Sex-related invariance across cultures in an online role-playing game

This study examines the Social Dominance Orientation of players of the online roleplaying game World of Warcraft. The World of Warcraft offers an opportunity to investigate social dominance and biological sex differences in an environment where there is no cultural dominance of one sex over another. Social Dominance Orientation has been found to be different between males and females, with males scoring higher. However, this might be the consequence of social context. To this end sex differences between male and female players were investigated in the World of Warcraft environment, as well as the effects of chosen character sex. Player sex and character sex were found to have effects on Social Dominance Orientation. These results add further support to claims that Social Dominance Orientation has the characteristics of a sexually selected disposition to acquire resources and out-compete rival groups.

Alcohol gel ingestion amongst homeless Eastern and Central Europeans in London: assessing the effects on cognitive functioning and psychological health

Background: Intentional consumption of alcohol based hand gels has been reported especially amongst non-UK national, alcohol dependent, homeless individuals in London. Whilst alcohol misuse is known to be associated with impaired cognitive functioning and mental health problems, the effects of additional ingestion of alcohol gel are unknown. Objectives: To explore cognitive and psychological functioning in users who intentionally ingest alcohol gel compared with ethyl-alcohol only misusers and controls. Methods: Male, Central and Eastern European alcohol only misusers, (n=14; mean age 39 years), alcohol gel users (n=14; mean age 43 years) and controls (n=12; mean age 31 years) were recruited from a London Homeless Service during 2013/14. Alcohol misusers, alcohol gel users and controls were compared on the Forwards and Backwards Digit Span Test; Block Design test; Retrospective and Prospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) and the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Alcohol gel users performed significantly worse on the Block Design task (p<0.01) and PRMQ (p<0.01) relative to both alcohol only and control groups, and significantly worse on the digit span relative to controls (p=0.01). Both alcohol misusing groups scored comparatively on digit span backwards (p<0.01), with both groups performing significantly worse than controls. The alcohol gel group reported significantly higher levels of anxiety relative to controls (p=0.02). Conclusions: Whilst there could be constitutional differences between alcohol misusers who additionally abuse alcohol gel, the findings suggest that alcohol gel ingestion may have a greater impact on psychological functioning than traditional alcohol misuse.