Tanker S.S. \u3ci\u3eMontebello\u3c/i\u3e

The Union Oil Tanker S.S. Montebello was torpedoed and sunk six miles (9.7 km) off the coast of Cambria, California by a Japanese submarine on December 23, 1941, two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. With close proximity to the National Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, concern about possible crude oil contamination led to the most recent expedition to the site in October 2011. Assessment of the shell plate found that the average corrosion rate was very low and the structure will remain stable for many decades

Metallurgical and Corrosion Assessment of Submerged Tanker S.S. \u3ci\u3eMontebello\u3c/i\u3e

The Union Oil Tanker S.S. Montebello was torpedoed and sunk six miles (9.7 km) off the coast of Cambria, California by a Japanese submarine on December 23, 1941, two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. With close proximity to the National Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, concern about possible crude oil contamination led to the most recent expedition to the site in October 2011. Assessment of the shell plate found that the average corrosion rate was very low and the structure will remain stable for many decades

Women\u27s Short-Term Mating Goals Elicit Avoidance of Faces Whose Eyes Lack Limbal Rings

Limbal rings are dark rings around the eye’s iris and their presence represents a good genes cue, which augments facial attractiveness. This communicative function implicates limbal rings as especially desirable in short-term mating contexts, suggesting a stronger motivation to approach prospective mates with limbal rings relative to those without. To assess approach and avoidance tendencies more directly, the current study adopted a line bisection task capable of assessing cortical activity. Whereas a right visual-field bias is associated with approach motivation, a left visual-field (LVF) bias is associated with avoidance motivation. In this study, we activated women’s short-term mating motives (vs. a general positive affect control state) and presented a series of male and female faces with and without limbal rings over centrally bisected lines. Participants indicated which side of each line was longer to determine potential activation of consonant cortical areas. Mating-primed women demonstrated LVF bias when presented with targets lacking limbal rings, suggesting an avoidance response, relative to targets with limbal rings. No differences in behavioral tendencies between targets with and without limbal rings emerged for control-primed women. Results indicate the importance of limbal rings in short-term mating decisions by demonstrating a behavioral aversion to prospective mates lacking this health cue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved

Approaching Extraverts: Socially Excluded Men Prefer Extraverted Faces

Social exclusion creates a powerful motivation for individuals to seek affiliation with others. Satisfying this affiliative motive would be facilitated by the ability to detect cues in others indicative of their own affiliative propensity. Given the association of extraverted personality with affiliative interest and social access, gravitating toward more extraverted others could serve to ensure satisfaction of one\u27s own affiliation goals. Consistent with past research, we hypothesized that social exclusion (relative to social inclusion) would heighten preferences for faces that veridically connote extraversion. Results partially supported this primary hypothesis as socially excluded men upregulated their preferences for extraverted faces following an exclusionary experience, whereas no difference emerged for women\u27s extraversion preferences based on inclusionary status. These findings suggest men favored the affiliative benefits of extraversion over its potential interpersonal costs following exclusion. Conversely, socially included men did not prefer extraverted faces, which could reflect greater wariness of dominant conspecifics, despite the potential gregariousness communicated in target faces, when such men\u27s affiliative needs are adequately met. We frame these results using an evolutionary framework discussing how salient needs influence interpersonal preferences

That\u27s What She Said! Perceived Mate Value of Clean and Dirty Humor Displays

Humor is considered a valuable trait when evaluating potential mates, and women demonstrate a preference for men\u27s ability to produce humor. Humor displays as a male mating strategy appear context-dependent, which suggests that women\u27s preferences for certain humor may be contingent on their mating goals. One dimension of humor variability that could approximate men\u27s long- (LTM) or short-term (STM) mating goals is communication of humor that is categorically clean or dirty, respectively, which could influence the humorists’ desirability to women. Such displays may differentially signal sexual receptivity. Two studies tasked women with indicating interest in men who generated either clean or dirty humor. Across both studies clean humor producers were preferred when evaluating both the long- and short-term desirability of men, although this preference was larger for LTM evaluations. Study 2 also demonstrated that sociosexually unrestricted women (i.e., those with more permissive sexual attitudes) self-reported greater behavioral attraction toward dirty humorists, a preference mediated by their perceptions of dirty jokes as funnier. Dirty humor production in men and appreciation in women may facilitate respective STM goals. Results of this research provide further evidence that the specific mating context determines the appropriateness of humor use when used as a relational display

Perfectionism and Relationship Status Influence Health Evaluations of Faces With Limbal Rings

Research consistently demonstrates that limbal rings are a visual cue to health, given their peak vibrancy is observed in healthy individuals. Such perceptual acuity toward limbal rings is especially apparent among women evaluating male faces. The current research was designed as a replication and extension of previous findings demonstrating how women perceive limbal rings. Additionally, we sought to determine if this preference was moderated by relationship status and related to individual differences in perfectionistic tendencies, consistent with past research demonstrating moderation of good genes preferences by personality and relationship status. Women evaluated the perceived health of faces with and without limbal rings before responding to measures assessing perfectionistic tendencies. We replicated previous findings indicating that limbal rings are indeed a health cue, particularly in male faces. Furthermore, we extended previous findings by demonstrating that women higher in other-oriented perfectionism, a dimension of perfectionism associated with exceedingly high criteria for others’ abilities, perceive faces with limbal rings as particularly healthy. Importantly, this perceptual acuity was only apparent among single women. We frame results in terms of how perfectionism facilitates recognition of good gene cues

Sociosexual Attitudes Differentially Predict Men and Women\u27s Preferences for Agreeable Male Faces

Sensitivity to personality variability through facial structures subsequently elicits inferences of another\u27s behavioral intentions, which could include those pertaining to preferred reproductive strategies. Given the association between agreeableness and interest in long-term mating intentions, we predicted that individuals with a long-term mating orientation would prefer others whose faces communicate higher levels of trait agreeableness. Participants viewed pairs of male and female faces manipulated to connote high and low levels of agreeableness and indicated their preferences among each pair before completing the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory-Revised. Consonant with hypotheses, women espousing restricted sociosexual attitudes marginally preferred agreeable male faces. Furthermore, men espousing unrestricted attitudes preferred agreeable male faces, suggesting an interest in associating with men posing little intrasexual threat. Contrary to predictions, sociosexuality predicted neither men\u27s nor women\u27s preferences for agreeableness in female faces. We frame these results from an evolutionary perspective considering the identification of optimum mates and potential intrasexual rivals

Political Orientation and Belief In Science In a U.S. College Sample

Lay skepticism toward empirically supported scientific research has increased significantly in recent years. Given that part of the social contract of science is the betterment of society, it is critical for the scientific community to identify factors underlying public dismissal versus support of scientific evidence. The current study explores how individual differences in political ideology influence acceptance of factual and nonfactual information, with differences in truth-seeking values as a potential mediating variable. Participants rated their agreement with true and untrue (i.e., nonempirically supported) statements and completed self-report assessments of political ideology and personal endorsement of values associated with promoting truth. More politically, liberal individuals reported greater agreement with both scientific facts and untrue statements. Furthermore, endorsement of truth-seeking values mediated the relation between liberal ideology and agreement with facts (but not nonfactual statements). Results suggest that interventions to increase individuals’ acceptance of facts may benefit from stimulating greater support for truth-seeking values and behavior

The Relation Between Narcissistic Personality Traits and Accurate Identification of, and Preference for, Facially Communicated Narcissism

When evaluating someone as a potential social acquaintance, people prefer affiliative, pleasant individuals. This necessitates the evolution of perceptual acuity in distinguishing between genuinely prosocial traits and those connoting exploitative intentions. Such intentions can be readily inferred through facial structures connoting personality, even in the absence of other diagnostic cues. We sought to explore how self-reported narcissism, a personality constellation associated with inflated self-views and exploitative intentions, might facilitate one’s ability to detect narcissism in others’ faces as means of identifying social targets who could best satisfy potential exploitative goals. Participants viewed pairs of male and female targets manipulated to connote high and low levels of narcissism before identifying which appeared more narcissistic and indicating their preference among each pair. Narcissistic individuals were no better at accurately identifying other narcissists, but such individuals demonstrated considerable aversion to narcissistic faces. Women higher in exploitative narcissism additionally preferred narcissistic female faces, while men high in exploitative narcissism demonstrated similar patterns of aversion toward narcissistic male faces. Findings provide evidence that narcissistic individuals may adaptively avoid those whom they identify as having similar exploitative behavior repertoire, though when considering the exploitive dimension of narcissism specifically, sex differences emerged