Does Men’s Facial Sexual Dimorphism Affect Male Observers’ Selective Attention?

Facial sexual dimorphism affects observers’ physical dominance ratings. Here, we test whether such perceived dominance influences selective attention. To minimize demand characteristics, we examined whether task-irrelevant masculinized men’s faces would show an attentional bias in several experimental paradigms. Experiment 1 employed a Posner Cueing Paradigm in which participants classified shapes after a masculinized or feminized man’s face was presented. We could not find a difference in participants’ classification speeds when either feminized or masculinized face cued target position. Experiment 2 employed a Flanker Task in which participants judged letter orientation, while ignoring flanking faces. There was no observed difference in participants’ reaction time (RT) when masculinized faces flanked the target. Experiment 3 employed a Dot Probe Task, where participants were presented with a masculinized face and a feminized face to the left and right of center screen, and a target shape was presented in the location of one face. Participants’ task was to classify shape orientation. We observe a small effect of facial sexual dimorphism on participants’ classification speed. In Experiment 4, we primed participants with images meant to induce fear or arousal before each trial of a Dot Probe Task. Following the presentation of a fear inducing picture, participants RT to classify shapes when a masculinized face cued target position did not differ from when a feminized face cued target position. The two different presentation times did not create different patterns of results, indicating that masculinized faces did not induce either a cueing or inhibitory affect. Overall, we failed to support the hypothesis that people selectively attend to masculinized faces when they are presented as irrelevant information

Can listeners assess men's self-reported health from their voice?

Men's voices may provide cues to overall condition; however, little research has assessed whether health status is reliably associated with perceivable voice parameters. In Study 1, we investigated whether listeners could classify voices belonging to men with either relatively lower or higher self-reported health. Participants rated voices for speaker health, disease likelihood, illness frequency, and symptom severity, as well as attractiveness (women only) and dominance (men only). Listeners' were mostly unable to judge the health of male speakers from their voices; however, men rated the voices of men with better self-reported health as sounding more dominant. In Study 2, we tested whether men's vocal parameters (fundamental frequency mean and variation, apparent vocal tract length, and harmonics-to-noise ratio) and aspects of their self-reported health predicted listeners' health and disease resistance ratings of those voices. Speakers' fundamental frequency (ₒ) negatively predicted ratings of health. However, speakers' self-reported health did not predict ratings of health made by listeners. In Study 3, we investigated whether separately manipulating two sexually dimorphic vocal parameters—ₒ and apparent vocal tract length (VTL)—affected listeners' health ratings. Listeners rated men's voices with lower ₒ (but not VTL) as healthier, supporting findings from Study 2. Women rated voices with lower ₒ and VTL as more attractive, and men rated them as more dominant. Thus, while both VTL and ₒ affect dominance and attractiveness judgments, only ₒ appears to affect health judgments. Results of the above studies suggest that, although listeners assign higher health ratings to speakers with more masculine ₒ, these ratings may not be accurate at tracking speakers' self-rated health.Accepted manuscrip

Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor

© 2018 The Authors. Do acts of kindness improve the well-being of the actor? Recent advances in the behavioural sciences have provided a number of explanations of human social, cooperative and altruistic behaviour. These theories predict that people will be ‘happy to help’ family, friends, community members, spouses, and even strangers under some conditions. Here we conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the experimental evidence that kindness interventions (for example, performing ‘random acts of kindness’) boost subjective well-being. Our initial search of the literature identified 489 articles; of which 24 (27 studies) met the inclusion criteria (total N = 4045). These 27 studies, some of which included multiple control conditions and dependent measures, yielded 52 effect sizes. Multi-level modeling revealed that the overall effect of kindness on the well-being of the actor is small-to-medium (δ = 0.28). The effect was not moderated by sex, age, type of participant, intervention, control condition or outcome measure. There was no indication of publication bias. We discuss the limitations of the current literature, and recommend that future research test more specific theories of kindness: taking kindness-specific individual differences into account; distinguishing between the effects of kindness to specific categories of people; and considering a wider range of proximal and distal outcomes. Such research will advance our understanding of the causes and consequences of kindness, and help practitioners to maximise the effectiveness of kindness interventions to improve well-being

Motivational interviewing as a positive response to high‐school bullying

Intervention approaches to bullying are largely preventive in nature, and even these have been shown to be ineffective, if not iatrogenic, with adolescents. Responses to bullying are limited to traditional punitive approaches or “no‐blame” approaches aiming to restore the relationship between the targeted students. Neither of these approaches may effectively engage the perpetrator of bullying at a motivational level, and we propose motivational interviewing (MI) as a means of promoting meaningful behavioral change among youths who bully. We provide a narrative review of MI and map its core features onto the extant literature on self‐reported motivations for bullying, highlighting the ways that MI fits with bullying and could serve as a potent solution that could be deployed by school psychologists and other student support staff members. Qualitative preliminary feedback and initial competency in MI from trained practitioners are presented as preliminary data from a cluster‐randomized control trial, documenting school staff perspectives on the integration of MI into their approach to bullying with recommendations for integrating MI into school settings.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143780/1/pits22120_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143780/2/pits22120.pd

A cross-cultural examination of SNS usage intensity and managing interpersonal relationships online: the role of culture and the autonomous-related self-construal

Perception of the autonomy and relatedness of the self may be influenced by one's experiences and social expectations within a particular cultural setting. The present research examined the role of culture and the Autonomous-Related self-construal in predicting for different aspects of Social Networking Sites (SNS) usage in three Asian countries, especially focusing on those aspects serving interpersonal goals. Participants in this cross-cultural study included 305 university students from Malaysia (n = 105), South Korea (n = 113), and China (n = 87). The study explored specific social and interpersonal behaviors on SNS, such as browsing the contacts' profiles, checking for updates, and improving contact with SNS contacts, as well as the intensity of SNS use, hypothesizing that those with high intensity of use in the Asian context may be doing so to achieve the social goal of maintaining contact and keeping updated with friends. Two scales measuring activities on other users' profiles and contact with friends' profiles were developed and validated. As predicted, some cross-cultural differences were found. Koreans were more likely to use SNS to increase contact but tended to spend less time browsing contacts' profiles than the Malaysians and Chinese. The intensity of SNS use differed between the countries as well, where Malaysians reported higher intensity than Koreans and Chinese. Consistent with study predictions, Koreans were found with the highest Autonomous-Related self-construal scores. The Autonomous-Related self-construal predicted SNS intensity. The findings suggest that cultural contexts, along with the way the self is construed in different cultures, may encourage different types of SNS usage. The authors discuss study implications and suggest future research directions

Effects of Voice Pitch on Social Perceptions Vary With Relational Mobility and Homicide Rate

Fundamental frequency ( fo) is the most perceptually salient vocal acoustic parameter, yet little is known about how its perceptual influence varies across societies. We examined how fo affects key social perceptions and how socioecological variables modulate these effects in 2,647 adult listeners sampled from 44 locations across 22 nations. Low male fo increased men’s perceptions of formidability and prestige, especially in societies with higher homicide rates and greater relational mobility in which male intrasexual competition may be more intense and rapid identification of high-status competitors may be exigent. High female fo increased women’s perceptions of flirtatiousness where relational mobility was lower and threats to mating relationships may be greater. These results indicate that the influence of fo on social perceptions depends on socioecological variables, including those related to competition for status and mates