Self-objectification,body self-consciousness during sexual activities,and sexual satisfaction in college women

Few studies examine the mechanisms that link body image to sexual satisfaction in women. Using the tenets of objectification theory, this study investigated the relationships between body surveillance, body shame, body self-consciousness during sexual activities, and sexual satisfaction in an ethnically diverse sample of American female college students (N = 368), while controlling for relationship status and body mass index. Results based on self-report measures of these constructs suggested that body shame and body self-consciousness during sexual activity were negatively correlated with sexual satisfaction. Additionally, path analysis indicated that body surveillance predicted increased body self-consciousness during sexual activity, partially mediated by body shame. Body self-consciousness, in turn, predicted decreased sexual satisfaction. Overall, study findings highlight the negative consequences of body image concerns for women's sexual satisfaction.     

Visual search for drowning swimmers: Investigating the impact of lifeguarding experience

How does domain expertise influence dynamic visual search? Previous studies of visual search often use abstract search arrays that are devoid of applied context, with comparatively few studies exploring applied naturalistic and dynamic settings. The current research adds to this literature by examining lifeguard drowning‐detection across two studies using naturalistic, dynamic search tasks. Behavioural responses and eye‐movement data were recorded as participants watched staged video clips and attempted to identify if a swimmer was drowning. The results demonstrate lifeguard superiority in response times to drowning events, compared to non‐lifeguards. No differences between lifeguard and non‐lifeguard eye‐movements were noted however. This suggests that the experiential benefit in response times results from other underlying processes, rather than any scanning benefits. This research highlights the complex nature of naturalistic and dynamic searches, while demonstrating the robust nature of simulated videos in producing experience effects in visual search.     

社交媒体中自拍相关行为对身体映像的影响

社交媒体已经成为人们生活中的一部分, 其中自拍是社交媒体上常见的以外貌为核心的信息。研究发现, 自拍相关行为与用户的身体映像密切相关。社交媒体上的自拍相关行为包括自拍投入、自拍操纵、发布自拍、浏览自拍和自拍反馈投入等。由于个体在社交媒体上兼具信息发布者和接收者的双重身份, 所以可以将自拍投入、自拍操纵和发布自拍归类为发布者的主动性自拍行为, 将浏览自拍、自拍反馈投入归类为接收者的反应性自拍行为, 同时可以从主动性和反应性两个视角分析自拍相关行为对身体映像的影响, 并将作用过程分成身体监测、标准内化、外貌比较, 然后从个人、人际、环境三个层面列举可能影响自拍相关行为和身体映像的关系及作用过程的因素。未来研究可以从丰富被试取样、优化研究设计、细究自拍行为、关注调节变量和环境因素等方面进一步探讨自拍相关行为对身体映像的影响, 并从理论层面探讨网络空间中建构自我的过程。     

Explaining the relation between thin ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction among college women: the roles of social comparison and body surveillance

Sociocultural models of disordered eating lack comprehensive explanations as to how thin ideal internalization leads to body dissatisfaction. This study examined two social psychological theories as explanations of this relation, namely social comparison and objectification theories, in a sample of 265 women attending a Southeastern university. Social comparison (both general and appearance-related) and body surveillance (the indicator of objectification) were tested as mediators of the relation between thin ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction using bootstrapping analyses. Results indicated that body surveillance was a significant specific mediator of this relation; however, neither operationalization of social comparison emerged as such. Results serve to elaborate upon the sociocultural model of disordered eating by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the processes by which thin ideal internalization manifests itself in body dissatisfaction. The current findings also highlight the importance of targeting body surveillance in clinical settings.     

Evaluation of developmental surveillance by physicians at the two-month preventive care visit

We evaluated the effects of feedback and instruction on resident physician performance during developmental surveillance of infants at 2-month preventive care visits. Baseline data were obtained by videotaping 3 residents while they performed the physical and developmental exam components. Training consisted of individualized feedback and a brief instructional module, after which the residents were again videotaped while they performed preventive care visits. All 3 residents showed improved performance following training.     

Beyond ‘nothing to hide’: When identity is key to privacy threat under surveillance

Privacy is psychologically important, vital for democracy, and in the era of ubiquitous and mobile surveillance technology, facing increasingly complex threats and challenges. Yet surveillance is often justified under a trope that one has ‘nothing to hide’. We conducted focus groups (N = 42) on topics of surveillance and privacy and using discursive analysis, identify the ideological assumptions and the positions that people adopt to make sense of their participation in a surveillance society. We find a premise that surveillance is increasingly inescapable, but this was only objected to when people reported feeling misrepresented, or where they had an inability to withhold aspects of their identities. The (in)visibility of the surveillance technology also complicated how surveillance is constructed. Those interested in engaging the public in debates about surveillance may be better served by highlighting the identity consequences of surveillance, rather than constructing surveillance as a generalised privacy threat.     

The Psychosocial Effects of Drone Violence: Social Isolation,Self‐Objectification,and Depoliticization

The U.S.‐led drone program has severe and wide‐ranging psychosocial and political effects on people in targeted areas. This article draws upon the author's interviews with people living under drones in Afghanistan to argue that drone surveillance and bombardment causes social isolation and self‐objectification. Interviewees reported that social gatherings, and any activities that involve nighttime travel, are shortened or avoided out of fear that drone surveillance will spot so‐called “nefarious activity” and bombardment will follow. Drawing upon feminist and postcolonial scholarship, the article contends that drone surveillance constitutes a form of psychological colonization. Civilians are frequently made to think of how they look to drone operators and change their behaviors accordingly—therein “self‐objectifying.” Narratives of “precision” warfare allow citizens of Western liberal democracies leading/supporting the drone program to avoid psychologically confronting these effects, while people living under drones face relentless psychological insecurities.     

How self‐compassion moderates the effect of body surveillance on subjective happiness and depression among women

According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), being treated as an object leads women to engage in self‐objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame as well as impairs mental health. However, very little is known about what factors could act as buffers against the detrimental consequences of self‐objectification. This paper seeks to understand the role of self‐compassion (the ability to kindly accept oneself or show self‐directed kindness while suffering) in the perception that women have of their own bodies. Results indicate that self‐compassion moderated the effect of body surveillance on depression and happiness separately among women. More specifically, for women low in self‐compassion, body surveillance was negatively associated with happiness, which was explained by increased depression. In sum, our results indicate that self‐compassion protects against the detrimental consequences of body surveillance.     

The Spirit of Truth

This article reflects on the theme of the “spirit of truth” in a post-truth era – a time in which objective truth seems to no longer exist, any given claim can be substantiated, and it is no longer possible to tell falsehood and truth apart. Focusing on the objectivity of science, the humanity of truth, and the spirit of truth revealed by divinity, the article argues for the adoption of a humane and ecological wisdom, seeing it as a way to deal with humanity’s immense knowledge in a way that is conducive to life, to avoid optimizing humans in a “trans-human” way and making the earth uninhabitable.