bims-chumac 2022-11-13 papers

Issue of 2022–11–13
five papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 07. pii: 14617. [Epub ahead of print]19(21):

The Effect of Cognitive Strategies and Facial Attractiveness on Empathic Neural Responses.

Michela Balconi, Natalia Kopiś-Posiej, Irene Venturella, Emilia Zabielska-Mendyk, Paweł Augustynowicz, Laura Angioletti.

Empathy is a phenomenon that brings together both emotions and an understanding of another person. Recent studies have disentangled the mechanisms of empathy into emotional and cognitive aspects. Event-related potential (ERP) studies suggest that emotional empathy is related to the modulation of the amplitude of early ERPs, and cognitive empathy is linked to later ERPs. In the current study, we examined the influences of facial attractiveness on empathic response and the effect of cognitive strategies with setting the participants' attention to attractiveness or pain. Participants (N= 19) viewed photos of physically attractive and unattractive men and women receiving painful stimulation. The amplitude of the N2 component measured at the frontal regions was more negative in painful stimulation compared to the non-painful, but only for attractive faces. There were no differences between painful and non-painful stimulation for unattractive faces. The amplitude of the P3 measured at the central-parietal region component was more positive in the painful condition compared to the non-painful one, but only when participants performed a pain judgment task. There were no differences in the attractiveness judgment task. This study showed that the attractiveness of a model and drawing the participants' attention to pain constitute an essential modulator of pain empathy.

Keywords: EEG; ERP; empathy; empathy for pain; facial attractiveness; neuroscience; pain4

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114617

Front Psychol. 2022 ;13 980277

The degree to which the cultural ideal is internalized predicts judgments of male and female physical attractiveness.

Bethany J Ridley, Piers L Cornelissen, Nadia Maalin, Sophie Mohamed, Robin S S Kramer, Kristofor McCarty, Martin J Tovée.

We used attractiveness judgements as a proxy to visualize the ideal female and male body for male and female participants and investigated how individual differences in the internalization of cultural ideals influence these representations. In the first of two studies, male and female participants judged the attractiveness of 242 male and female computer-generated bodies which varied independently in muscle and adipose. This allowed us to map changes in attractiveness across the complete body composition space, revealing single peaks for the attractiveness of both men and women. In the second study, we asked our participants to choose the most attractive male and female bodies in a method of adjustment task in which they could independently vary muscle and adipose to create the most attractive body. We asked whether individual differences in internalization of cultural ideals, drive for muscularity, eating disorder symptomatology and depressive symptoms could systematically shift the location of peak attractiveness in body composition space. We found a clear preference by both genders for a male body with high muscle and low adipose, and a toned, low adipose female body. The degree of internalization of cultural ideals predicted large individual differences in the composition of the most attractive bodies.

Keywords: adiposity; attractiveness; body composition; body fat; body ideals; muscularity

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.980277

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2022 Nov 09. 1461672221133693

Psychometric Evaluation of Single-Item Relationship Satisfaction, Love, Conflict, and Commitment Measures.

Sylvia Niehuis, Karsen Davis, Alan Reifman, Kenzi Callaway, Ali Luempert, C Rebecca Oldham, Jayla Head, Emma Willis-Grossmann.

Issues in applied survey research, including minimizing respondent burden and ensuring measures' brevity for smartphone administration, have intensified efforts to create short measures. We conducted two studies on the psychometric properties of single-item satisfaction, love, conflict, and commitment measures. Study 1 was longitudinal, surveying college-age dating couples at three monthly waves (n =121, 84, and 68 couples at the respective waves). Partners completed single- and multi-item measures of the four constructs, along with other variables, to examine test-retest reliability and convergent, concurrent, and predictive validity. Single-item measures of satisfaction, love, and commitment exhibited impressive psychometric qualities, but our single-item conflict measure performed somewhat less strongly. Study 2, a cross-sectional online survey (n = 280), showed strong convergent validity of the single-item measures, including that of conflict.

Keywords: commitment; conflict; love; measurement; relationship satisfaction; survey research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221133693

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 11 16. 119(46): e2205451119

When fertile, women seek status via prestige but not dominance.

Khandis R Blake.

Biological predictors of human dominance are hotly contested, with far-reaching implications for psychological sex differences and the placement of men and women in the social hierarchy. Most investigations have focused on dominance in men and testosterone, with diminished attention paid to dominance in women and other biological mechanisms. Investigating biological influences on other routes to status attainment popular among women-such as via prestige in addition to dominance-have also been neglected. Here, I examined whether status seeking via prestige and via dominance covaried with fertility probability in a citizen science project spanning 14 countries and 4 world regions. Across 4,179 observations, participants tracked their menstrual cycle characteristics, motivation for prestige and dominance, dominance contest outcomes, and three domains of self-esteem. Self-esteem is predicted by status within a group and helps individuals navigate social hierarchies. Bayesian mixed models controlling for menstruation indicated that the motivation to obtain status via prestige but not dominance peaked when conception was most likely, as did dominance contest losses and two self-esteem domains. Fertility appears to reorient female psychology toward prestige-based strategies to success, enhancing women's desire for social capital through influence and admiration but not through fear, coercion, or intimidation. These insights fundamentally advance the understanding of the biological correlates of status seeking among women. They further suggest that fertility motivates not only mating competition but gaining rank and positive regard in social hierarchies.

Keywords: dominance; fertility; menstrual cycle; prestige; status

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2205451119

J Soc Pers Relat. 2022 Nov;39(11): 3204-3227

Relationship difficulties and "technoference" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Giulia Zoppolat, Francesca Righetti, Rhonda N Balzarini, María Alonso-Ferres, Betul Urganci, David L Rodrigues, Anik Debrot, Juthatip Wiwattanapantuwong, Christoffer Dharma, Peilian Chi, Johan C Karremans, Dominik Schoebi, Richard B Slatcher.

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people's lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies (N = 3271) using repeated measure and longitudinal approaches, we found that people who experienced COVID-19 related challenges (i.e., lockdown, reduced face-to-face interactions, boredom, or worry) also reported greater self and partner phone use (Study 1) and time spent on social media (Study 2), and subsequently experienced more conflict and less satisfaction in their romantic relationship. The findings provide insight into the struggles people faced in their relationships during the pandemic and suggest that the increase in screen time - a rising phenomenon due to the migration of many parts of life online - may be a challenge for couples.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; phubbing; relationship satisfaction; romantic relationships; social media; technoference

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221093611