She Looks Sad,But He Looks Mad: The Effects of Age,Gender, and Ambiguity on Emotion Perception

This study investigated how target sex, target age, and expressive ambiguity influence emotion perception. Undergraduate participants (N = 192) watched morphed video clips of eight child and eight adult facial expressions shifting from neutral to either sadness or anger. Participants were asked to stop the video clip when they first saw an emotion appear (perceptual sensitivity) and were asked to identify the emotion that they saw (accuracy). Results indicate that female participants identified sad expressions sooner in female targets than in male targets. Participants were also more accurate identifying angry facial expressions by male children than by female children. Findings are discussed in terms of the effects of ambiguity, gender, and age on the perception of emotional expressions.     

Perceiving Aggression from Facial Structure: Further Evidence for a Positive Association with Facial Width‐to‐Height Ratio and Masculinity,but not for Moderation by Self‐Reported Dominance

Recent work has indicated that individual differences in facial structure are linked to perceptions of aggressiveness. In particular, the relative width of a face [facial width‐to‐height ratio (fWHR)] has been suggested to be a reliable cue to aggressive behaviour, at least in men. Additionally, facial masculinity has been associated with perceptions of dominance, a close proxy of aggressiveness. In two studies, we assessed the robustness of this link using faces transformed along these vectors in men (Studies 1 and 2) and women (Study 2). Additionally, we examined whether individual differences in self‐reported dominance of perceivers moderated this association in order to extend previous work indicating that own dominance affects perception of such behaviour in others. Results indicated that both male and female faces with increased fWHR and increased facial masculinity were perceived as more aggressive. However, we found no systematic evidence for moderating effects of self‐reported dominance on the perception of aggression in others. Taken together, these results further support the robustness of fWHR and facial masculinity as cues to aggressiveness but question whether observers' own dominance moderates their perception of these cues in others. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Unravelling Crime Series Patterns amongst Serial Sex Offenders: Duration,Frequency, and Environmental Consistency

Crime linkage and the investigation of behavioural consistency amongst serial offenders has been a flourishing field of research over the past decade or so, especially with respect to serial sex offenders. The emerging research in this field has often portrayed serial sex offenders as a single, distinct, and homogeneous group. Such an assumption, however, has never been empirically examined. Using a criminal career approach and a sample of 72 serial sex offenders who have committed a total of 361 sexual assaults on stranger victims, the current study aims to examine and describe subgroups of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders in terms of duration and frequency of offending. The level of environmental consistency display (i.e. offender's choice of crime location and characteristics of the crime site selected) across subgroups of crime series patterns is also examined. Study findings suggest the presence and heterogeneity of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders, advocating for the consideration of subgroups of crime series patterns when studying serial sex offenders. Moreover, the offenders' level of environmental consistency varies across the different crime series patterns identified, allowing for the identification of subgroups of offenders showing a higher or lower level of environmental consistency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bible Beliefs,Conservative Religious Identity,and Same‐Sex Marriage Support: Examining Main and Moderating Effects

Research finds that Americans who espouse theologically conservative beliefs about the Bible generally oppose same‐sex marriage. Studies exploring this link, however, have been limited in that their operationalization of fundamentalist belief has been problematically conceptualized and they have potentially confounded the effect of conservative religious identity. The current study asks: (1) How do distinct beliefs about the nature and authority of the Bible influence same‐sex marriage support? (2) Do these beliefs influence same‐sex marriage support independently of conservative religious identity? (3) To what extent do Bible beliefs and conservative religious identity moderate one another's effects? And (4) to what extent are these factors moderated by religious tradition and frequency of Bible reading? Analyses of 2006 Portraits of American Life Study data reveal that while identifying as religiously conservative is the strongest predictor of opposition to same‐sex marriage, believing in inerrancy and creationism remain strong predictors in full models. I also find moderating effects between belief in creationism, inerrancy, inspiration; religious‐conservative identity; and religious tradition. Findings clarify how theological beliefs and religious identity shape support for same‐sex marriage across religious traditions.     

Reactions to male-favouring versus female-favouring sex differences: A pre-registered experiment and Southeast Asian replication

Two studies investigated (1) how people react to research describing a sex difference, depending on whether that difference favours males or females, and (2) how accurately people can predict how the average man and woman will react. In Study 1, Western participants (N = 492) viewed a fictional popular-science article describing either a male-favouring or a female-favouring sex difference (i.e., men/women draw better; women/men lie more). Both sexes reacted less positively to the male-favouring differences, judging the findings to be less important, less credible, and more offensive, harmful, and upsetting. Participants predicted that the average man and woman would react more positively to sex differences favouring their own sex. This was true of the average woman, although the level of own-sex favouritism was lower than participants predicted. It was not true, however, of the average man, who – like the average woman – reacted more positively to the female-favouring differences. Study 2 replicated these findings in a Southeast Asian sample (N = 336). Our results are consistent with the idea that both sexes are more protective of women than men, but that both exaggerate the level of same-sex favouritism within each sex – a misconception that could potentially harm relations between the sexes.     

Changes in the Frequency of Coworker Incivility: Roles of Work Hours,Workplace Sex Ratio,Supervisor Leadership Style,and Incivility

Previous research has identified individual characteristics that affect experiences of coworker incivility. However, much less is known about environmental characteristics that affect these experiences. Drawing on the social learning theory and the frustration–aggression hypothesis, this study examined the effects of supervisor incivility and work hours on coworker incivility. Data collected from 692 full-time employees showed that changes in the frequency of supervisor incivility positively predicted changes in the frequency of coworker incivility over the next 6-month period. This relationship tended to be stronger for employees who had a supervisor lower rather than higher in the levels of autocratic leadership style. Furthermore, changes in work hours positively predicted changes in coworker incivility. The workplace sex ratio was not an important factor that differentiated experiences of coworker incivility for either men or women. The results of this study highlight the importance of attending to the environmental characteristics of the workplace to understand the occurrence of coworker incivility.     

The Countertransference Experiences of Pregnant Counselors Working With Sex Offenders

Using a phenomenological approach, the authors explored the lived experiences of female counselors who were pregnant during the course of providing clinical services to sex offenders. Themes included awareness of countertransference, emotional distress, safety concerns, and clinical objectivity.     

Age and Sex Differences in Morningness/Eveningness Along the Life Span: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spain

Work psychology has noted the importance of considering the temporal dimension of behavior in organizations. Given that society widely operates on a 24-hr schedule, it is important to know how circadian typologies are distributed in the general population. In this study, diurnal preference was analyzed among 4,175 Spanish participants (61.3% women), 12–59 years old, who completed the Composite Scale of Morningness (Smith, Reilly, & Midkiff, 1989). Several measurement models of the CSM were analyzed using exploratory structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis. The bifactor model showed the best fit, with a general factor (morningness/eveningness) and three subfactors (morningness, morning affect, and time of retiring). The age and sex factorial invariance of the bifactor model were tenable at the latent variance-covariance level. Next, age and sex differences analysis indicated a progressive increase in morningness with age, but over 40 years old, men were more morningness oriented than women were. These results indicate that morningness/eveningness can be considered a multidimensional construct and that psychosocial factors must be considered when estimating the prevalence of morningness/eveningness in different populations or countries.