Drawn towards what others seem to like: Implicit preference for objects and people looked at with a duchenne smile

People tend to like objects that are looked at by others, especially if the person looking at the object expresses a positive emotion. But not all positive emotions are equal. We investigated the effect of third party gazing while expressing subtle positive emotions on perceivers’ subsequent preferences and evaluations of objects and people. In two studies participants saw faces looking at target objects and people either with a Duchenne, a non-Duchenne smile, or a neural expression. Participants first indicated gaze direction and later reported intuitive target preference and evaluated the targets. Results show a preference for target stimuli that were smiled at with a Duchenne smile as opposed to when they were looked at with a non-Duchenne smile or a neutral expression. More explicit evaluations of the target stimuli were not affected by the type of facial expression.     

Who Counts as Human? Antecedents to Androcentric Behavior

People view men as typically human, although some conditions may make this more or less likely. Language has been implicated as one factor, with masculine generic language (e.g., he used neutrally) leading to more androcentrism relative to its alternatives. However, the influence of two types of alternatives (e.g., they vs. he or she) remains unclear. The present study asked 297 male and female online participants from the United States to select typical representations of humanity from a set of White and Black male and female faces. The wording for the concept humanity was manipulated to be either a typical member of mankind, a typical human, or a typical man or woman (or woman or man). Overall, participants selected more White targets. Participants also selected more male targets, but the degree to which that was the case was affected by wording and participant’s gender. Participants, particularly male participants, in the mankind and human wording conditions were more likely to select a male target as representative, whereas in the man or woman condition, participants’ choices did not differ from chance. Thus, androcentric thinking may be more mutable than previously surmised, varying by participants’ gender and by context.     

Infelicitous inter-ritual hospitality

This article focuses on inter-ritual hospitality, ‘where the reciprocal roles of host and guest set the parameters for interaction’ (60). This type of hospitality has the potential to enhance the dialogue between religions; indeed, one may ask whether there can be a greater token of mutual respect and appreciation than that of inviting another to share one’s rituals. In this article, however, I am not interested primarily in the success stories of inter-ritual hospitality that have brought growth and enrichment for the parties involved; rather, I will focus my attention on its infelicitous counterparts. The failure of inter-ritual hospitality is a subject that has been explored very little in interreligious studies, and there is little (ethnographic) documentation on this subject. One could say that inter-ritual failure is virgin territory among interreligious scholars. I will begin to explore some of the issues at stake and examine where inter-ritual hospitality can go wrong. In doing so, I continue and expand the research done by ritual scholars who have focused their attention on infelicitous ritual performances conducted mainly in ‘monoreligious’ settings.     

A longitudinal study of the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and depressed mood among adolescents

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine and test the possible directions of the relationships between leisure-time physical activity and depressed mood.MethodA 10-year longitudinal study with a sample of 924 adolescents was conducted, and data were collected 8 times from the age of 13 years to the age of 23 years. The data were analysed using multivariate latent curve modelling.ResultsLeisure-time physical activity and depressed mood covary inversely through adolescence. However, baseline levels of leisure-time physical activity do not predict later changes in depressed mood, and baseline levels of depressed mood do not predict later changes in leisure-time physical activity.ConclusionChanges in leisure-time physical activity and depressed mood are related, but the results do not provide support for the common assumption that a high early level of physical activity protects against later depressed mood, nor that a high early level of depressed mood acts as a barrier for later physical activity.     

Risk Factors for Learning-Related Behavior Problems at 24 Months of Age: Population-Based Estimates

We used a large sample of singleton children to estimate the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity, gender, additional socio-demographics, gestational and birth factors, and parenting on children’s risk for learning-related behavior problems at 24 months of age. We investigated to what extent these factors increased a child’s risk of displaying inattention, a lack of task persistence, disinterest, non-cooperation, or frustration as he or she completed a series of cognitive and physical tasks with a non-caregiver. Results indicated that boys are about twice as likely as girls to display learning-related behavior problems. Children from lower SES households are about twice as likely as those from high SES households to display such behavior problems, which is largely attributable to the effects of having a mother with a low educational level. Statistically controlling for these factors, we found consistently significant patterns of elevated learning-related behavior problems for some Asian and Native American children. Results for African-American children were mixed. Hispanic children did not have consistently elevated risks of problem behaviors. Only small portions of these effects are explained by variation in the children’s gestational or birth characteristics. A significant portion, but still less than half of the socio-demographic effects are attributable to measured features of the children’s parenting. This study helps provide population-based estimates of children’s risk for learning-related behavior problems while at an age when early interventions are most effective.

The Relevance of People Versus Objects in Explaining Females’ Advantage over Males in Appearance Accuracy

Do females remember their surroundings better than males? Does it matter who or what is in those surroundings? In small groups, 108 undergraduates from a Midwestern university in the USA were instructed to pay attention to a videotaped person (target) while seated in an office with an experimenter (non-target). Afterwards, in a surprise recall task, participants’ memory for the appearance of the target, non-target, and office was tested. Females’ greater interpersonal orientation was predicted to give them an advantage over males in memory for only the people. Results showed that females had better memory for the target and non-target but not the office. Discussion centers on the importance of people versus objects in explaining females’ greater appearance accuracy.