bims-chumac 2020-03-01 papers

Issue of 2020‒03‒01
five papers selected by
Jay Dixit
Storytelling.NYC

J Soc Pers Relat. 2020 Mar;37(3): 865-884

Honey, Do I Look Fat? Perceptions of Spouses' Weight and Weight Concerns Predict Marital Relationship Quality.

The majority of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, and yet Western ideals of beauty mean that low body fat composition is a component of physical attractiveness. In turn, perceived discrepancies between actual and ideal body shape and weight mean that many adults experience weight concerns-- and they also may be dissatisfied with their spouse's weight. This study examined whether weight concerns were linked to romantic relationship quality, an important domain of adult development. Specifically, we applied the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to test how wives' and husbands' weight concerns and perceptions of their spouses' overweight contributed to their own and their spouse's reports of marital satisfaction and conflict over time. The sample was 197 heterosexual married couples (M age = 40.85 and 42.81 years for wives and husbands, respectively; M length of marriage = 18.6 years at Time 1) with children, who participated in a short-term longitudinal study of family relationships and adolescent development. Two-way interactions between partner perceptions of spouses' weight and gender indicated that husbands' perceptions that their wives were overweight predicted decreases in wives' marital satisfaction and increases in wives' reports of marital conflict across one year. In contrast, wives' perceptions of husbands' weight were not associated with changes in husbands' marital satisfaction or conflict. A two-way interaction between actor and partner weight concerns indicated that individuals reported more marital conflict when there was a discrepancy between their own and their spouse's weight concerns. Finally, a two-way interaction between actor and partner perceptions of spouse's weight indicated that, for individuals whose spouses rated them as below ideal weight, their perceptions of the spouse's overweight predicted their own lower marital satisfaction. Findings suggest that concerns about one's own and one's spouse's weight have negative ramifications for marital relationships.

Keywords: body image; marital conflict; marital satisfaction; overweight; weight concerns

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519880961

Sex Med Rev. 2020 Feb 20. pii: S2050-0521(20)30001-9. [Epub ahead of print]

Sexological Aspects Related to Tinder Use: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature.

Ciocca G, Robilotta A, Fontanesi L, Sansone A, D'Antuono L, Limoncin E, Nimbi F, Simonelli C, Di Lorenzo G, Siracusano A, Jannini EA.

INTRODUCTION: Tinder is the most popular and used meeting application for dating. However, its impact on sexual behavior and sexual health has not yet been thoroughly investigated.OBJECTIVES: To review the current empirical knowledge on the sexual health and sexual behavior effects related to Tinder use.
METHODS: A literature review was conducted based on empirical studies published in the last 5 years. A computerized search was performed to identify all relevant studies in PubMed and Google Scholar. The following search terms were used: "Tinder" AND "Sexuality" OR "Tinder" AND "Sexual Behavior" OR "Tinder" AND "Sexual Dysfunctions" OR "Tinder" AND "Sexual Health." 34 articles fully satisfied the established criteria.
RESULTS: We found sociosexuality, that is, sexual activities outside a committed relationship, to be the main predictor for casual sex in the Tinder users. The sexual aims appeared gender-influenced: men used Tinder mostly for casual sex compared with women. With respect to other dating apps, it has been also found that the Tinder use is less related to the risk of sexually transmitted infections. However, specific personality traits related to dark personality (ie, the association of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) were more frequently reported among male Tinder users.
CONCLUSION: Existing literature concerning Tinder use shows the advantages and disadvantages of this dating technology. Casual sex might be a risk for sexual health, but Tinder users have also been committed to romantic relationships. Moreover, some pathological aspects of personality characterize some Tinder users. From an evolutionary perspective, sociosexuality partially explains the reasons of the Tinder user's interest for casual sex. Finally, this review highlights the need of further studies on Tinder as a new, pivotal virtual place to promote sex education and sexual health. Ciocca G, Robilotta A, Fontanesi L, et al. Sexological Aspects Related to Tinder Use: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. Sex Med Rev 2020;XX:XXX-XXX.

Keywords: Evolutionism; Psychology; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Health; Tinder

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sxmr.2019.12.004

Br J Soc Psychol. 2020 Feb 28. e12371

Are women more likely to wear red and pink at peak fertility? What about on cold days? Conceptual, close, and extended replications with novel clothing colour measures.

Hone LSE, McCullough ME.

Evolutionarily minded researchers have hypothesized that women advertise their ovulatory status by wearing red or pink clothing on relatively cold days. Many of these studies have been based on samples of women who have self-reported their clothing choices, a practice that raises questions about accuracy. In two studies, we evaluated the relationship between women's fertility and their clothing choices using four methods for measuring clothing colour: self-reports; trained raters' judgements of garment coloration in outfits that women drew onto mannequins to represent what they would wear to a party with single attractive people in attendance; automated colour coding of the mannequins; and trained raters' judgements of garment coloration as evinced in photographs that women took of themselves. Using these four measures of clothing choice along with measures of women's fertility and outside temperature, we did not find compelling evidence that women are particularly inclined to wear red or pink during peak fertility, even on relatively cold days.

Keywords: clothing coloration; menstrual cycle; ovulation; peak fertility; replication

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12371

PLoS One. 2020 ;15(2): e0229625

As cold as a fish? Relationships between the Dark Triad personality traits and affective experience during the day: A day reconstruction study.

Pilch I.

The Dark Triad of personality is a cluster of three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. These traits are associated with a selfish, aggressive and exploitative interpersonal strategy. The objective of the current study was to establish relationships between the Dark Triad traits (and their dimensions) and momentary affect. Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism and the dimensions of the Triarchic model of psychopathy (namely, boldness, meanness and disinhibition) were examined. We used the Day Reconstruction Method, which is based on reconstructing affective states experienced during the previous day. The final sample consisted of 270 university students providing affective ratings of 3047 diary episodes. Analyses using multilevel modelling showed that only boldness had a positive association with positive affective states and affect balance, and a negative association with negative affective states. Grandiose narcissism and its sub-dimensions had no relationship with momentary affect. The other dark traits were related to negative momentary affect and/or inversely related to positive momentary affect and affect balance. As a whole, our results empirically demonstrated distinctiveness of the Dark Triad traits in their relationship to everyday affective states. These findings are not congruent with the notion that people with the Dark Triad traits, who have a dispositional tendency to manipulate and exploit others, are generally cold and invulnerable to negative feelings. The associations between the Dark Triad and momentary affect were discussed in the contexts of evolutionary and positive psychology, in relation to the role and adaptive value of positive and negative emotions experienced by individuals higher in Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229625

Cortex. 2020 Jan 28. pii: S0010-9452(20)30027-7. [Epub ahead of print]126 242-252

Mentalizing during social InterAction: A four component model.

Wu H, Liu X, Hagan CC, Mobbs D.

Mentalizing, conventionally defined as the process in which we infer the inner thoughts and intentions of others, is a fundamental component of human social cognition. Yet its role, and the nuanced layers involved, in real world social interaction are rarely discussed. To account for this lack of theory, we propose the interactive mentalizing theory (IMT) -to emphasize the role of metacognition in different mentalizing components. We discuss the connection between mentalizing, metacognition, and social interaction in the context of four elements of mentalizing: (i) Metacognition-inference of our own thought processes and social cognitions and which is central to all other components of mentalizing including: (ii) first-order mentalizing-inferring the thoughts and intentions of an agent's mind; (iii) personal second-order mentalizing-inference of other's mentalizing of one's own mind; (iv) Collective mentalizing: which takes at least two forms (a) vicarious mentalizing: adopting another's mentalizing of an agent (i.e., what we think others think of an agent) and (b) co-mentalizing: mentalizing about an agent in conjunction with others' mentalizing of that agent (i.e., conforming to others beliefs about another agent's internal states). The weights of these four elements is determined by metacognitive insight and confidence in one's own or another's mentalizing ability, yielding a dynamic interaction between these circuits. To advance our knowledge on mentalizing during live social interaction, we identify how these subprocesses can be organized by different target agents and facilitated by combining computational modeling and interactive brain approaches.

Keywords: Co-mentalizing; Mentalizing; Metacognition; Social inference; Vicarious mentalizing

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.12.031