Sexual dimorphism and attractiveness in Asian and White faces

Marriages between White men and Asian women are over twice as frequent as those between White women and Asian men. Recent research has proposed that this imbalance may be explained by the finding that, on average, White men are perceived as more attractive than Asian men, and Asian women are perceived as more attractive than White women, possibly because Asian faces are perceived as more feminine than White faces. Here, we explore whether Asian faces are perceived as more feminine than White faces. Thirty-five Malaysian Chinese (20 male) and 30 Australian White (12 male) participants manipulated 100 face photographs (50 Asian; 50 White; half male) on a masculinity/femininity axis to optimize attractive appearance. As predicted, White women’s faces were increased more in femininity than Asian women’s faces, and White men’s faces were feminized more than Asian men’s faces to optimize attractiveness. These findings suggest that White faces are perceived as more masculine than Asian faces.     

How a perceived status change increase consumers’ tendency toward consumption through double psychological mechanisms

While previous research has demonstrated that status significantly affects consumer behaviour, most studies have examined objective status rather than perceived status. The present article, therefore, aims to examine how a perceived change in status affects consumers’ status consumption as well as the underlying psychological mechanisms for this behaviour. Study 1 manipulates participants’ perceived status change and measures their tendencies toward status consumption. Results show that both participants undergoing status improvement and those perceiving a threat to their status are more inclined towards status consumption than participants in a control condition. Study 2 manipulates participants’ perceived status change and measures their self‐presentation motivation, self‐compensation motivation, and status consumption tendency. A series of mediation analyses shows that self‐presentation, rather than self‐compensation, mediates the positive effect of status improvement on consumers’ status consumption and that self‐compensation, rather than self‐presentation, mediates the positive effect of status threat on consumers’ status consumption. Results of our studies suggest that consumers who perceive status improvement seek status consumption for self‐presentation purposes, while consumers who perceive status threat seek status consumption for self‐compensation. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical contribution of this research and offering practical suggestions regarding product marketing.     

Lesson of emotions in the family: The role of emotional intelligence in the relation between filial piety and life satisfaction among Taiwanese college students

This study investigated the relationships between reciprocal filial piety beliefs, emotional intelligence, and life satisfaction among Taiwanese young adults. A total of 481 college students from Taiwan were recruited for the study. Structural equation modelling was employed to analyze the data. The analysis produced the following results. First, reciprocal filial piety was positively related to all of the four types of emotional intelligence: self‐emotional appraisal (SEA), others' emotional appraisal (OEA), regulation of emotion (ROE), and use of emotion (UOE). Second, both ROE and UOE had a positive association with life satisfaction whereas SEA and OEA had a nonsignificant association with life satisfaction. Third, the two types of emotional intelligence, ROE and UOE, mediated the relation between reciprocal filial piety and young adults' life satisfaction. The findings suggest that reciprocal filial piety, representing high‐quality interaction between children and parents, can facilitate individuals' ability to control and use their emotions, which in turn improves their life satisfaction.     

Proportional Reasoning in 5- to 6-Year-Olds

There have been mixed results in studies investigating proportional reasoning in young children. The current study aimed to examine whether providing visual scaling cues and structuring the reasoning process can improve proportional reasoning in 5- to 6-year-old children. In a series of computerized tasks, children compared the sweetness of 2 mixtures. Each mixture was represented by a juice rectangle stacked on top of a water rectangle. Two rectangles shared the same width but were of same or different heights. The mixtures were scaled by either changing their widths or their heights. In Experiment 1, children’s performance was poor when judging equivalent proportions. In Experiment 2, the 2 mixtures were individually previewed to encourage individual estimation of each mixture and thereby allow participants to strategically reason about the relative proportions. Children performed significantly better than in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, children explicitly rated the sweetness of each preview mixture. Performance did not improve relative to Experiment 2. Throughout all 3 experiments, children were more sensitive in detecting equivalence when scaling occurred along the width compared with the height, demonstrating the effectiveness of visual-spatial scaling cues. Together, these experiments suggested that visuospatial scaling cues and structuring the 2-step reasoning process using previews can improve 5- to 6-year-olds’ proportional reasoning with certain limitations.     

A consumer-grade LCD monitor for precise visual stimulation

Because they were used for decades to present visual stimuli in psychophysical and psychophysiological studies, cathode ray tubes (CRTs) used to be the gold standard for stimulus presentation in vision research. Recently, as CRTs have become increasingly rare in the market, researchers have started using various types of liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitors as a replacement for CRTs. However, LCDs are typically not cost-effective when used in vision research and often cannot reach the full capacity of a high refresh rate. In this study we measured the temporal and spatial characteristics of a consumer-grade LCD, and the results suggested that a consumer-grade LCD can successfully meet all the technical demands in vision research. The tested LCD, working in a flash style like that of CRTs, demonstrated perfect consistency for initial latencies across locations, yet showed poor spatial uniformity and sluggishness in reaching the requested luminance within the first frame. After these drawbacks were addressed through software corrections, the candidate monitor showed performance comparable or superior to that of CRTs in terms of both spatial and temporal homogeneity. The proposed solution can be used as a replacement for CRTs in vision research.     

Dancing on the Razor’s Edge: How Top-Level Women Leaders Manage the Paradoxical Tensions between Agency and Communion

Research documents a heightened need for women leaders to be perceived as both agentic and communal and to deal with the incongruity between communal gender-role expectations and agentic leader-role expectations. However, paradoxical tensions exist between agency and communion because they are associated with distinct, and at times conflictual, cognition, behavior, and motivation. How women leaders manage these tensions remains under-explored. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted an inductive study based on interviews with 64 U.S. women executives from various industries. Drawing from a paradox lens, we first identified four pairs of apparently contradictory agentic and communal tendencies that are interwoven in women leaders’ narratives: demanding and caring, authoritative and participative, self-advocating and other-serving, and distant and approachable. We also identified five mechanisms through which women leaders bring together agency and communion: situational accentuating, sequencing, overlapping, complementing, and reframing. Our findings highlight the underlying mechanisms and constructive routes through which women leaders juxtapose agency and communion to cope with role incongruity. They also offer guidance to women leaders and leadership-development practitioners in expanding mental models and behavioral repertoires to deal with the challenges stemming from tensions between agency and communion.     

Short-range ordering of heavy-element columns in nickel-based superalloys

In order to obtain comprehensive performance, heavy elements were added into superalloys for solid-solution hardening. It is found that, rather than adopting random distributions, the heavy atoms prefer to form short-range ordered columns with heavy-element stripes 1–2 nm in length. This is supported by our ab initio calculations. Owing to the strong bonding strength between the refractory elements and nickel atoms, this short-range ordering may be beneficial to the mechanical performances of superalloys.     

Peer Victimization and Substance Use in Early Adolescence: Influences of Deviant Peer Affiliation and Parental Knowledge

Being the target of peer victimization contributes to alcohol and cigarette use during early adolescence. This 1-year longitudinal study extended the current literature by investigating the potential links between peer victimization and alcohol and cigarette initiation among a sample of 723 youths recruited from three middle schools in Southern China. We proposed a moderated mediation model to examine whether peer victimization is indirectly related to substance use via deviant peer affiliation, and whether the strength of this mediation is moderated by the level of parental knowledge for both genders. All participants self-reported using questionnaires to assess peer victimization, deviant peer affiliation, parental knowledge, and substance use. The results revealed that peer victimization was indirectly associated with increased alcohol use via deviant peer affiliation for both genders. However, deviant peer affiliation mediated the impact of peer victimization on trying cigarettes for only boys. Moreover, parental knowledge acted as a protective role for increases in alcohol use for girls, but not for boys. These findings highlight the potential role of deviant peer affiliation to explain the relationship between peer victimization and substance use, and provide important implications for addressing the adverse consequences of peer victimization.