It's Not the Flu: Popular Perceptions of the Impact of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Messaging from U.S. authorities about COVID-19 has been widely divergent. This research aims to clarify popular perceptions of the COVID-19 threat and its effects on victims. In four studies with over 4,100 U.S. participants, we consistently found that people perceive the threat of COVID-19 to be substantially greater than that of several other causes of death to which it has recently been compared, including the seasonal flu and automobile accidents. Participants were less willing to help COVID-19 victims, who they considered riskier to help, more contaminated, and more responsible for their condition. Additionally, politics and demographic factors predicted attitudes about victims of COVID-19 above and beyond moral values; whereas attitudes about the other kinds of victims were primarily predicted by moral values. The results indicate that people perceive COVID-19 as an exceptionally severe disease threat, and despite prosocial inclinations, do not feel safe offering assistance to COVID-19 sufferers. This research has urgent applied significance: the findings are relevant to public health efforts and related marketing campaigns working to address extended damage to society and the economy from the pandemic. In particular, efforts to educate the public about the health impacts of COVID-19, encourage compliance with testing protocols and contact tracing, and support safe, prosocial decision-making and risk assessment, will all benefit from awareness of these findings. The results also suggest approaches, such as engaging people's stable values rather than their politicized perspectives on COVID-19, that may reduce stigma and promote cooperation in response to pandemic threats.

COVID-19 and the workplace: Implications, issues, and insights for future research and action.

The impacts of COVID-19 on workers and workplaces across the globe have been dramatic. This broad review of prior research rooted in work and organizational psychology, and related fields, is intended to make sense of the implications for employees, teams, and work organizations. This review and preview of relevant literatures focuses on (a) emergent changes in work practices (e.g., working from home, virtual teamwork) and (b) emergent changes for workers (e.g., social distancing, stress, and unemployment). In addition, potential moderating factors (demographic characteristics, individual differences, and organizational norms) are examined given the likelihood that COVID-19 will generate disparate effects. This broad-scope overview provides an integrative approach for considering the implications of COVID-19 for work, workers, and organizations while also identifying issues for future research and insights to inform solutions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Core design principles for nurturing organization-level selection.

Dynamic relationships between individuals and groups have been a focus for evolutionary theorists and modelers for decades. Among evolutionists, selfish gene theory promotes reductionist approaches while multilevel selection theory encourages a context-sensitive approach that appreciates that individuals and groups can both matter. Among economists, a comparable contrast is found wherein the reductionist shareholder primacy theory most associated with Nobel laureate Milton Friedman is very different from the context-sensitive focus on managing common resources that Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom pioneered. In this article, we examine whether the core design principles that Ostrom advanced can cultivate selection at supra-individual levels across different domains. We show that Ostrom's design principles that were forged in the context of managing natural resources are associated with positive outcomes for human social groups across a variety of functional domains.

"Big men" in the office: The gender-specific influence of weight upon persuasiveness.

Height has been closely studied as a factor that influences myriad measures of leadership; however, the potential influence of weight on socially beneficial traits has been neglected. Using the anthropological concept of "big men" who relied on influence to lead their communities, we examine the role of weight upon persuasiveness. We present the results of six studies that suggest a tendency for raters to expect larger body mass to correspond with more persuasiveness among men. In the sixth, pre-registered study, we find evidence that fits the hypothesis that weight among men is positively associated with perceived persuasiveness. While the "big man" leadership concept is based on studies of pre-industrial societies where weight embodied status, our findings suggest an evolved bias to favor moderately big men-with respect to perceived persuasiveness-even in environments where there is no reason to interpret over-consumption of food and conservation of energy as a signal of wealth. Our studies contribute novel perspectives on the relevance of weight as an understudied dimension of "big" and offer an important qualification informed by evolutionary perspectives for the stigmatizing effects of relatively large body mass.

When Everyone Wins? Exploring Employee and Customer Preferences for No-Haggle Pricing.

The organizational importance for interactions between frontline employees and customers has been examined in relation to dimensions such as climate or culture. In this article, we highlight the importance of pricing strategies - typically studied in relation to consumer preferences - for frontline employees. To do this, we apply an evolutionary perspective and present two complementary studies that focus on the relevance of price discipline in relation to employee attitudes and preferences. Focusing on the industry of new automobile sales since there is important firm-level pricing variation, Study 1 finds a faintly positive relationship among employee prosociality, customer satisfaction, and fixed or "no-haggle" pricing strategies. In Study 2, participants indicated a preference for working in environments that offered the same, non-disparate prices to all customers. While previous research has examined the relationships between employee and customer attitudes in relation to firm performance, our studies emphasize the role that pricing strategies can play as a mechanism in those relationships. Our studies illustrate the value of evolutionary frameworks for contemporary business problems.

The trade-offs of teamwork among STEM doctoral graduates.

Teamwork has increasingly become prevalent in professional fields such as academic science, perhaps partly because research shows that teams tend to produce superior work. Although research on teamwork has typically focused on its impact on work products, we complement that work by examining the degree to which teamwork influences salary, hours worked, and overall job satisfaction. Drawing on microdata collected through the National Science Foundation's Survey of Doctorate Recipients as well as the Survey of Earned Doctorates, we find that doctoral degree holders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields tend to earn substantially higher salaries and work more hours when they engage in teamwork. We also find no comparable difference in overall job satisfaction as a function of whether individuals work within teams. Additionally, we find evidence that age interacts significantly with teamwork, whereby older teamworkers tend to earn relatively more when participating in teams without appearing to work more hours; and we show that employment sector is important, whereby teamwork is relevant for salaries and hours worked in education and industry but not in government. Although our study is based on market outcomes and behavioral measures, our findings provide grounds for future research that examines the psychological mechanisms that are relevant to understanding why people join teams as well as the psychological consequences that people encounter through teamwork. More generally, this study provides a model for considering individual-level antecedents and outcomes associated with teamwork when degrees of discretion exist with respect to teaming. (PsycINFO Database Record

Trash-Talking and Trolling.

Among the extra-physical aspects of team sports, the ways in which players talk to each other are among the more colorful but understudied dimensions of competition. To contribute an empirical basis for examining the nature of "trash talk," we present the results of a study of 291 varsity athletes who compete in the top division among US universities. Based on a preliminary review of trash-talk topics among student-athletes, we asked participants to indicate the frequency with which they have communicated or heard others talk about opposing players' athleticism, playing ability, physical appearance, boyfriends, girlfriends, sexual behavior, parents, and home institution during competitions. Our three main findings are: (1) Trash-talking is most commonly about the proximately important topic of playing ability while ultimately relevant topics such as physical appearance also appear to be common; (2) Men appear to trash-talk significantly more than women, and consistently across topics; and (3) contact sports such as football, hockey, lacrosse, and wrestling are associated with trash talk significantly more than other sports. We also examined whether the anonymity provided by face-masked helmets in "combat sports" was associated with more trash talk than contact sports played without a helmet (e.g., wrestling) and found no consistent association with face masks. Our findings highlight the ways in which competitors in physical sporting contests attempt to use language-often in ways that focus on players' kin or reproductive interests-in pursuit of victory while establishing a baseline for future research into trash-talking.

Putting Muscle Into Sports Analytics: Strength, Conditioning, and Ice Hockey Performance.

Kniffin, KM, Howley, T, and Bardreau, C. Putting muscle into sports analytics: strength, conditioning, and ice hockey performance. J Strength Cond Res 31(12): 3253-3259, 2017-Sports analytics is best known as the field of research that focuses on discovering slight but significant improvements within competitions; however, broader sets of athlete- and team-level data from outside competitions (e.g., strength and conditioning metrics) have been typically left out from such analyses. Given that strength and conditioning programs are perhaps the most common avenue through which people expect extra-competition progress to translate into within-competition performance, it is clear that strength and conditioning metrics warrant closer analytic attention. To illustrate this approach, we present a study of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Men's Ice Hockey players that integrates both (a) strength and conditioning metrics and (b) in-game performance measurements. Bivariate analyses show a significant positive correlation between bench press performance and points scored (r = 0.15), although multivariate analyses point to positive relationships between strength and conditioning measures and playing time as the more important finding. Although within-competition data are increasingly accessible for analytics research, the basic approach that we develop highlights the importance of considering extra-competition variables such as strength and conditioning metrics for understanding both coaching decisions regarding playing time and within-competition performance. We also discuss ways in which the integrated approach that we present offers potential applications for strength and conditioning professionals as well as players, coaches, and team managers.

Antecedents and near-term consequences for interdisciplinary dissertators.

Given the complexity of questions studied by academicians, institutions are increasingly encouraging interdisciplinary research to tackle these problems; however, neither the individual-level pathways leading to the pursuit of interdisciplinary research nor the resulting market outcomes have been closely examined. In this study, we focus attention on the individuals who complete interdisciplinary dissertations to ask "who are they and how do they fare after earning the PhD?" Since interdisciplinary research is known to be relatively risky among academics, we examine demographic variables that are known to be associated in other contexts with risk-taking before considering whether interdisciplinarians' outcomes are different upon graduating. First among our three main findings, students whose fathers earned a college degree demonstrated a 1.3% higher probability of pursuing interdisciplinary research. Second, the probability that non-citizens pursue interdisciplinary dissertation work is 4.6% higher when compared with US citizens. Third, individuals who complete an interdisciplinary dissertation tend to earn approximately 2% less in the year after graduation; however, mediation analyses show that the decision to become a postdoctoral researcher accounts for the apparent salary penalty. Our findings shed light on the antecedents and near-term consequences for individuals who complete interdisciplinary dissertations and contribute to broader policy debates concerning supports for academic career paths.

The sound of cooperation: Musical influences on cooperative behavior.

Music as an environmental aspect of professional workplaces has been closely studied with respect to consumer behavior while sparse attention has been given to its relevance for employee behavior. In this article, we focus on the influence of music upon cooperative behavior within decision-making groups. Based on results from two extended 20-round public goods experiments, we find that happy music significantly and positively influences cooperative behavior. We also find a significant positive association between mood and cooperative behavior. Consequently, while our studies provide partial support for the relevance of affect in relation to cooperation within groups, we also show an independently important function of happy music that fits with a theory of synchronous and rhythmic activity as a social lubricant. More generally, our findings indicate that music and perhaps other atmospheric variables that are designed to prime consumer behavior might have comparably important effects for employees and consequently warrant closer investigation.

Exhibitionist Eating: Who Wins Eating Competitions?

OBJECTIVE: How and why does competition and spectator involvement influence eating behaviors? The primary objective of this article is to explore the nature of competitive eating with the goal of identifying implications for other social situations. DESIGN: Study 1 investigated how many chicken wings were eaten by men and women in a 30-min eating competition when cheering spectators either were or were not present (compared to a control condition). The second study sought to explain Study 1's findings through a survey of 93 students who rated male or female competitive eaters (in randomized order) based on intelligence, attractiveness, health, strength, and how romantic they expected the eaters to be. RESULTS: Exploratory findings show competitive eaters ate approximately four times as many chicken wings as a similar control group, and the presence of a cheering audience further increased wing consumption for males (but decreased consumption for females). Study 2 suggests part of the over-performance of males may be related to a shared positive perception that competitive male eaters are strong and virile. CONCLUSION: Even in relatively low-stakes environments, competitive visibility may dramatically increase how much males eat. These preliminary results help illuminate recent discoveries that males overeat in various social situations where there are opportunities for men to "show off." This may have relevance for dining behavior - especially among younger males - at parties, banquets, group dinners, and similar social situations.

Eating Together at the Firehouse: How Workplace Commensality Relates to the Performance of Firefighters.

Cooperative activities among coworkers can provide valuable group-level benefits; however, previous research has often focused on artificial activities that require extraordinary efforts away from the worksite. We investigate organizational benefits that firms might obtain through various supports for coworkers to engage in commensality (i.e., eating together). We conducted field research within firehouses in a large city to explore the role that interacting over food might have for work-group performance. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, our field research shows a significant positive association between commensality and work-group performance. Our findings establish a basis for research and practice that focuses on ways that firms can enhance team performance by leveraging the mundane and powerful activity of eating.

Death row nutrition. Curious conclusions of last meals.

The growing macabre fascination with "last meals" offers a window into one's true consumption desires when one's value of the future is discounted close to zero. But in contrast to popular anecdotes and individual case studies, we created an empirical catalog of actual last meals - the final food requests of 247 individuals executed in the United States during a recent five-year period. Our content analyses reveal three key findings: (1) the average last meal is calorically rich (2756 calories) and proportionally averages 2.5 times the daily recommended servings of protein and fat, (2) the most frequent requests are also calorie dense: meat (83.9%), fried food (67.9%), desserts (66.3%), and soft drinks (60.0%), and (3) 39.9% requested branded foods or beverages. These findings are respectfully consistent with a model of environmentally contingent temporal discounting, and they are consistent with studies of how food is used to mediate feelings of stress and distress. Given that some people who are warned about the ill effects of obesity might counterintuitively engage in unhealthy overconsumption, the findings also suggest further study relating to the artificial use of mortality salience in campaigns against obesity.

It's not just lunch: extra-pair commensality can trigger sexual jealousy.

Do people believe that sharing food might involve sharing more than just food? To investigate this, participants were asked to rate how jealous they (Study 1)--or their best friend (Study 2)--would be if their current romantic partner were contacted by an ex-romantic partner and subsequently engaged in an array of food- and drink-based activities. We consistently find--across both men and women--that meals elicit more jealousy than face-to-face interactions that do not involve eating, such as having coffee. These findings suggest that people generally presume that sharing a meal enhances cooperation. In the context of romantic pairs, we find that participants are attuned to relationship risks that extra-pair commensality can present. For romantic partners left out of a meal, we find a common view that lunch, for example, is not "just lunch."

Food plating preferences of children: the importance of presentation on desire for diversity.

AIM: Given the importance of food presentation and childhood nutrition, we aimed to test the degree to which adults and children might demonstrate different preferences for various ways in which food can be presented on plates. METHODS: Twenty-three pre-teen children and 46 adults were individually presented full-size photos of 48 different combinations of food on plates. The photos varied according to seven dimensions (e.g. number of items, placement of entrée and organization of the food). RESULTS: Contrary to the default assumption that parents and children share preferences for the ways in which food is presented on plates, we find that children have notably different preferences than adults. Most remarkably, we show that children tended to prefer seven different items and six different colours on their ideal plates, while adults tended to prefer three different colours and three different items. CONCLUSION: The assumption that children prefer food presentations that match adult preferences appears to be unjustified. Future research and interventions that are designed to improve childhood nutrition should test for the impact of diverse presentations on actual food consumption among a variety of populations across institutional settings.

Utilities of gossip across organizational levels : Multilevel selection, free-riders, and teams.

Gossip is a subject that has been studied by researchers from an array of disciplines with various foci and methods. We measured the content of language use by members of a competitive sports team across 18 months, integrating qualitative ethnographic methods with quantitative sampling and analysis. We hypothesized that the use of gossip will vary significantly depending on whether it is used for self-serving or group-serving purposes. Our results support a model of gossip derived from multilevel selection theory that expects gossip to serve group-beneficial rules when rewards are partitioned at the group level on a scale that permits mutual monitoring. We integrate our case study with earlier studies of gossip conducted by anthropologists, psychologists, and management researchers.