Johnny Depp, Reconsidered: How Category-Relative Processing Fluency Determines the Appeal of Gender Ambiguity

Individuals that combine features of both genders–gender blends–are sometimes appealing and sometimes not. Heretofore, this difference was explained entirely in terms of sexual selection. 

In contrast, we propose that part of individuals’ preference for gender blends is due to the cognitive effort required to classify them, and that such effort depends on the context in which a blend is judged. In two studies, participants judged the attractiveness of male-female morphs. Participants did so after classifying each face in terms of its gender, which was selectively more effortful for gender blends, or classifying faces on a gender-irrelevant dimension, which was equally effortful for gender blends. In both studies, gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first classified by gender, despite an overall preference for feminine features in all conditions. Critically, the preferences were mediated by the effort of stimulus classification. 

The results suggest that the variation in attractiveness of gender-ambiguous faces may derive from context-dependent requirements to determine gender membership. More generally, the results show that the difficulty of resolving social category membership–not just attitudes toward a social category–feed into perceivers’ overall evaluations toward category members.

Below:  Examples of stimuli used in Study 1 as a percentage of the female parent

Below:  Examples of face blends used in Study 2

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/RE2YqJ

By:  Helen E. Owen,1 Jamin Halberstadt,1,* Evan W. Carr,2 and Piotr Winkielman2,3,4,*

¹Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

²Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America

³Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

⁴Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland

Brock University, CANADA

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Conceived and designed the experiments: HO JH PW. Performed the experiments: HO JH PW. Analyzed the data: HO JH PW EC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HO JH PW EC. Wrote the paper: HO JH PW EC.

* E-mail: zn.ca.ogato.ysp@sreblahj; Email: ude.dscu@namleikniwp

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A Qualitative Exploration of Perceived Gender Differences in Methamphetamine Use among Women Who Use Methamphetamine on the Mexico–U.S. border

The purpose of this study is to extend the research on contextual factors that influence the initiation and continued use of methamphetamine (meth) by women on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

At present, a minimal body of literature exists that explores meth use on the Mexico-U.S. border. A purposeful sample of 20 women who were active meth users aged ≥18 years was recruited by trained outreach workers from a variety of meth-user networks in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the city bordering El Paso, Texas. Respondents participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews including questions on users’ perceived familial, social, and environmental influences of meth use. 

Gender-based themes emerged from the analysis: 

1. patterns of meth use; 
2. places where drugs were used; 
3. effects of relationship networks on meth use; 
4. differential access to drugs; 
5. trading sex for drugs; 
6. perceived class differences; and 
7. long-term drug use and its consequences. 

Respondents reported a preference for using meth as powder or pills as opposed to smoking or injecting the drug. They reported being introduced to meth by men they trust and relying on men for drug acquisition in spaces less accessible and more dangerous to women. 

They described how the drug changed their lifestyle and their behavior towards family members and friends, including instances of physical and psychological violence. Interventions for women on the Mexico-U.S. border should be developed based on users’ social networks to target social processes to prevent initiation and to bring active meth users into treatment.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/3HQjNt

By:   Oralia Loza^a*, Rebeca Ramos^b, João Ferreira-Pinto^a, Maria Teresa Hernandez^c & Susana A. Villalobos^d

• ^a College of Health Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX
• ^b Alliance of Border Collaboratives (ABC), El Paso, TX
• ^c School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA
• ^d Department of Emergency Medicine, Texas Tech Health Sciences of El Paso, Paul Foster School of Medicine, El Paso, TX

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Gender Differences in Mortality among Treated Opioid Dependent Patients

To assess gender differences in characteristics, mortality rates, and the causes and predictors of death among treated opioid-dependent individuals.

Linked vital statistics data were obtained for all individuals first enrolled in publicly funded pharmacological treatment for opioid dependence in California from 2006 to 2010. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were calculated by gender. Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates were fitted to determine the effect of gender on the hazard of all-cause mortality, controlling for covariates.

Over a median 2.6 years, 1,031 deaths were observed, including 2.2% (259/11,564) of women and 3.7% (772/20,758) of men. 

• Women had a greater increased risk of mortality compared to the general population than men. 
• The relative risk of death for women compared with men was 1.18. 
• Women had a lower instantaneous hazard of all-cause mortality than men, controlling for other factors. 
• Significant interaction effects indicated that among men, 
• mortality risk was decreased by full-time employment and 
• increased by non-daily heroin use (relative to daily use) and medical problems. 
• Concurrent opioid and methamphetamine/cocaine use increased mortality risk among women and decreased it among men.

Treatment for opioid dependence is likely to reduce mortality risk among men by addressing employment and medical problems, and via interventions to reduce overdose risk after heroin abstinence, and among women by attending to the concurrent use of methamphetamine/cocaine and opioids.

Via: http://goo.gl/d4YmF5 Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/iyr9Mm

By: Evans E1, Kelleghan A2, Li L2, Min J3, Huang D2, Urada D2, Hser YI2, Nosyk B4.

• 1UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, United States
• 2UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, United States.
• 3British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Canada.
• 4British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Canada; Simon Fraser University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Canada.

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