Masculinised brain and romantic jealousy: Examining the association between digit ratio (2D:4D) and between- and within-sex differences

We examined the relationship between second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a correlate of prenatal testosterone exposure, and distress at sexual versus emotional infidelity in hypothetical scenarios of relationship threat. As predicted, a significant negative association was found between 2D:4D and greater distress at sexual infidelity for the whole sample (N = 179, females = 101). While this novel finding supports the view of romantic jealousy as a sexually-dimorphic adaptation, we explore reasons for the relatively weak association and discuss how underlying differences in brain structure could have influenced sex-specific behavioural capacities in romantic jealousy. We suggest a useful direction for future research will be to develop novel methods that facilitate the investigation of implicit emotional, rather than explicit cognitive, processes in response to pair-bond threat.     

American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession

The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate‐level data to investigate (a) population‐level value changes between the pre‐recession (2004–2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008–2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population‐level values with national economic climates over long‐term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate‐level values across 1966–2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual‐level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self‐views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies.     

Living in the Past,Present, and Future: Measuring Temporal Orientation With Language

Temporal orientation refers to individual differences in the relative emphasis one places on the past, present, or future, and it is related to academic, financial, and health outcomes. We propose and evaluate a method for automatically measuring temporal orientation through language expressed on social media. Judges rated the temporal orientation of 4,302 social media messages. We trained a classifier based on these ratings, which could accurately predict the temporal orientation of new messages in a separate validation set (accuracy/mean sensitivity = .72; mean specificity = .77). We used the classifier to automatically classify 1.3 million messages written by 5,372 participants (50% female; ages 13–48). Finally, we tested whether individual differences in past, present, and future orientation differentially related to gender, age, Big Five personality, satisfaction with life, and depressive symptoms. Temporal orientations exhibit several expected correlations with age, gender, and Big Five personality. More future‐oriented people were older, more likely to be female, more conscientious, less impulsive, less depressed, and more satisfied with life; present orientation showed the opposite pattern. Language‐based assessments can complement and extend existing measures of temporal orientation, providing an alternative approach and additional insights into language and personality relationships.     

The persistence of implicit behavioral associations for moms and dads

While the concept of the “new involved father” has gained popularity in the media and academic circles, it is unclear to what extent behavioral expectations of moms and dads today reflect gender equality. Using a Go/No-Go Task, Study 1 examined implicit associations between behavioral images indicative of childcare versus the professional world with (a) parent roles (dads versus moms) and (b) gender categories (males versus females). Both evidenced strong persistence of traditional stereotypes. Moreover, females were more strongly associated with the role mom than males were with dad. In Study 2, individual variation in the strength of these implicit associations predicted differences in judgments of how best to resolve work—family conflicts along traditional stereotypic lines. Implicit associations tying mom to childcare and dad to the professional world likely contribute to greater experienced conflict for women than men in striving to be both a parent and a professional.     

Why some women can feel more,and others less,attractive after exposure to attractive targets: The role of social comparison orientation

As the tendency to compare oneself with others may be associated with the tendency to focus on similarities, we hypothesized that individual differences in social comparison orientation (SCO) may moderate the consequences of upward and downward comparisons. In Study 1, high comparers were found to focus more on similarities than low comparers, suggesting that high comparers are more likely to assimilate in general. In Study 2, SCO was found to be positively associated with mood following exposure to an attractive target, and negatively associated with mood following exposure to a less attractive target. In Studies 2 and 3, SCO was found to be positively associated with self‐evaluations of attractiveness following exposure to an attractive target and negatively associated with self‐evaluations of attractiveness following exposure to a less attractive target. These results indicate that research on the consequences of social comparison must attend to individual differences in SCO. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Objectification Theory Predicts College Women’s Attitudes Toward Cosmetic Surgery

This study investigated cosmetic surgery attitudes within the framework of objectification theory. One hundred predominantly White, British undergraduate women completed self-report measures of impression management, global self-esteem, interpersonal sexual objectification, self-surveillance, body shame, and three components of cosmetic surgery attitudes. As expected, each of the objectification theory variables predicted greater consideration of having cosmetic surgery in the future. Also, as expected, sexual objectification and body shame uniquely predicted social motives for cosmetic surgery, whereas self-surveillance uniquely predicted intrapersonal motives for cosmetic surgery. These findings suggest that women’s acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a way to manipulate physical appearance can be partially explained by the degree to which they view themselves through the lenses of sexual and self-objectification.     

Convergence of Character Strengths in American and Japanese Young Adults

We investigated cultural influences on the distribution of character strengths, gender differences in character strengths, and the relationship of happiness to character strengths. Young adults from the United States (n=1099) and Japan (n=308) completed the English or Japanese versions of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths. American and Japanese showed similar distributions of the 24 strengths measured: Higher strengths included love, humor and kindness, and lesser strengths included prudence, self-regulation, and modesty. Gender differences across cultures were also similar: Females were more likely than males to report strengths of love and kindness, whereas males were more likely to report bravery and creativity. In both samples, associations with happiness were found for zest, hope, curiosity and gratitude. The present study is a first step in an international study of character strengths, and we discuss the ubiquity and variation of character across culture.     

“Strength and Safety in Numbers”: A Theoretical Perspective on Group Influences on Approach and Avoidance Motivation

This paper presents a theoretical framework that advances current understanding of motivational and affective causes and consequences of small group processes and behaviors. Theories on the approach and avoidance systems of motivation state that these systems are active in the presence of potential positive or negative outcomes, respectively. In many instances, groups are associated with rewards and are perceived to facilitate positive outcomes (“strength in numbers”), and are a source of security and thought to reduce the occurrence of negative outcomes (“safety in numbers”). Accordingly, group membership and interaction should impact activation of group members’ approach and avoidance motivation systems. Thus, systematic group influences on mood, information processing, perceptions, attention, and behavior should be expected. The integration of approach and avoidance theories with small group research can potentially broaden our knowledge of the group experience, and lead to a theoretical framework for investigations of goal-directed behaviors in group settings.     

Powerful perceivers, powerless objects: Flexibility of powerholders’ social attention

We argue that the effect of power on social attention is a function of flexible, instrumental information processing that allows the high power perceiver to attain situation specific goals using whatever means are available, including attention. Study 1 assigned powerful participants to more “people-centered” or more “product-centered” goals, and found that people-centered powerholders better individuated low-power targets. Study 2 examined responses by both high- and low-power organization members, and found powerful judges more responsive to organizational goals in setting priorities and using information about the organization than powerless judges. Together, these results suggest that powerholders use social attention, like other resources, in order to advance their ability to fulfill organizational goals.