Facebook sharenting in mothers of young children: the risks are worth it but only for some

Sharenting, or sharing information of children by parents on social media sites, has received much media attention. While offering many benefits, it may also contain risks. The current study used a mixed methods approach to investigate how understanding of risks and benefits alongside psychosocial variables affected the Facebook sharenting behaviour of 190 mothers with young children. Findings reveal that awareness of risks was associated with a decrease in posting frequency, although most still chose to share sensitive information such as pictures and activity information. Furthermore, mothers chose to focus on unlikely safeguarding concerns rather than long-term repercussions such as identity fraud or right to digital privacy. Negative experiences on social media were not associated with reduced posting. This result is particularly important given that perception of most risks outweighed the benefits. Psychosocial factors such as social anxiety may help explain why despite harbouring important privacy concerns parents continue to share sensitive information. Future research should focus on highlighting long-term repercussions in this parent population and theoretical work could benefit from incorporating an understanding of how psychological factors motivate and impact this behaviour

Simulating Moral Actions: An Investigation of Personal Force in Virtual Moral Dilemmas

Advances in Virtual Reality (VR) technologies allow the investigation of simulated moral actions in visually immersive environments. Using a robotic manipulandum and an interactive sculpture, we now also incorporate realistic haptic feedback into virtual moral simulations. In two experiments, we found that participants responded with greater utilitarian actions in virtual and haptic environments when compared to traditional questionnaire assessments of moral judgments. In experiment one, when incorporating a robotic manipulandum, we found that the physical power of simulated utilitarian responses (calculated as the product of force and speed) was predicted by individual levels of psychopathy. In experiment two, which integrated an interactive and lifelike sculpture of a human into a VR simulation, greater utilitarian actions continued to be observed. Together, these results support a disparity between simulated moral action and moral judgment. Overall this research combines state-of-the-art virtual reality, robotic movement simulations, and realistic human sculptures, to enhance moral paradigms that are often contextually impoverished. As such, this combination provides a better assessment of simulated moral action, and illustrates the embodied nature of morally-relevant actions

The politics of red meat consumption and climate change

Red meat production is one of the leading sources of carbon dioxide emission thus reducing meat production and consumption is crucial. Using a sample of American adults ( n = 456), the link between right-wing sociopolitical ideologies and (i) attitudes towards red meat; (ii) willingness to reduce red meat consumption; (iii) willingness to pay more for red meat; (iv) belief about the impact of red meat consumption on the environment; and (v) and distrust (versus trust) of authorities was examined. Right-wing ideologies (i.e. right-wing-authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) were associated with more positive attitudes towards red meat, unwillingness to consume less red meat or pay more for red meat, disbelief that red meat negatively impacts the environment, and greater distrust of information from authorities that propose a link between red meat production and negative environmental impact. However, results varied by political ideology dimension. Findings suggest that attempts to alter peoples’ red meat consumption—as part of a strategy for tackling climate change—must incorporate a nuanced understanding of the impact of sociopolitical ideologies on attitudes towards red meat consumption and the need to raise awareness about its impact on the environment