Exposed eye area (EEA) in the expression of various emotions.

Exposed eye area (EEA) was measured in photographs of Indian adults who modeled six emotions--happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust--as well as a neutral expression. The data were analyzed with a 2 x 6 (Eyes x Emotions) factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). EEA for neutral expression was used as the covariate measure. The EEAs of the two eyes did not differ significantly during the expression of emotion. The EEAs for fear and surprise were significantly larger, and the EEA for disgust was significantly smaller than those for either other emotions or neutral expression.     

Evolution and trends in consumer behaviour: Insights from Journal of Consumer Behaviour

The way consumers behave is fundamental to marketing. Journal of Consumer Behaviour (JCB) is an international journal dedicated to publishing the latest developments of consumer behaviour. To gain an understanding of the evolution and trends in consumer behaviour, this study presents a retrospective review of JCB using bibliometric analysis. Using bibliographic records of JCB from Scopus, this study finds that consumer behaviour research in JCB has grown substantially in terms of collaboration (co-authorships), global reach (countries), productivity (publications), and impact (citations). The major themes explored by consumer behaviour research in JCB include consumer information processing, consumption communities, consumption value, sustainable consumption, intergenerational consumer behaviour, consumer-brand relationship, consumer ethics, and conditional relationships in consumer behaviour. The most recent consumer behaviour research in JCB has considered externalities such as the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on themes such as consumer ethics and sustainable consumption in line with the global movement toward environmental social governance (ESG) and sustainable development goals (SDGs).     

An exploration of the Indian mindset

Eight hundred and twenty-nine adults, drawn from 12 locations in all four parts of India, participated in a study that explored the joint effects of Indians’ discrepant mindset, context sensitivity, and quality of environment on their modes of behavior. Respondents also predicted how a person is likely to change his behavior when the conditions in which he works change from disabling to enabling. The findings showed that the two most dominant modes of behavior-self-serving calculative and achieving high positive goal — coexisted, but were differently caused. Context sensitivity facilitated both modes of behavior; but adequate infrastructure and friendly and helpful people in the neighborhood encouraged only achieving high positive goal behavior. On the contrary, duplicity in professing desirable but acting under realistic compulsions, poor quality of environment, and low levels of development were conducive to self-serving calculative behavior. As a situation changed from disabling to enabling, a person was likely to shift towards more positive behavior.     

Covariates of Multiplicity of Risk Behavior Among Injecting Drug Users in Nepal

Drug abuse, needle sharing, and high-risk sexual behaviour are often compounded to increase the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. This paper analyzes covariates of multiplicity of risk behavior among injecting drug users (IDUs). Findings are based on data from 1471 IDUs following modified time-location cluster sampling across Nepal in 2010–2011. Among Nepalese IDUs, average duration of injecting drugs is 4.4 years with two-fifths initiating it before age 20. Alcohol use is common with two-fifths reporting its daily consumption. Needle sharing is quite prevalent especially among younger and alcoholic IDUs. Further, IDUs practicing needle sharing exhibit rampant multi-partner behavior. Condom use with non-commercial partners is almost 80 %, whereas with intimate partner it is 41 %. Coexistence of needle sharing and unprotected sex enhances STI prevalence (7 %), which is further pronounced among alcoholics (9 %). Working towards risk reduction for IDUs must deal with multiplicity of risk. Interventions should deal with covariates of risk, addressing youth, substance abuse and risky sexual behavior.     

Assessing emotional processing difficulties in normotensive individuals with high and isolated blood pressure elevations

This study examined the effect of sense modality (auditory/visual) on emotional dampening (reduced responsiveness to emotions with elevation in blood pressure). Fifty‐six normotensive participants were assessed on tasks requiring labelling and matching of emotions in faces and voices. Based on median split of systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP, respectively), participants were divided into low BP, high BP and isolated BP groups. On emotion‐labelling tasks, analysis revealed reduced emotion recognition in the high BP than the low BP group. On emotion‐matching tasks, reduced emotion recognition was noted in high and also isolated BP group as compared to low BP group for the task that required matching a visual target with one of the four auditory distractors. Our findings show for the first time that even isolated elevations in either SBP or DBP may result in emotional dampening. Furthermore, the study highlights that the emotional dampening effect generalises to explicit processing (labelling) of emotional information in both faces and voices—and that these effects tentatively occur during more pragmatic and covert (matching) emotion recognition processes too. These findings require replication in clinical hypertensives.     

Social relations in crowds: Recognition,validation and solidarity

Social identity research on crowds demonstrates how cognitive self-definition as a crowd member results in conformity to identity-relevant norms. Rather less research has addressed the social-relational changes within a crowd and how these impact collective experience positively. The present study investigates these processes at a month-long mass gathering in India. Analysis of 37 interviews with participants attending the annual Magh Mela pilgrimage evidences the concept of shared identity as underpinning their understanding of this mass gathering. Moreover, a theoretically derived thematic analysis of these interviews shows the value of the analytic concepts of recognition, validation, and solidarity in illuminating the ways in which social relations in the crowd were experienced and contributed to the experience of the event. Through exploring the multi-dimensional nature of relational connectedness in crowds we contribute to an understanding of crowd experience and group processes.     

Implicit ambivalence of significant others: Significant others trigger positive and negative evaluations

Despite the rich literature on implicit partner evaluations, there has been scant attention to a defining feature of significant other mental representations—their affective complexity. Recent findings (Zayas & Shoda, 2015), however, provide an empirical demonstration that significant others automatically and simultaneously activate positive and negative evaluations—a phenomenon we refer to as implicit ambivalence. A primary aim of this paper is to extend extant theory by elaborating on the features of the dyadic context that may contribute to the formation of implicit ambivalence. Particularly, drawing from research from relationship science, social cognition, and social neuroscience, we focus on the ability of significant others to dynamically and simultaneously confer rewards and threats, the attunement of perceivers to potential social rewards and social threats, and aspects of sense‐making of another person's mind that may give rise to implicit ambivalence. From this new perspective, implicit ambivalence is not a pathological or rare state. Quite the opposite, implicit ambivalence may be a normative, typical process, that is triggered even by people who are highly positive in one's network. We identify future directions for social cognition and relationship science.     

Worldviews and Perceptions of Environmental Problems

The paper reports findings related to perceived worldviews and risk associated with environmental problems by the residents of urban neighborhoods. Unhygienic environmental conditions are common in residential areas of medium-size cities like Allahabad, India. The respondents were 102 men and 102 women of four residential neighborhoods which varied in population, layout planning (congested vs. wide-streets) and pollutions (noise, garbage, drainage). In addition to background information, they completed the worldviews scale, rated perceived seriousness of local environmental problems and risk impact on self, family, rich, poor, plants and animals. They also rated attribution of responsibility for environmental problems and pro-environmental behavior. Probably, due to cultural homogeneity no significant differences were found for worldviews across four neighborhoods. Men and women did not differ in their worldviews except for the fatalistic worldviews with men perceiving themselves less fatalistic than women. With a few exceptions, the residents of four localities did not differ significantly on perception of environmental problems and attribution of responsibility. Correlations of worldviews with perception of environmental problems, risk impact, attribution of responsibility and inactions are discussed. Nature of correlations of environmental conditions with physical and psychological health is also discussed.     

Residents’ reactions to environmental stressors in Kathmandu: A Comparison of the inner city versus the outskirts

Residents of eight different locations in Kathmandu, four in the inner city and four on the outskirts, were interviewed about environmental stressors, mental distress, and physical symptoms. There were significant gender and location differences on all three measures. Compared to men, women reported more mental distress and more physical symptoms, but fewer environmental stressors. Compared to residents of the inner city, residents of the outskirts reported more mental distress, more physical symptoms, and fewer environmental stressors. Environmental stressors were linked to mental distress among residents in the outskirts but were not linked to mental distress among residents in the inner city. Results suggested that residents’ belief in perceived control of their lives by God partially explained this effect.     

Hand Preference in India

The degree of asymmetric handedness was measured by a 22-item hand preference questionnaire in a sample of 442 Indian subjects. Factor analysis of the data for right-handers yielded four item-clusters: Gross activities, skilled activities (general), skilled activities (specific), and activities subject to social pressure. Identical analysis for left-handers yielded three item-clusters: Activities that are executed with difficulty, with ease, and with greater frequency. The degree of asymmetric handedness in right-handers was positively (high) correlated with an index of social pressure against left-hand use, especially for the items, writing and eating. The correlation was negative (moderate) in left-handers, however, who had preferred the right hand for eating purposes.