When rejection stings: how self-esteem constrains relationship-enhancement processes

Three experiments examined how needs for acceptance might constrain low versus high self-esteem people's capacity to protect their relationships in the face of difficulties. The authors led participants to believe that their partner perceived a problem in their relationship. They then measured perceptions of the partner's acceptance, partner enhancement, and closeness. Low but not high self-esteem participants read too much into problems, seeing them as a sign that their partner's affections and commitment might be waning. They then derogated their partner and reduced closeness. Being less sensitive to rejection, however, high self-esteem participants affirmed their partner in the face of threat. Ironically, chronic needs for acceptance may result in low self-esteem people seeing signs of rejection where none exist, needlessly weakening attachments.     

The power of the majority: Social conformity in sexual harassment punishment selection

In his famous social conformity experiments in the 1950's, Asch found 75% of participants conformed to confederates’ incorrect answers at least once, with an overall conformity rate of 32%, revealing that humans are highly likely to conform to group behavior even when that behavior is clearly wrong. The purpose of this study was to determine if the social conformity effect generalized to scenarios involving sexual harassment punishment selections in the workplace. Participants read various workplace sexual harassment scenarios and then witnessed four confederates chose one of three types of punishments (verbal warning, 1-week suspension, or termination). The confederates stated aloud punishments that were either appropriate (i.e., similar to normative data) or inappropriate (i.e., deviating either too harshly or leniently to normative data). Participants then provided their punishments selection aloud, and confidentially rated their decision confidence. We found an overall conformity rate of 46%, as 82.67% conformed at least once to harsh or lenient punishment selections. Participants who conformed to incorrect punishment selections exhibited lower levels of decision confidence, indicating that conformity may have been due more to social normative influence. The current results imply the social responses of others (i.e., coworkers, supervisors, or HR) can impact responses to sexual harassment. The results imply that social influence may be a significant contributing factor in mislabeling, misreporting, or inappropriately punishing sexual harassment in some organizations.     

Concentrating on beauty: sexual selection and sociospatial memory

In three experiments, location memory for faces was examined using a computer version of the matching game Concentration. Findings suggested that physical attractiveness led to more efficient matching for female faces but not for male faces. Study 3 revealed this interaction despite allowing participants to initially see, attend to, and match the attractive male faces in the first few turns. Analysis of matching errors suggested that, compared to other targets, attractive women were less confusable with one another. Results are discussed in terms of the different functions that attractiveness serves for men and women.     

When rejection by one fosters aggression against many: Multiple-victim aggression as a consequence of social rejection and perceived groupness

Two experiments examined the hypothesis that social rejection and perceived groupness function together to produce multiple-victim incidents of aggression. When a rejecter’s group membership is salient during an act of rejection, the rejectee ostensibly associates the rejecter’s group with rejection and retaliates against the group. Both experiments manipulated whether an aggregate of three persons appeared as separate individuals or members of an entity-like group and whether one of those persons rejected the participant. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants who experienced both rejection and perceived groupness behaved more aggressively against the aggregate (Experiment 1) and evidenced less favorable affective associations toward the aggregate (Experiment 2) than did participants who did not experience both rejection and perceived groupness.     

When being disadvantaged grows into vengeance: The effects of asymmetry of interest and social rejection in social dilemmas

In public good dilemmas, group members often differ in the extent to which they benefit from provision of the public good (asymmetry of interest). In the current paper, we argue that people may readily accept such financial differences in interest when their social needs are met by being accepted by the others. When people are socially rejected, however, members having a low rather than a high interest in the public good may display negative emotional and retributive reactions. This reasoning was supported by the findings of a first experimental study in which we manipulated people's interest in the public good and social rejection. These effects were replicated in a second experimental study and it was further shown that this two‐way interaction between social rejection and interest in the public good was moderated by people's social value orientation. The negative reactions to low interest (vs. high interest) in the public good when being socially rejected were especially prominent among group members with a proself orientation. Taken together, the current studies illustrate the importance of studying how financial and social needs interact to determine emotional and retributive actions in social dilemmas. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When sex primes love: subliminal sexual priming motivates relationship goal pursuit

The studies reported here provide, for the first time, experimental evidence to support the claim that sexual interest and arousal are associated with motives to form and maintain a close relationship. In five studies, sex-related representations were cognitively primed, either subliminally or supraliminally, by exposing participants to erotic words or pictures as compared with neutral words or pictures. The effects of "sexual priming" on the tendencies to initiate and maintain a close relationship were assessed using various cognitive-behavioral and self-report measures. Supporting the hypotheses, subliminal but not supraliminal exposure to sexual primes increased (a) willingness to self-disclose, (b) accessibility of intimacy-related thoughts, (c) willingness to sacrifice for one's partner, and (d) preference for using positive conflict-resolution strategies. The article discusses implications of these findings for the role of sex in close relationships and offers a conceptualization of possible relational motives of the sexual behavioral system.     

女性食物选择的演化视角：基于性选择过程的理论探讨

性选择在人类心理、行为等表型的演化过程中扮演了重要角色,但其对女性食物选择的影响却相对较少被关注。性选择塑造了男女不同的择偶策略,男性择偶时对女性外在吸引力的关注使得女性更加重视身材等外在吸引力信息。而女性身材与饮食的密切联系,进一步提示性选择过程应该会对女性的食物选择产生影响。以之为基础,梳理求偶动机激活可能引发的女性食物选择的变化,以及女性生理期不同阶段在食物选择上的变异,有助于了解性选择过程对女性食物选择的影响。未来研究中,进一步从行为、激素、脑等不同层面剖析对应影响及涉及机制,对该领域的长远发展有重要意义。     

Kantian Ethics: After Darwin

In this article I reevaluate Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy from a post–Darwinian perspective. Taking an evolutionary approach to human reasoning and incorporating some recent work on the science of the emotions, I argue that the Kantian bifurcation of reason and emotion, which underlies his moral philosophy, is no longer tenable. Kant's practical defense of his ethics as being the only option that can save morality from the dangers posed by naturalism is also considered and rejected. Instead, I argue that an evolutionary view of reason and emotion can provide an adequate ground for morality and explore the possibility and advantages of such an ethics.     

A sexual selection theory longitudinal analysis of sexual segregation and integration in early adolescence

The three objectives in this longitudinal study were motivated by sexual selection theory. The theory specifies the role of sexually segregated groups and the effects of dominance in male groups and relational/indirect aggression in female groups for heterosexual relationships. Using a multi-method, multi-informant, longitudinal design we studied youngsters (N=138) across their first two years of middle school. First, we examined the nature of change in segregation and dating popularity across two years during early adolescence. Second, a model derived from sexual selection theory is tested to explain the ways in which boys and girls are nominated for hypothetical dates (dating popularity). Third, we examined the role of "poke and push courtship" behavior in boys' and girls' dating popularity. Results indicate that although groups did not become more integrated with time, changes in peer group sexual integration co-varied dynamically with dating popularity. Secondly, dominance-related strategies were more important for boys than girls in dating popularity whereas indirect, or relational, aggression strategies were more important for girls than boys. Third, "poke and push courtship" behaviors did not influence peer group integration or dating.     

Saving Face for Darwin: The Functions and Uses of Embarrassment

In this article, we review diverse studies of the antecedents, facial display, and social consequences of embarrassment. These studies indicate that embarrassment serves an appeasement function, reconciling social relations when they have gone awry. We then speculate about how embarrassment is elaborated into more complex social interactions, such as teasing and flirtation. We conclude by raising questions about the blush and embarrassment that await empirical consideration.     

Cooperative selection of movements: The optimal selection model

How one selects a movement when faced with alternative ways of doing a task is a central problem in human motor control. Moving the fingertip a short distance can be achieved with any of an infinite number of combinations of knuckle, wrist, elbow, shoulder, and hip movements. The question therefore arises: how is a unique combination chosen? In our model, choice is achieved by consideration of the similarity between the task requirements and the optimal biomechanical performance of each limb segment. Two variants of the model account for the movements that are selected when subjects freely oscillate the fingertip and when they tap against an obstacle. An important feature of both is that the impulse of collision with an obstacle (as in drumming with the hand or tapping with the finger) is assumed to be controlled in part by aiming for a point beyond the surface being struck. Thus, a force-related control variable may be represented and controlled spatially.     

The sexual responses of sexual sadists

On average, rapists show greater relative genital responses to rape stories than do nonrapists in the laboratory. It has been suggested that this robust group difference is explained by the fact that many rapists are sexually sadistic. It is not clear, however, what the critical cues underlying rapists' genital responses are, because rape stories used in previous research include a mix of sadistic cues of violence and victim injury as well as cues of victim resistance and nonconsent. The present study was conducted to identify the critical cues producing self-identified sadists' sexual responses, and thereby to test sexual sadism as an explanation of rapists' arousal pattern. The present study was also conducted to develop a new phallometric test for sexual sadism for research and clinical applications, given evidence of poor diagnostic reliability and validity. Eighteen self-identified male sadists, 22 men with some sadistic interests who did not meet all of our sadist criteria, and 23 nonsadists (all recruited from the community) were compared in their genital and subjective responses to a new set of stories that disentangle violence/injury cues from resistance/nonconsent cues. The three groups differed in both their genital and subjective responses: using indices of relative responding, sadists responded significantly more to cues of violence/injury than nonsadists and men with some sadistic interests. The group difference for cues of nonconsent was not significant. The results suggest that sexual sadism primarily involves arousal to violence/injury in a sexual context rather than resistance/nonconsent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The Market and Falling Fertility: Why Darwin Needs Help From Polanyi

Darwin said all living things tend to multiply. However, nowadays, maintaining fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1, human beings appear to have opted to let their population shrink. Perplexingly, it occurs while the environment seems to become more suitable for their survival. In solving this puzzle, we get a great help from Polanyi. We proved that people choose to have fewer babies and consequently, usher in depopulation, because by giving them the chance to assess all the expenses necessary for raising children, the market makes the cost clarified increasingly, while the economic benefit from rearing their off-spring remains obscure.