Weight stigmatization and disordered eating in obese women: The mediating effects of self-esteem and fear of negative appearance evaluation

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to examine whether self-esteem and fear of negative appearance evaluation are significant mediators in the association between weight-related self-devaluation and disordered eating.MethodA sample of obese Canadian women (N = 111, M age = 40.9, SD = 10.2) completed the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (WSSQ), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Fear of Negative Appearance Evaluation Scale (FNAES), and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q).ResultsSelf-esteem mediated the relationship between weight-related self-devaluation and restraint and weight concerns, whereas fear of negative appearance evaluation mediated the relationship with weight, shape and eating concerns.ConclusionSince, for obese women, self-esteem and fear of negative appearance evaluation are likely to maintain disordered eating, they should be more frequently taken into consideration by researchers, health professionals and public policy stakeholders.     

Facial reactions to violent and comedy films: Association with callous–unemotional traits and impulsive aggression

The current study adds to prior research by investigating specific (happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, anger and fear) and general (corrugator and zygomatic muscle activity) facial reactions to violent and comedy films among individuals with varying levels of callous–unemotional (CU) traits and impulsive aggression (IA). Participants at differential risk of CU traits and IA were selected from a sample of 1225 young adults. In Experiment 1, participants (N?=?82) facial expressions were recorded while they watched violent and comedy films. Video footage of participants' facial expressions was analysed using FaceReader, a facial coding software that classifies facial reactions. Findings suggested that individuals with elevated CU traits showed reduced facial reactions of sadness and disgust to violent films, indicating low empathic concern in response to victims' distress. In contrast, impulsive aggressors produced specifically more angry facial expressions when viewing violent and comedy films. In Experiment 2 (N?=?86), facial reactions were measured by monitoring facial electromyography activity. FaceReader findings were verified by the reduced facial electromyography at the corrugator, but not the zygomatic, muscle in response to violent films shown by individuals high in CU traits. Additional analysis suggested that sympathy to victims explained the association between CU traits and reduced facial reactions to violent films.     

Development and validation of an Argentine set of facial expressions of emotion

Pictures of facial expressions of emotion are used in a wide range of experiments. The last decade has seen an increase in the number of studies presenting local sets of emotion stimuli. However, only a few existing sets contain pictures of Latin Americans, despite the growing attention emotion research is receiving in this region. Here we present the development and validation of the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Expresiones de Emociones Faciales (UNCEEF), a Facial Action Coding System (FACS)-verified set of pictures of Argentineans expressing the six basic emotions, plus neutral expressions. FACS scores, recognition rates, Hu scores, and discrimination indices are reported. Evidence of convergent validity was obtained using the Pictures of Facial Affect in an Argentine sample. However, recognition accuracy was greater for UNCEEF. The importance of local sets of emotion pictures is discussed.     

The mirror reflects both ways: Action influences perception of others

Substantial evidence links perception of others’ bodies and mental representation of the observer’s own body; however, the overwhelming majority of this evidence is unidirectional, showing influence from perception to action. It has been proposed that the influence also runs from action to perception, but to date the evidence is scant. Here we report that ordinary motor actions performed by the subject affect concurrent psychophysical judgments of human-body stimuli. Subjects remained unaware of the connection between the action and the main task. The results show that perception can change as a result of the observer’s ongoing actions.     

Psychophysiological reactivity to sleep-related emotional stimuli in primary insomnia

The present study examined psychophysiological reactivity to emotional stimuli related and non-related to sleep in people with primary insomnia (PPI) and in good sleepers (GS). Twenty-one PPI and 18 GS were presented with five blocks of neutral, negative, positive, sleep-related negative and sleep-related positive pictures. During the presentation of the pictures, facial electromyography (EMG) of the corrugator and the zygomatic muscles, heart rate (HR) and cardiac vagal tone (CVT) were recorded. Subjective ratings of the stimuli were also collected. We found that only PPI exhibited greater inhibition of the corrugator activity in response to sleep-related positive stimuli compared to the other blocks of stimuli. Furthermore, PPI rated the sleep-related negative stimuli as more unpleasant and arousing and showed higher CVT in response to all stimuli as compared to GS. Results were interpreted as indicating that PPI exhibit craving for sleep-related positive stimuli, and also hyper-arousability in response to sleep-related negative stimuli, as compared to GS. Our results suggest that psychological treatment of insomnia could benefit by the inclusion of strategies dealing with emotional processes linked with sleep processes.     

A happy story: Developmental changes in children’s sensitivity to facial expressions of varying intensities

Using 20 levels of intensity, we measured children’s thresholds to discriminate the six basic emotional expressions from neutral and their misidentification rates. Combined with the results of a previous study using the same method (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102 (2009) 503-521), the results indicate that by 5 years of age, children are adult-like, or nearly adult-like, for happy expressions on all measures. Children’s sensitivity to other expressions continues to improve between 5 and 10 years of age (e.g., surprise, disgust, fear) or even after 10 years of age (e.g., anger, sad). The results indicate that there is a slow development of sensitivity to the expression of all basic emotions except happy. This slow development may impact children’s social and cognitive development by limiting their sensitivity to subtle expressions of disapproval or disappointment.     

The Body Stripped Down

Abstract— According to terror management theory, cultural beliefs and standards provide protection from fears associated with mortality by convincing individuals that their existence matters more than that of any mere mortal animal. The body threatens the efficacy of such mechanisms by reminding us that we are animals nonetheless, and therefore fated to death. I present research demonstrating that existential concerns contribute to uneasiness with the body, especially regarding sex, and also to pervasive concerns with how the body measures up to cultural standards, most obviously regarding women's appearance. These findings show that in effort to defend against threats associated with the body's physicality, people may deny themselves pleasure and endanger their health.     

Sex differences in face recognition and influence of facial affect

To study sex differences in the recognition of human faces with different facial expressions, 65 female and 64 male participants learned to associate names with various male and female neutral faces. During the recall phase, participants were then asked to name the same persons depicting different emotional expressions (neutral, happy, angry, and fearful). Females were faster than males at naming male faces, and males were faster than females at naming female faces. All participants were faster at naming neutral or happy female faces than neural or happy male faces. These results suggest that opposite-sex faces require less processing time than same-sex faces, which is consistent with an evolutionary account.     

感知到亲子间面孔相似性对亲子虐待的影响：一个双重调节模型

由于体内受精,父亲面临着父亲身份不确定性的风险,亲子间面孔相似性是辨别父亲身份的一个常用的有效线索,因此,父亲往往依据亲子间面孔相似性程度调整着亲子投资。而中国传统文化强调重男轻女,因此,父子间面孔相似性比父女间面孔相似性对父亲的亲子投资的预测效应更强。本研究采用自我报告的方法测量了212名中学生感知到亲子间面孔相似性、亲子虐待以及人口学变量。结果表明:（1）感知到的亲子间面孔相似性与亲子虐待中的精神虐待存在显著的相关,与身体虐待的相关没有达到显著水平;（2）父母的性别显著地调节着感知到亲子间面孔相似性对精神虐待的预测,具体而言, 父子（女）间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲的精神虐待,而母子（女）间面孔相似性对母亲精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平;（3）进一步的分析表明,子女的性别显著地调节着感知到父子（女）间面孔相似性对父亲精神虐待的影响,具体而言,父子间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲对儿子的精神虐待,但父女间面孔相似性对父亲对女儿的精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平。研究结果支持并拓展了父亲身份不确定性假设。     

Facial affect recognition in college students with psychopathic traits: A comparison using tests matched in discriminating power

Research has provided inconsistent evidence for the relationship between psychopathy and facial affect recognition. We examined whether some of the previous findings could reflect a psychometric artifact in which deficits are more easily detected with very discriminating measures than with less discriminating measures, an issue not addressed in prior psychopathy studies. We developed measures of facial affect recognition matched in discriminating power and administered these measures to 194 college students who had also completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. Results indicate that high levels of Coldheartedness were associated with poorer recognition of the specific emotion of disgust. These findings demonstrate that some affective processing deficits associated with psychopathic traits cannot be attributed to psychometric artifacts.