Perceptions of inferred parental ability through sexually dimorphic facial features

In addition to providing robust cues diagnostic of prospective mates' heritable fitness, various physical features could be similarly utilized in inferring individuals' parental abilities. This study sought to explore how variations in sexually dimorphic facial features inform perceptions of social targets as motivated to provide parental care. American undergraduates (N = 244) viewed a series of 12 total male and female faces manipulated at varying degrees of sex-typicality (i.e., masculinized versus feminized versus unaltered controls) on a within-subjects basis, and rated the perceived motivation of each target to nurture and protect a child using items derived from the Parental Care and Tenderness Scale. Female targets were perceived as more motivated by parental care than male targets, F(1, 240) = 14.86, p < .001, η_p² = 0.058, whereas male targets were perceived as specifically motivated to protect offspring, F(1, 240) = 177.32, p < .001, η_p² = 0.425. Feminized targets were additionally perceived as more motivated by nurturance, though such inferences were apparent for both male and female targets, F(1, 240) = 7.36, p < .001, η_p² = 0.058. Findings represent an understanding of perceivers use of functional heuristics of sexual dimorphism in identifying optimal parents.     

Examining how aspects of vocational privilege relate to living a calling

The current study examined how aspects of vocational privilege directly – and indirectly via work meaning and career commitment – related to living a calling. With an economically diverse sample of 361 employed adults, both social class and work volition were found to moderately to strongly correlate with work meaning, career commitment, and living a calling. We used a structural equation model and found career commitment and work meaning to significantly predict living a calling and fully mediate the link between work volition and living a calling. Additionally, social class related to work meaning and career commitment via work volition. Findings suggest that the links between social class, work volition, and living a calling may be explained by individuals working in jobs they are committed to and that are meaningful, and that work volition may represent the gateway from social class to the experience of fulfilling work. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Does the dark side of a calling exist? Examining potential negative effects

The present studies examined the potential dark side of perceiving and living a calling with diverse samples of employed adults. In Study 1, living a calling and life meaning were found to suppress the relation between perceiving a calling and life satisfaction, resulting in these variables being significantly, negatively related. This suggests that perceiving a calling may predict decreased well-being when it is not lived out and does not provide meaning. In Study 2, participants living a calling did not experience greater burnout, workaholism, or organizational exploitation. Additionally, counter to hypotheses, living a calling was found to be a significant buffer in the relation of burnout/exploitation and job satisfaction. Specifically, the slope of the relation between living a calling and job satisfaction was more pronounced with individuals experiencing high levels of burnout/exploitation. These findings suggest that living a calling may help individuals in difficult working conditions maintain job satisfaction.     

The development and flexibility of gaze alternations in bonobos and chimpanzees

Infants’ early gaze alternations are one of their first steps towards a sophisticated understanding of the social world. This ability, to gaze alternate between an object of interest and another individual also attending to that object, has been considered foundational to the development of many complex social‐cognitive abilities, such as theory of mind and language. However, to understand the evolution of these abilities, it is important to identify whether and how gaze alternations are used and develop in our closest living relatives, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Here, we evaluated the development of gaze alternations in a large, developmental sample of bonobos (N = 17) and chimpanzees (N = 35). To assess the flexibility of ape gaze alternations, we tested whether they produced gaze alternations when requesting food from a human who was either visually attentive or visually inattentive. Similarly to human infants, both bonobos and chimpanzees produced gaze alternations, and did so more frequently when a human communicative partner was visually attentive. However, unlike humans, who gaze alternate frequently from early in development, chimpanzees did not begin to gaze alternate frequently until adulthood. Bonobos produced very few gaze alternations, regardless of age. Thus, it may be the early emergence of gaze alternations, as opposed gaze alternations themselves, that is derived in the human lineage. The distinctively early emergence of gaze alternations in humans may be a critical underpinning for the development of complex human social‐cognitive abilities.     

Perceived Rejection in Personality Psychopathology: The Role of Attachment and Gender

Prior research suggests that individuals with higher rates of personality psychopathology are more likely to endorse insecure attachment patterns which can lead to stronger reactions towards perceived rejection. This study investigated how attachment style and gender moderate the strength of the association between personality psychopathology and reactions to perceived rejection. To examine the role of attachment and gender in the relationship between personality psychopathology and reactions to perceived rejection, an undergraduate sample of 150 students, as well as an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) sample of 278 individuals, completed various personality and attachment self-report measures and watched video clips addressing rejection from parents, peers, and romantic partners. Multivariate analyses of variance and moderation effects suggested that attachment patterns inconsistently moderate maladaptive reactions to rejection, and that gender moderates the relationship between personality psychopathology and externalizing reactions to rejection. Specifically, men with more pronounced Antagonism and Psychoticism trait facets demonstrated a higher propensity towards externalizing and internalizing reactions to rejection than women in these domains.

     

COVID-19 Impact Battery: Development and Validation

In addition to impacting the physical health of millions of Americans, the novel-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a significant psychological stressor due to both the threat of the illness itself and the mitigation strategies used to contain the spread. To facilitate understanding of the impact of COVID-19, validated measures are needed. Using a stepwise procedure in line with best-practice measurement procedures, the current report summarizes the procedures employed to create the COVID-19 Impact Battery (CIB). Two independent samples recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (N?=?175, N?=?642) and a third community sample (N?=?259) were used for reliability and validity testing. Validation procedures yielded a battery consisting of three scales assessing COVID-19 related behaviors, worry, and disability. The behaviors scale contains three subscales assessing stockpiling, cleaning, and avoidance. The worry subscale also contains three subscales assessing health, financial and catastrophic concerns. In addition, we created a short version of the battery (CIB-S) to allow for more flexibility in data collection. In summary, we have provided reliability and validity information for the CIB and CIB-S, demonstrating that these measures can facilitate evaluation of the broad impact of COVID-19 on mental health functioning.

     

Emotion Dysregulation and Military Suicidality Since 2001: A Review of the Literature

Policy makers and researchers have worked to explain the perplexing rise in U.S. military suicides since 2001, with little progress in explaining this widespread phenomenon. This article synthesizes several literatures to highlight the role of emotion dysregulation in military suicidality. After considering advances in suicidal ideation‐to‐action frameworks and the factors that contribute to the prevalence of emotion dysregulation in the modern U.S. military, it explores how military service provides for two distinct circumstances in which such emotion dysregulation may facilitate the transition from suicidal ideation to behavior. The first circumstance is high distress tolerance, wherein the effects of disproportionately high rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among service‐members may increase vulnerability to suicidal behavior. The second circumstance is preexisting acquired capability with lethal means paired with executive functioning degradation. Empirically associated with military environments, such degradation may undermine the effectiveness of top‐down emotion regulation strategies—thereby allowing acquired familiarity with lethal means to assist the transition from suicidal ideation to action. Thus, emotion dysregulation’s unique relationship with the U.S. military may help to explain the powerful correlation between service and suicide since 2001—suggesting that enhancing emotion regulation skills may present a key leverage point for effectively addressing the issue.