Enhanced encoding of the co-actor's target stimuli during a shared non-motor task

Task co-representation has been proposed to rely on the motor brain areas’ capacity to represent others’ action plans similarly to one's own. The joint memory (JM) effect suggests that working in parallel with others influences the depth of incidental encoding: Other-relevant items are better encoded than non-task-relevant items. Using this paradigm, we investigated whether task co-representation could also emerge for non-motor tasks. In Experiment 1, we found enhanced recall performance to stimuli relevant to the co-actor also when the participants’ task required non-motor responses (counting the target words) instead of key-presses. This suggests that the JM effect did not depend on simulating the co-actor's motor responses. In Experiment 2, direct visual access to the co-actor and his actions was found to be unnecessary to evoke the JM effect in case of the non-motor, but not in case of the motor task. Prior knowledge of the co-actor's target category is sufficient to evoke deeper incidental encoding. Overall, these findings indicate that the capacity of task co-representation extends beyond the realm of motor tasks: Simulating the other's motor actions is not necessary in this process.     

Belief in a zero-sum game and subjective well-being across 35 countries

Current Psychology - This article presents a short research report on the relationship between perceived antagonism in social relations measured using the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale,...     

A kestrel without hooked beak and talons is not a kestrel for the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio)

Animal Cognition - Birds are strongly motivated to recognize various predators to secure survival and reproductive success. Thus, predator recognition provides a useful tool for the investigation...     

Joking for Gender Equality: Subversive Humor Against Sexism Motivates Collective Action in Men and Women with Weaker Feminist Identity

Sex Roles - Subversive humor has historically been considered a way of protesting, raising awareness, and seeking change. However, to date, no known empirical research has explored the consequences...     

Perceived Humanization by Intimate Partners during Pregnancy Is Associated with fewer Depressive Symptoms,Less Body Dissatisfaction,and Greater Sexual Satisfaction through Reduced Self-Objectification

Sex Roles - Consistent with objectification theory, the primary goal of the present study was to investigate the role of perceived humanization from one’s intimate partner as a predictor of...     

Socialisation Influences on Gender Ideologies of Immigrant and Native Youth in Germany,England, Sweden and the Netherlands

Adolescence is a crucial life course phase for identity formation, and youths’ gender ideologies significantly predict gendered behaviours and longer-term transitions. With Western post-industrial societies becoming more culturally diverse, the present study provides novel cross-nationally comparative evidence on gender socialisation processes among native and immigrant youth in Sweden, Germany, England, and the Netherlands, which vary in gender and migration policies and cultures. In addition to parents’ gender ideologies, the study also considers classmates’ gender ideologies as factors shaping 14-year-old adolescents’ gender ideologies. The analysis draws on 5917 adolescent-parent dyads from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study which we link with country-level gender empowerment measures from the United Nations. Remarkably, with the exception of native female adolescents in England and Germany, parents tend to report slightly more egalitarian beliefs than adolescents across the four countries. OLS regressions show that parents’ and classmates’ gender ideologies correlate significantly with adolescents’ ideologies, with little variation across gender and immigrant groups in all four countries. From a policy and practical point of view, the great similarity in the intergenerational transmission of gender beliefs across diverse family backgrounds as well as cultural and policy contexts seem remarkable.

     

The Relational Burden of Objectification: Exploring How Past Experiences of Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Are Related to Relationship Competencies

Sex Roles - The present study examines the associations between past experiences of interpersonal sexual objectification (ISO) on relationship initiation, social withdrawal, and positive...     

EFFECTS OF ACADEMIC DEGREE AND DISCIPLINE ON RELIGIOUS AND EVOLUTIONARY VIEWS IN CHILE AND COLOMBIA

Relationships between degree/area of academic formation and religious and Darwinian views are controversial. This study aimed to compare the religious beliefs and acceptance of Darwinian evolution between two contrasting South American scientific communities (Chile and Colombia), accounting for different degrees and areas of academic formation. In 2018, 115 last year bachelor students (surveyed as freshmen in 2014 for a previous study) from Chile, and 283 first/last year bachelor students, graduate students, and professors from Colombia, all belonging to biology, chemistry, or physics, were surveyed. Chilean students/faculty were significantly more agnostic/atheist, more accepting of Darwinian evolution, and less creationist than their Colombian counterparts. Academic degree and area differently affected these views in both countries, as only in Chile there was a clear tendency among biologists and physicists with higher degrees to hold less religious and creationist views. Marked differences between the history, socioeconomic contexts, and especially in high school and university curricula of both countries might explain these results.