Analgesic effect of Facebook: Priming with online social networking may boost felt relatedness that buffers against physical pain

Social networking sites (SNSs) are extremely popular for providing users with a convenient platform for acquiring social connections and thereby feeling relatedness. Plenty of literature has shown that mental representations of social support can reduce the perception of physical pain. The current study tested whether thinking about SNS would interfere with users’ perceptions of experimentally induced pain. Ninety‐six undergraduate Facebook users were recruited to participate in a priming‐based experiment. They were randomly assigned to one of the three study conditions (SNS prime, neutral prime, or no prime) via rating the aesthetics of logos. The results showed that participants exposed to SNS primes reported less pain of immersion in hot water than did both control groups (neutral‐ and no‐prime). Felt relatedness mediated the link between SNS primes and diminished pain perceptions. This research provides the first demonstration that thinking about SNS can lower experienced physical pain among Facebook users. Online social networking may serve as an analgesic buffer against pain experience than previously thought. The SNS‐enabled analgesia has far reaching implications for pain relief applications and the enhancement of well‐being in human‐interaction techniques.     

The association between stress,self‐esteem and depressive symptoms in adolescents

This cross‐sectional study investigated gender and age differences on domains of stress, self‐esteem and depressive symptoms, as well as the association between those domains using a sample of Norwegian adolescents (N = 1,239). The data was analysed using Pearson product moment correlation, t‐tests, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results showed significant differences between genders. Girls scored higher on five of seven stressor domains comprising peer pressure, home life, school attendance, school/leisure conflict and school performance as well as depression, while boys scored significantly higher on self‐esteem. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that higher stress from school performance and school attendance related significantly to more depressive symptoms in both genders. Additionally, stress of home life significantly related to more depressive symptoms in girls, whereas stress of peer pressure was significant in association with depressive symptoms in boys. A strong, inverse association was found between self‐esteem and depression controlled for stress, especially in girls. Self‐esteem was not found to be a moderator of any stressor‐depression interactions. In conclusion, the results give support for the significant role of stress and self‐esteem on the experience of depressive symptoms in adolescents.     

Psychometric Properties of the Shortened Chinese Version of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale

Family theory has refocused attention from deficits to family strengths, and interest in family resilience across cultures has become more widespread. However, few instruments were designed for quantitative research on family resilience. The Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS) was designed to measure family resilience and has been administered in Western populations. The aim of this study was to adapt the FRAS for use with Chinese populations and examine its psychometric properties. The study was conducted using a sample of 991 university students in China (62.9 % female, mean age 20, SD = 1.12). First, the scale was translated and modified into Chinese, and good language equivalency was found. Next, confirmatory factor analysis was used to identify the best-fitting model. Results showed that the 3-factor model consisting of 32 items was an adequate fit. The goodness-of-fit index values for the model were χ ²/df = 5.97, CFI = .84, RMSEA = .08, SRMR = .05. Total scale reliability was α = .95. According to these values it can be said that the modified Chinese version of the FRAS was adapted successfully to the Chinese culture. Moreover, researchers and clinicians can use this instrument to assess family strengths when working with individuals in families experiencing adversity.     

Insecure romantic attachment dimensions and frequency of mate retention behaviors

Individual differences in attachment bonds may influence the performance of mate retention behaviors. Because anxiously attached individuals are hypervigilant to partner rejection cues, we hypothesize that individuals higher in anxious attachment will perform more frequent mate retention behaviors. Because avoidantly attached individuals evade intimacy with their partners, we hypothesize that individuals higher in avoidant attachment will perform less frequent mate retention behaviors. Participants (N = 469) in a romantic relationship completed measures of romantic attachment and mate retention behaviors. The results provide support for the study hypotheses but also reveal that avoidantly attached women perform more frequent mate retention behaviors that deter intrasexual rivals. We discuss limitations of this research and highlight directions for research on romantic attachment, mate retention behaviors, and infidelity.     

Bimodal emotion congruency is critical to preverbal infants’ abstract rule learning

Extracting general rules from specific examples is important, as we must face the same challenge displayed in various formats. Previous studies have found that bimodal presentation of grammar‐like rules (e.g. ABA) enhanced 5‐month‐olds’ capacity to acquire a rule that infants failed to learn when the rule was presented with visual presentation of the shapes alone (circle‐triangle‐circle) or auditory presentation of the syllables (la‐ba‐la) alone. However, the mechanisms and constraints for this bimodal learning facilitation are still unknown. In this study, we used audio‐visual relation congruency between bimodal stimulation to disentangle possible facilitation sources. We exposed 8‐ to 10‐month‐old infants to an AAB sequence consisting of visual faces with affective expressions and/or auditory voices conveying emotions. Our results showed that infants were able to distinguish the learned AAB rule from other novel rules under bimodal stimulation when the affects in audio and visual stimuli were congruently paired (Experiments 1A and 2A). Infants failed to acquire the same rule when audio‐visual stimuli were incongruently matched (Experiment 2B) and when only the visual (Experiment 1B) or the audio (Experiment 1C) stimuli were presented. Our results highlight that bimodal facilitation in infant rule learning is not only dependent on better statistical probability and redundant sensory information, but also the relational congruency of audio‐visual information. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KYTyjH1k9RQ     

The effect of geographic indication in advertising background pictures on product evaluation: The moderating role of familiarity

This study investigates whether geographic indications in the backgrounds of advertising pictures might affect the viewer's evaluation of a product. The findings reveal that participants in the proximal geographic indication evaluated the product more favourably than those in the distal geographic indication when they were exposed to feasibility‐related information. By contrast, participants in the distal geographic indication evaluated the product more favourably than those in the proximal geographic indication when they were exposed to desirability‐related information. However, familiarity with geographic indications eliminated this effect.