中学生时间洞察力特质与健康行为选择内隐偏好：未来情景性思维的作用

本研究采用经典内隐联想测验任务,研究了现在享乐、现在宿命和未来三种时间洞察力特质中学生的健康行为选择内隐偏好以及未来情景性思维在时间洞察力类型与健康行为选择内隐偏好中的调节作用。结果发现：未来特质中学生的健康行为选择内隐偏好高于现在享乐和现在宿命特质中学生;未来情景性思维水平在中学生时间洞察力类型与健康行为选择内隐偏好的关系中起调节作用,即未来情景性思维显著提高现在享乐和未来特质中学生的健康行为选择内隐偏好,而对现在宿命特质的作用不显著。本研究的发现表明未来时间洞察力特质是中学生选择健康行为的积极因素;未来情景性思维能促进现在享乐和未来时间洞察力特质中学生的健康行为选择内隐偏好。     

亲缘线索影响择偶复制性别差异的实验研究

本研究通过一个实验,考查自我相似面孔这一亲缘线索对择偶复制的影响,结果,面孔自我相似水平与被试性别交互作用显著。对交互作用进行简单效应检验,结果,对男性被试而言,面孔自我相似水平差异显著,男性被试在自我相似面孔条件下表现出更多的择偶复制。对女性被试而言,面孔自我相似水平差异不显著。对上述性别差异进行了讨论,并对"性印刻"理论所解释的现象提出了另外的解释视角。     

跨期选择的认知机制与神经基础

跨期选择是指个体对发生在不同时间的成本与收益进行权衡的决策过程。跨期选择的计算模型从经济学的角度用数学模型来建构时间折扣函数,而认知成分模型则从心理学的角度来研究跨期选择中的心理效应与认知成分。跨期选择的神经基础有三种不同的研究取向：双机制加工取向、单机制加工取向、自我控制取向。未来研究应该在跨期选择的认知机制、神经通路及运行机制、跨期选择的应用,以及从进化的角度对人与动物的跨期选择行为进行更深入的研究。     

未来配偶偏爱的特征——选择长期配偶与短期配偶的条件

该研究中被试分配有限“配偶币”来抉择与理想配偶标准相符合的性交往对象。首先,该研究重复验证了Li 等人 (2002) 和Kenrick (2006)的发现,男性理想的长期配偶需要外表出众,而女性理想的长期配偶需要社会地位较高;两性理想的短期配偶都必须外表出众。其次,两性所投射出的理想自我与潜在配偶偏好的特征一致,研究发现,长期性交往条件下,男性需要具有较高社会地位,女性需要外表出众;短期性交往条件下,男性和女性都需要外表出众。评价潜在配偶的机制与评价现有配偶的机制可能是两种受到选择的不同的心理机制。     

选择与坚持:跨期选择与延迟满足之比较

做出选择与坚持选择是决策活动的两个重要阶段。跨期选择源于经济学领域对成人对发生在不同时间点的结果"做出选择"过程的研究;延迟满足则源于心理学领域对儿童为获得未来较大收益而抵制当前诱惑的"坚持选择"过程的研究。二者均致力于研究与时间相关的决策活动,从不同视角关注个体的冲动性与自我控制,但鲜见学者对二者异同的系统比较。本文着重从研究方法、认知机制与神经基础入手探讨了二者的异同,冀为两个研究领域协同发展、共同促进人类远见的培养与实践提供科学的理论支持。     

自主选择偏好：表现、机制与应用

自主选择偏好指当面临自主选择或委托他人选择时, 人们总是偏好自主选择, 即使为此付出代价也在所不惜。自主选择偏好可能有过度自信、控制幻觉和模糊厌恶的原因, 但更多可能源于自主选择本身承载了某种内在价值。奖赏系统(纹状体、内侧前额叶)的神经活动是其关键的神经基础, 同时自主选择也受认知调控系统的调节。未来研究应在社会情景下揭示自主选择偏好的作用机制和调控因素, 并探索它在群体间的平衡机制, 以增进个体幸福和群体利益。     

娃娃脸效应：对婴儿面孔的偏好及过度泛化

娃娃脸效应是指由婴儿面孔特征(或婴儿图式)所引发的普遍、进化的社会认知反应, 不仅包括对婴儿面孔的偏好性反应—— 如优先注意、关怀和照料的冲动, 还包括对于具备婴儿图式的成年人、动物甚至非生命物体的泛化性反应, 即认为这些对象具有与婴儿相似的特质并对其产生相应的态度和行为。娃娃脸效应的表现、影响因素及神经机制的相关研究证明了人类对于婴儿面孔特征的偏好性反应是一种本能释放机制, 并为进化心理学中的亲代投资及性别选择理论提供了佐证。娃娃脸效应的文化差异以及实践应用可能是这一领域未来研究的主要方向。     

从进化论视角看自我面孔识别加工

进化心理学家推测,自我认知是一组沿着不同进化历程发展起来的认知加工能力。史前人类的早期,自我面孔识别依赖于延展我的加工。由于我们对自我认知、自我意识的神经机制还知之不多,而它们对于理解人类行为复杂性又极其重要。自我面孔作为个体最显著的自我标识,可以作为延展我、私密我、概念我加工的独特刺激,对于揭示自我认知加工的机制具有重要作用。     

面孔空想性错视及其神经机制

面孔空想性错视, 是指在不存在面孔的物体或抽象图案上看到面孔, 例如在月球表面看到面孔。它受到自下而上信息与自上而下加工的共同影响。近年来, 研究者通过行为实验、事件相关电位技术以及脑成像技术对不同的空想性错视影响因素进行研究。结果发现, 面孔空想性错视的产生取决于刺激是否包含类似面孔结构, 内部面孔模板是否能与当前刺激匹配, 以及有无面孔相关背景。同时也受到个体差异与情绪状态影响。脑成像研究发现, 在发生空想性错视时, 来自额叶区与枕叶视觉区的信息会在FFA进行整合。未来研究可以致力于探索面孔空想性错视中个体差异的行为与神经机制, 以及不同类型的自上而下调节之间的相互影响及其神经机制。     

面孔吸引力在认知过程中的作用及其神经机制

面孔吸引力是与进化有关的重要信息。面孔吸引力能被快速的感知,进而影响其它认知加工。近年来,学者在注意、时间知觉、学习、记忆和决策五个方面对面孔吸引力在认知过程中的作用及其神经机制做了大量研究。现有研究存在的争议主要集中于在相似的实验任务中面孔吸引力所诱发的行为反应或神经活动不同。而且以往研究在内容、技术手段和刺激材料等方面还存在可改进或扩展之处。未来研究应更多使用fMRI技术对面孔吸引力影响认知过程的脑机制进行深入探讨。     

A Comparison of the Neurotic Tendencies of Students of Different Racial Ancestry in Hawaii

ABSTRACT

Research has shown that altruism plays a role in mate choice, and recent studies suggest it is most important for long-term relationships. This study examined whether altruism is preferred for long-term relationships for both males and females. This was achieved using two versions of the Mate Preferences Towards Altruistic Traits (MPAT) scale that assessed preferences for short-term and long-term relationships. Both males and females significantly preferred altruistic mates for long-term relationships, and the size of this preference was greater than for other traits in mate choice. This provides support for previous findings that state that altruism conveys information about an individual's partner/parenting qualities or good character.     

Altruism in social networks: Evidence for a ‘kinship premium’

Why and under what conditions are individuals altruistic to family and friends in their social networks? Evolutionary psychology suggests that such behaviour is primarily the product of adaptations for kin‐ and reciprocal altruism, dependent on the degree of genetic relatedness and exchange of benefits, respectively. For this reason, individuals are expected to be more altruistic to family members than to friends: whereas family members can be the recipients of kin and reciprocal altruism, friends can be the recipients of reciprocal altruism only. However, there is a question about how the effect of kinship is implemented at the proximate psychological level. One possibility is that kinship contributes to some general measure of relationship quality (such as ‘emotional closeness’), which in turn explains altruism. Another possibility is that the effect of kinship is independent of relationship quality. The present study tests between these two possibilities. Participants (N= 111) completed a self‐report questionnaire about their willingness to be altruistic, and their emotional closeness, to 12 family members and friends at different positions in their extended social networks. As expected, altruism was greater for family than friends, and greater for more central layers of the network. Crucially, the results showed that kinship made a significant unique contribution to altruism, even when controlling for the effects of emotional closeness. Thus, participants were more altruistic towards kin than would be expected if altruism was dependent on emotional closeness alone – a phenomenon we label a ‘kinship premium’. These results have implications for the ongoing debate about the extent to which kin relations and friendships are distinct kinds of social relationships, and how to measure the ‘strength of ties’ in social networks.     

Mate choice decisions: the role of facial beauty

For most people, facial beauty appears to play a prominent role in choosing a mate. Evidence from research on facial attractiveness indicates that physical beauty is a sexually selected trait mediated, in part, by pubertal facial hormone markers that signal important biological information about the displayer. Such signals would be ineffective if they did not elicit appropriate cognitive and/or emotional responses in members of the opposite sex. In this article, I argue that the effectiveness of these hormonal displays varies with perceivers' brains, which have been organized by the degree of steroid hormone exposure in the uterus, and activated by varying levels of circulating steroids following puberty. I further propose that the methodology used for examining mate choice decisions has general applicability for determining how cognitive and emotional evaluations enter into decision processes.     

Two Sides of the Same Coin? Viewing Altruism and Aggression Through the Adaptive Lens of Kinship

Are altruism and aggression polar opposites, or are they two sides of the same coin? In this review, the authors examine the evolved biological roots of these behaviors and focus on the psychology of kinship and how it can serve to bridge both behaviors. Drawing on inclusive fitness theory ( Hamilton, 1964 ), the kinship, acceptance, and rejection model of altruism and aggression (KARMAA; Webster, 2008 ), and a sociofunctional threat‐based approach to prejudice ( Cottrell & Neuberg, 2005 ), the authors propose that altruism and aggression can be viewed as two sides of the same coin depending on context and perspective. For example, a mother bear protecting her cubs by attacking a predator may be simultaneously exhibiting an act of altruism and aggression. After offering some empirical support for their view, the authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of viewing altruism and aggression as related constructs at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup levels.     

Sexually dimorphic preference for altruism in the opposite sex according to recipient

Sexual selection may affect human altruistic behaviour. Evolutionary psychology predicts that human mate preference reflects sexual selection. We investigated sex differences in preference for opposite‐sex altruism according to recipient because the reasons for altruistic behaviour differ according to the relationship between actor and recipient. We employed the Self‐Report Altruism Scale Distinguished by the Recipient, which was newly developed to evaluate altruism among Japanese undergraduates. We asked participants to evaluate preferences for each item based on the recipient of the altruistic behaviour (family members, friends or acquaintances, and strangers). Preference for opposite‐sex altruism differed according to recipient, gender of the participant, and relationship type, and several significant interactions were observed among these factors. We suggest that whereas women use a potential partner's altruism towards strangers as a costly signal of their resource‐holding potential when choosing a mate, they consider altruism towards family when they are in a long‐term relationship to ensure that resources are not allocated to non‐relatives.     

Do humans prefer altruistic mates? Testing a link between sexual selection and altruism towards non‐relatives

Humans are often seen as unusual in displaying altruistic behaviour towards non‐relatives. Here we outline and test a hypothesis that human altruistic traits evolved as a result of sexual selection. We develop a psychometric scale to measure mate preference towards altruistic traits (the MPAT scale). We then seek evidence of whether mate choice on the basis of altruistic traits is present and find it in one study (N=170 couples). We also predict that a stronger female MPAT, as measured by responses to the MPAT scale, will be expressed – a result found in all three studies (Ns=380, 340, and 398). Both sets of results are consistent with the hypothesized link between human altruism towards non‐relatives and sexual selection.     

Facial symmetry and the perception of beauty

Evolutionary, as well as cultural, pressures may contribute to our perceptions of facial attractiveness. Biologists predict that facial symmetry should be attractive, because it may signal mate quality. We tested the prediction that facial symmetry is attractive by manipulating the symmetry of individual faces and observing the effect on attractiveness, and by examining whether natural variations in symmetry (between faces) correlated with perceived attractiveness. Attractiveness increased when we increased symmetry, and decreased when we reduced symmetry, in individual faces (Experiment 1), and natural variations in symmetry correlated significantly with attractiveness (Experiments 1 and 1A). Perfectly symmetric versions, made by blending the normal and mirror images of each face, were preferred to less symmetric versions of the same faces (even when those versions were also blends) (Experiments 1 and 2). Similar results were found when subjects judged the faces on appeal as a potential life partner, suggesting that facial symmetry may affect human mate choice. We conclude that facial symmetry is attractive and discuss the possibility that this preference for symmetry may be biologically based.     

Evidence for kinship information contained in the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) face

The ability to recognize kin is an important social skill for primates. Humans are adept at using facial similarity to recognize likely kin, and there is evidence that nonhuman primates are also able to use facial similarity to make judgments about kinship. However, if and how nonhuman primate faces actually contain kinship information remains unclear. To test whether there is objectively measurable facial similarity in related nonhuman primates, we compared facial measurements from related (paternal half-sisters) and unrelated adult female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Facial measurements were first summarized into 5 factors using a principal component analysis. Differences in these factors between the faces of related macaques were compared with differences between the faces of random unrelated macaques and of age-matched unrelated macaques. The difference in facial measurements between related macaques was significantly smaller than the difference in facial measurements of either group of unrelated macaques, constituting an objective measure of facial similarity in macaque kin. These results indicate that kinship information is contained in the rhesus macaque face and suggest that nonhuman primates may rely in part on facial similarity to distinguish kin.     

Heterosexual romantic couples mate assortatively for facial symmetry, but not masculinity

Preferences for partners with symmetric and sex-typical faces are well documented and considered evidence for the good-genes theory of mate choice. However, it is unclear whether preferences for these traits drive the real-world selection of mates. In two samples of young heterosexual couples from the United Kingdom (Study 1) and the United States (Study 2), the authors found assortment for facial symmetry but not for sex typicality or independently rated attractiveness. Within-couple similarity in these traits did not predict relationship duration or quality, although female attractiveness and relationship duration were negatively correlated among couples in which the woman was the more attractive partner. The authors conclude that humans may mate assortatively on facial symmetry, but this remains just one of the many physical and nonphysical traits to which people likely attend when forming romantic partnerships. This is also the first evidence that preferences for symmetry transfer from the laboratory to a real-world setting.     

Kinship and altruism: A cross‐cultural experimental study

Humans are characterized by an unusual level of prosociality. Despite this, considerable indirect evidence suggests that biological kinship plays an important role in altruistic behaviour. All previous reports of the influence of kin selection on human altruism have, however, used correlational (rather than experimental) designs, or imposed only a hypothetical or negligible time cost on participants. Since these research designs fail either to control for confounding variables or to meet the criteria required as a test of Hamilton's rule for kin selection (that the altruist pays a true cost), they fail to establish unequivocally whether kin selection plays a role. We show that individuals from two different cultures behave in accordance with Hamilton's rule by acting more altruistically (imposing a higher physical cost upon themselves) towards more closely related individuals. Three possible sources of confound were ruled out: generational effects, sexual attraction and reciprocity. Performance on the task however did not exhibit a perfect linear relationship with relatedness, which might reflect either the intrusion of other variables (e.g. cultural differences in the way kinship is costed) or that our behavioural measure is insufficiently sensitive to fine‐tuned differences in the way individuals view their social world. These findings provide the first unequivocal experimental evidence that kinship plays a role in moderating altruistic behaviour. Kinship thus represents a baseline against which individuals pitch other criteria (including reciprocity, prosociality, obligation and a moral sense) when deciding how to behave towards others.