Publications

2021
Okun, B. S., & Stecklov, G. . (2021). The Impact of Grandparental Death on the Fertility of Adult Children. Demography, 58, 847-870. presented at the Jun 1.Abstract
The increasingly central role of vertical family kinship in Western societies underscores the potential value of intergenerational linkages that tie grandparents to the fertility of their adult children. Recent research has examined the changing demography of grandparenthood and the roles fulfilled by living grandparents, but the complex implications of grandparental death-a key feature of intergenerational linkages over the life course-have drawn less attention. In this article, we explore whether and how childbearing of adult women is affected by the death of grandparents-their own parent(s) or their spouse's parent(s). We develop a novel conceptual framework that presents the pathways of influence and considers the overall impact of grandparental death on childbearing of adult children. We then estimate fixed-effects models to identify causal relationships between grandparental death and childbearing, using linked micro-level census and population register data from Israel for the period 1986-2014. We find that grandparental death leads to a reduction of approximately 5 percentage points in the five-year probability of childbirth. The effects of grandparental death are negative across all parities examined and are broadly similar across grandparent's gender and kinship relation. Additional effects are identified, including how the impact of grandparental death varies with time since the previous birth as well as residential proximity prior to death. We explain how our findings regarding the effect of grandparental death offer insight into the role of living grandparents. Our results suggest that policy-makers concerned with low fertility should explore mechanisms that reinforce potential sources of support from grandparents.
Millgram, Y., Gruber, J., Villanueva, C. M., Rapoport, A., & Tamir, M. . (2021). Motivations for Emotions in Bipolar Disorder. Clinical Psychological Science, 9, 666-685.Abstract
Recent work has begun to examine the link between motivation for specific emotions and psychopathology. Yet research on this topic to date has focused primarily on depression. To understand patterns of motivation for emotions within and across affective disorders, we assessed motivation for emotions in adults at increased risk for and diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). We focused on motivation for negative (i.e., sadness) and positive (i.e., happiness) emotions and for emotional instability using self-report and behavioral measures. Both increased BD risk and diagnosis of BD were associated with increased motivation for sadness and decreased motivation for happiness as assessed by behavioral measures. Such motivational tendencies were less consistent when assessed by self-reports. Higher BD risk was associated with increased self-reported motivation for emotional instability (Studies 1–3), although this association was not evident in BD (Study 4). Findings suggest both similarities and differences in motivation for emotions in affective disorders.
Levy Paluck, E., Porat, R., Clark, C. S., & Green, D. P. . (2021). Prejudice Reduction: Progress and Challenges. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 533-560.Abstract
The past decade has seen rapid growth in research that evaluates methods for reducing prejudice. This essay reviews 418 experiments reported in 309 manuscripts from 2007 to 2019 to assess which approaches work best and why. Our quantitative assessment uses meta-analysis to estimate average effects. Our qualitative assessment calls attention to landmark studies that are noteworthy for sustained interventions, imaginative measurement, and transparency. However, 76% of all studies evaluate light touch interventions, the long-term impact of which remains unclear. The modal intervention uses mentalizing as a salve for prejudice. Although these studies report optimistic conclusions, we identify troubling indications of publication bias that may exaggerate effects. Furthermore, landmark studies often find limited effects, which suggests the need for further theoretical innovation or synergies with other kinds of psychological or structural interventions. We conclude that much research effort is theoretically and empirically ill-suited to provide actionable, evidence-based recommendations for reducing prejudice.
Markovitch, N., & Knafo-Noam, A. . (2021). Sensitivity, but to which environment? Individual differences in sensitivity to parents and peers show domain-specific patterns and a negative genetic correlation. Dev Sci, 24, e13136. presented at the Nov.Abstract
The idea that individuals differ in their sensitivity to the environment's effects is a cornerstone of developmental science. It has been demonstrated repeatedly, for different kinds of stressors, outcomes, and sensitivity markers. However, almost no empirical work was done to examine whether environmental sensitivity is domain-general (i.e., the same individuals are sensitive to different environmental contexts) or domain-specific (i.e., different individuals are sensitive to different environmental contexts), despite its importance to understanding human development, learning, and behavior. To address this question, phenotypic sensitivity to parents and to peers were compared in 1313 11-year-old Israeli adolescent twins. We found that, (1) our phenotypic markers indeed moderate environmental influences, with a discriminant predictive utility, (2) adolescents who are sensitive to their parents are not necessarily sensitive to their peers, and (3) sensitivity to parents and sensitivity to peers have different etiologies and show a negative genetic correlation, indicating that adolescents carrying genetic markers for sensitivity to parents are less likely to carry genetic markers for sensitivity to peers. These findings suggest that environmental sensitivity shows domain-specific patterns, as different individuals can be sensitive to different environments. We discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of domain-specificity of environmental sensitivity.
Katz, B. A., Naftalovich, H., Matanky, K., & Yovel, I. . (2021). The dual-system theory of bipolar spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 83, 101945. presented at the 2021/02/01/.Abstract
Bipolar spectrum disorders are characterized by alternating intervals of extreme positive and negative affect. We performed a meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that such disorders would be related to dysregulated reinforcement sensitivity. First, we reviewed 23 studies that reported the correlation between self-report measures of (hypo)manic personality and measures of reinforcement sensitivity. A large relationship was found between (hypo)manic personality and BAS sensitivity (g = .74), but not with BIS sensitivity (g = -.08). This stands in contrast to self-reported depression which has a small, negative relationship with BAS sensitivity and a large positive one with BIS sensitivity (Katz et al., 2020). Next, we reviewed 33 studies that compared reinforcement sensitivity between euthymic, bipolar participants and healthy controls. There, bipolar disorder had a small, positive relationship with BAS sensitivity (g = .20) and a medium, positive relationship with BIS sensitivity (g = .64). These findings support a dualsystem theory of bipolar disorders, wherein BAS sensitivity is more closely related to mania and BIS sensitivity more closely to bipolar depression. Bipolar disorders show diatheses for both states with euthymic participants being BAS- and BIS- hypersensitive. Implications for further theory and research practice are expounded upon in the discussion.
Kligler-Vilenchik, N. . (2021). Friendship and politics don’t mix? The role of sociability for online political talk. Information, Communication & Society, 24, 118-133. presented at the 2021/01/02, Routledge.
Link, M., & Haftel, Y. Z. . (2021). Islamic legal tradition and the choice of investment arbitration forums. Review of International Political Economy, 28, 559-583. presented at the 2021/05/04, Routledge.
Klein, H., Asseo, K., Karni, N., Benjamini, Y., Nir-Paz, R., Muszkat, M., Israel, S., et al. (2021). Onset, duration and unresolved symptoms, including smell and taste changes, in mild COVID-19 infection: a cohort study in Israeli patients. Clin Microbiol Infect, 27, 769-74. presented at the Feb 16.Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To characterize longitudinal symptoms of mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients for a period of 6 months, to potentially aid in disease management. METHODS: Phone interviews were conducted with 103 patients with mild COVID-19 in Israel over a 6-month period (April 2020 to October 2020). Patients were recruited via social media and word to mouth and were interviewed up to 4 times, depending on reports of their unresolved symptoms. Inclusion criteria required participants to be residents of Israel aged 18 years or older, with positive COVID-19 real-time PCR results and nonsevere symptoms. The onset, duration, severity and resolution of symptoms were analysed. RESULTS: A total of 44% (45/103), 41% (42/103), 39% (40/103) and 38% (39/103) of patients experienced headache, fever, muscle ache and dry cough as the first symptom respectively. Smell and taste changes were experienced at 3.9 ± 5.4 and 4.6 ± 5.7 days (mean ± standard deviation (SD)) after disease onset respectively. Among prevalent symptoms, fever had the shortest duration (5.8 ± 8.6 days), and taste and smell changes were the longest-lasting symptoms (17.2 ± 17.6 and 18.9 ± 19.7 days; durations censored at 60 days). Longer recovery of the sense of smell correlated with the extent of smell change. At the 6-month follow-up, 46% (47/103) of the patients had at least one unresolved symptom, most commonly fatigue (22%, 23/103), smell and taste changes (15%, 15/103 and 8%, 8/103 respectively) and breathing difficulties (8%, 8/103). CONCLUSIONS: Long-lasting effects of mild COVID-19 manifested in almost half of the participants reporting at least one unresolved symptom after 6 months.
Kleiman, T., Meiran, N., & Eyal, T. . (2021). Perspectives, they might be a-changin': A proactive-control take on the cognitive cost of maintaining one's own perspective. J Exp Psychol Gen. presented at the Nov 1.Abstract
The world abounds with different perspectives, which necessitates balancing between maintaining the currently relevant perspective and flexibly switching between perspectives, if needed. Employing the distinction between reactive and proactive control (Braver, 2012), we argue that previous research on perspective-taking has mainly looked at the cost of activating reactive control to deal with what is happening now. Here we examine the cost of activating proactive control in order to be prepared for what might happen in the future. In three experiments, we embed a perspective-taking task (Samson et al., 2010) into a task-switching design and calculate perspective-mixing costs to capture proactive control. We show that a context in which perspective shifts might occur unpredictably (compared to a context in which such shifts are not expected) results in a poorer ability to maintain any perspective, but especially one's own. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Lancry-Dayan, O. C., Gamer, M., & Pertzov, Y. . (2021). Search for the Unknown: Guidance of Visual Search in the Absence of an Active Template. Psychological Science, 32, 1404-1415.Abstract
Can you efficiently look for something even without knowing what it looks like? According to theories of visual search, the answer is no: A template of the search target must be maintained in an active state to guide search for potential locations of the target. Here, we tested the need for an active template by assessing a case in which this template is improbable: the search for a familiar face among unfamiliar ones when the identity of the target face is unknown. Because people are familiar with hundreds of faces, an active guiding template seems unlikely in this case. Nevertheless, participants (35 Israelis and 33 Germans) were able to guide their search as long as extrafoveal processing of the target features was possible. These results challenge current theories of visual search by showing that guidance can rely on long-term memory and extrafoveal processing rather than on an active search template.
Ingvardson, J. B., Thorhauge, M., Kaplan, S., Nielsen, O. A., & Raveau, S. . (2021). Incorporating psychological needs in commute mode choice modelling: a hybrid choice framework. Transportation. presented at the 2021/09/17.Abstract
This study proposes an integrated choice and latent variable model (ICLV) for commute mode choice that incorporates satisfaction of human needs and perceived functional and psychological barriers to using certain modes. The modelling framework is validated by data from a survey of commuters in the Greater Copenhagen area, which has large numbers of car users, public transport riders and bicyclists. The model results suggest that higher bicycle use is correlated to positive cycling self-concepts. Similarly, the commute choice of driving is positively correlated with car self-concepts and negatively correlated with functional difficulties in car use. Respondents with a strong focus on functional travel needs are most likely to commute using a car and least likely to use public transport. Evaluation of the effects of improving conditions for bicycles showed that the latent variables had a large influence on the potential mode shifts, highlighting that the mode choice of travellers is largely associated with mode-specific perceptions and fulfilment of travel needs rather than solely level-of-service characteristics. By analysing the mode shifts across the latent variables, further insights on the motives for travel behaviour decisions were obtained, thereby highlighting the superiority of ICLV models to simple multinomial logit models. Furthermore, the study also revealed that socio-economic variables could explain mode choice both directly and indirectly through their impact on the latent variables. This means that a given policy might have a different impact according to the present ICLV model than when estimated by traditional models.
Kalla, C., Goltser-Dubner, T., Pevzner, D., Canetti, L., Mirman, A., Ben-Yehuda, A., Itzhar, N., et al. (2021). Resting mononuclear cell NR3C1 and SKA2 expression levels predict blunted cortisol reactivity to combat training stress among elite army cadets exposed to childhood adversity. Molecular Psychiatry, 26, 6680-6687. presented at the 2021/11/01.Abstract
Childhood adversity (CA) may alter reactivity to stress throughout life, increasing risk for psychiatric and medical morbidity, yet long-term correlates of milder CA levels among high functioning healthy adolescents are less studied. The current study examined the prevalence and impact of CA exposure among a cohort of healthy motivated elite parachute unit volunteers, prospectively assessed at rest and at the height of an intensive combat-simulation exposure. We found significantly reduced gene expression levels in resting mononuclear cell nuclear receptor, subfamily 3, member 1 (NR3C1), and its transactivator spindle and kinetochore-associated protein 2 (SKA2), that predict blunted cortisol reactivity to combat-simulation stress among CA exposed adolescents. Long-term alterations in endocrine immune indices, subjective distress, and executive functions persist among healthy high functioning adolescents following milder CA exposure, and may promote resilience or vulnerability to later real-life combat exposure.
Kaplan, S., & Fisher, Y. . (2021). The role of the perceived community social climate in explaining knowledge-workers staying intentions. Cities, 111, 103105. presented at the 2021/04/01/.Abstract
This study focuses on the perceived community social climate's role as a capital for retaining knowledge-workers in the region. The conceptualization of the perceived community social climate includes seven dimensions: network participation, amenities, collective efficacy, neighborhood ambiance, civic participation, tolerance for diversity, and trust among residents. We offer a measurement scale suitable for measuring physical and virtual interactions. We validated the scale with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 533 university graduates in Israel. We apply the new measure to investigate the effect of the perceived community social climate on university graduates' staying intentions in the community. We analyzed the data utilizing Multiple-Indicators-Multiple-Causes (MIMIC) model. The findings show that: i) collective efficacy and civic participation motivate neighborhood staying intentions; ii) collective efficacy is motivated by neighborhood amenities, network participation, and social trust; iii) social trust mediates between collective efficacy, neighborhood ambiance, and tolerance-for-diversity; iv) civic participation derives from to neighborhood ambiance and network participation.
Goldschmidt, Z., & Nissan-Rozen, I. . (2021). The intrinsic value of risky prospects. Synthese, 198, 7553-7575. presented at the 2021/08/01.Abstract
We study the representation of attitudes to risk in Jeffrey’s (The logic of decision, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965) decision-theoretic framework suggested by Stefánsson and Bradley (Philos Sci 82(4):602–625, 2015; Br J Philos Sci 70(1):77–102, 2017) and Bradley (Econ Philos 32(2):231–248, 2016; Decisions theory with a human face, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017). We show that on this representation, the value of any prospect may be expressed as a sum of two components, the prospect’s instrumental value (the value the prospect has only in virtue of the outcomes it might lead to) and the prospect’s intrinsic value (the value the prospect has only in virtue of the way it assigns different probabilities to the different outcomes). Both components have an expectational form. We also make a distinction between a prospect’s overall intrinsic value and a prospect’s conditional intrinsic value given each one of its possible outcomes and argue that this distinction has great explanatory power. We explore the relation between these two types of intrinsic values and show that they are determined at the level of preferences. Finally, we explore the relation between the intrinsic values of different prospects and point to a strong restriction on this relation that is implicit in Jeffrey’s axioms. We suggest a natural interpretation to this restriction.
Gorfine, M., Keret, N., Ben Arie, A., Zucker, D., & Hsu, L. . (2021). Marginalized Frailty-Based Illness-Death Model: Application to the UK-Biobank Survival Data. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 116, 1155-1167. presented at the 2021/07/03, Taylor & Francis.
Gershkov, A., Moldovanu, B., Strack, P., & Zhang, M. . (2021). A Theory of Auctions with Endogenous Valuations. Journal of Political Economy, 129, 1011-1051.Abstract
We derive the symmetric, revenue-maximizing allocation of several units among agents who take costly actions that influence their values. The problem is equivalent to a reduced-form model where agents have nonexpected utility. The uniform-price auction and the discriminatory pay-your-bid auction with reserve prices that react to both demand and supply constitute symmetric, optimal mechanisms. We also identify a condition under which the overall optimal mechanism is indeed symmetric and illustrate the structure of the optimal asymmetric mechanism when the condition fails. The main tool in our analysis is an integral inequality based on Fan and Lorentz (1954).
Gould, E. D. . (2021). Torn Apart? The Impact of Manufacturing Employment Decline on Black and White Americans. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 103, 770-785.Abstract
This paper examines the impact of manufacturing employment decline on the socioeconomic outcomes within and between black and white Americans since 1960. The analysis shows that manufacturing decline had a negative impact on blacks in terms of their wages, employment, marriage rates, house values, poverty rates, death rates, single parenthood, teen motherhood, child poverty, and child mortality. In addition, the decline in manufacturing increased inequality within the black community for wages and other outcomes. Similar patterns are found for whites, but to a lesser degree—leading to larger gaps between whites and blacks in wages, marriage patterns, poverty, single-parenthood, and death rates.
Hallinan, B., Kim, B., Mizoroki, S., Scharlach, R., Trillò, T., Thelwall, M., Segev, E., et al. (2021). The value(s) of social media rituals: a cross-cultural analysis of New Year’s resolutions. Information, Communication & Society, 1-22. Routledge.
Goldberg, Y., Mandel, M., Bar-On, Y. M., Bodenheimer, O., Freedman, L., Haas, E. J., Milo, R., et al. (2021). Waning Immunity after the BNT162b2 Vaccine in Israel. New England Journal of Medicine, 385, e85.
Feitelson, E. . (2021). Accessing the divine and the past: Jerusalem's cable car dilemmas. Journal of Transport Geography, 91, 102968. presented at the 2021/02/01/.Abstract
Transport is usually viewed as means to get tourists to their destinations and to move about the destinations. Hence, transport projects intended to improve access by tourists to and within destinations are largely assessed according to their contribution to visitors' satisfaction. Yet, not all tourist destinations are the same. Heritage and religious destinations are particular sets of destinations. This paper seeks to identify the issues that have to be discussed when considering transport projects to such destinations. To this end the proposed cable car to the City of David and Western Wall in Jerusalem is discussed. On the basis of some of the objections raised against this project the underlying dilemmas are identified. The main dilemmas and issues raised are whether it is indeed desirable and appropriate to improve access to historic sites that may be over-crowded, what are the equity facets of such transport projects, particularly the distribution of benefits and cost between locals and tourists, and to what extent do the transport projects contribute to the heretization of such site – the social and political processes involved in presenting the story of such sites.