Effects of Gender and Personality on First Impression.

The present study explores whether and to what extent individual differences (i.e., gender and personality traits of perceiver) predict inferences of trustworthiness from emotionally neutral unfamiliar faces and the related confidence in judgment. Four hundred and ten undergraduate students participated in the study. Personality was assessed using the Big Five model (i.e., Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Openness to experience) and measures of trait anxiety and aggression. The results suggest that trustworthiness judgments are affected by the gender of the perceiver, although this effect depends on the valence of the face. Women tend to judge trustworthy-looking faces as significantly more trustworthy than men do, and this is particularly pronounced for judgments of female faces. There were no gender differences for judgments of untrustworthy-looking or neutral faces. Gender also seems to affect the confidence in judgment. Specifically, women were generally less confident than men in judging trustworthiness of unfamiliar faces. Personality also affected judgment. Both low agreeable individuals and high trait aggressive individuals tend to perceive unfamiliar faces as less trustworthy. The present findings suggest that both gender and personality traits are relevant for understanding how people evaluate the trustworthiness of others. Whom we decide to trust is a function not only of their facial features but also of gender and individual differences in personality traits

Reduced recognition of facial emotional expressions in global burnout and burnout depersonalization in healthcare providers

The healthcare provider profession strongly relies on the ability to care for others' emotional experiences. To what extent burnout may relate to an actual alteration of this key professional ability has been little investigated. In an experimentally controlled setting, we investigated whether subjective experiences of global burnout or burnout depersonalization (the interpersonal component of burnout) relate to objectively measured alterations in emotion recognition and to what extent such alterations are emotion specific. Healthcare workers (n = 90) completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a dynamic emotion recognition task in which faces with neutral emotional expressions gradually changed to display a specific basic emotion (happiness, anger, fear, or sadness). Participants were asked to identify and then classify each displayed emotion. Before the task, a subsample of 46 participants underwent two salivary cortisol assessments. Individuals with global burnout were less accurate at recognizing others' emotional expressions of anger and fear, tending to misclassify these as happiness, compared to individuals without global burnout. Individuals with high burnout depersonalization were more accurate in recognizing happiness and less accurate in recognizing all negative emotions, with a tendency to misclassify the latter as positive ones, compared to healthcare workers with moderate/low depersonalization. Moreover, individuals with high depersonalization-but not participants with global burnout-were characterized by higher cortisol levels. These results suggest that the subjective burnout experience relates to an actual, but selective, reduction in the recognition of facial emotional expressions, characterized by a tendency to misclassify negative emotional expressions as positive ones, perhaps due to an enhanced seeking of positive social cues. This study adds to the understanding of emotional processing in burnout and paves the way for more nuanced studies on the role of altered processing of threat signals in the development and/or persistence of burnout

Facing up to bias in healthcare: The influence of familiarity appearance on hiring decisions

Associations between facial appearance and hiring decisions are well-documented within job literature as a source of decision misjudgment with economic and human costs. Notwithstanding, this aspect is yet to be investigated in healthcare. We collected 90 pictures of new-graduates nurses faces to be judged on different facial appearance-based traits by an independent sample. Six months after graduation, the same new-graduates were interviewed about their job situation. Binomial logistic regression was conducted to examine whether facial appearance ratings would predict the probability to be hired as nurse. Results showed that applicants with a face conveying a feeling of familiarity were more likely to be hired. Considering that people might be inclined to these biases during societal crises and the exceptional need to quickly recruit health professionals during COVID-19 pandemic, our study recommends special attention to prevent the influence of facial appearance-based evaluations not reflecting real skills to limit potentially adverse consequences

Development and cross-national investigation of a model explaining participation in WHO-recommended and placebo behaviours to prevent COVID-19 infection

To protect themselves from COVID-19, people follow the recommendations of the authorities, but they also resort to placebos. To stop the virus, it is important to understand the factors underlying both types of preventive behaviour. This study examined whether our model (developed based on the Health Belief Model and the Transactional Model of Stress) can explain participation in WHO-recommended and placebo actions during the pandemic. Model was tested on a sample of 3346 participants from Italy, Japan, Poland, Korea, Sweden, and the US. It was broadly supported: objective risk and cues to action showed both direct and indirect (through perceived threat) associations with preventive behaviours. Moreover, locus of control, decision balance, health anxiety and preventive coping moderated these relationships. Numerous differences were also found between countries. We conclude that beliefs about control over health and perceived benefits of actions are critical to the development of interventions to improve adherence to recommendations

Complex movement disorders at disease onset in childhood narcolepsy with cataplexy

Narcolepsy with cataplexy is characterized by daytime sleepiness, cataplexy (sudden loss of bilateral muscle tone triggered by emotions), sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations and disturbed nocturnal sleep. Narcolepsy with cataplexy is most often associated with human leucocyte antigen-DQB1*0602 and is caused by the loss of hypocretin-producing neurons in the hypothalamus of likely autoimmune aetiology. Noting that children with narcolepsy often display complex abnormal motor behaviours close to disease onset that do not meet the classical definition of cataplexy, we systematically analysed motor features in 39 children with narcolepsy with cataplexy in comparison with 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We found that patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy displayed a complex array of ‘negative’ (hypotonia) and ‘active’ (ranging from perioral movements to dyskinetic–dystonic movements or stereotypies) motor disturbances. ‘Active’ and ‘negative’ motor scores correlated positively with the presence of hypotonic features at neurological examination and negatively with disease duration, whereas ‘negative’ motor scores also correlated negatively with age at disease onset. These observations suggest that paediatric narcolepsy with cataplexy often co-occurs with a complex movement disorder at disease onset, a phenomenon that may vanish later in the course of the disease. Further studies are warranted to assess clinical course and whether the associated movement disorder is also caused by hypocretin deficiency or by additional neurochemical abnormalities

Aspetti psicosociali nella costruzione dell'autostima in pre-adolescenti affetti da strabismo

ItLo strabismo sembra influenzare i rapporti interpersonali e l’autostima specialmente nel periodo predolescenziale, allorché vi è una maggiore attenzione alle caratteristiche del proprio schema corporeo e alle reazioni suscitate negli interlocutori. Tale ipotesi è stata sottoposta a verifica su due gruppi, di strabici e di normovedenti, composti ciascuno da 32 soggetti, di entrambi i generi, suddivisi in: bambini (9-11 anni) e pre-adolescenti (13-14 anni). A tutti i soggetti sono state somministrate tre scale (Vissuto Corporeo, Competenza di Controllo dell’Ambiente, Relazioni Interpersonali) tratte dalle 5 del TMA di Bracken. Le analisi statistiche dei punteggi riportati hanno evidenziato che tutte e tre le dimensioni dell’autostima, pur rientrando nel range di normalità, sono significativamente inferiori nei predolescenti rispetto ai bambini e, soprattutto, nei soggetti strabici rispetto ai normovedenti. Complessivamente, i risultati ottenuti indicano che la percezione dell’inadeguatezza fisica condiziona negativamente l’autostima nella pre-adolescenza, in particolare nelle femmine, per gli aspetti connessi alle Relazioni Interpersonali.EnThe negative influence of strabismus on selfesteem and interpersonal relationships may be more pronounced in pre-adolescents, given their attention to body representation and perception of others. To test this hypothesis, two age and genderalanced groups of 32 subjects: children (aged 9 to 11) and pre-adolescents (aged 11 to 14), without cognitive impairment nor neuropsychiatric symptoms, underwent three subscales (Physical, Competence, Social) of Bracken’s Multidimensional Self Concept Scale. Statistical analysis showed that scores of all three dimensions of self-esteem, although within normal ranges, were significantly lower in pre- adolescents compared to children and, above all, in strabic compared to normal-sighted subjects. Moreover, Physical subscale scores were significantly lower in strabic pre-adolescents, regardless of gender, compared to all other subgroups, while Social subscale scores were lower in female pre-adolescents compared to all other subgroups. Taken together, the findings suggest that the perceived inadequacy of physical appearance exerts a negative influence on the development of interaction-mensions of self-esteem in pre-adolescents, especially females.FrLe strabisme semble influencer les rapports interpersonnels et la confiance en soi en particulièr pendant la période préadolescente, lorsque l’on donne une importance majeure aux caractéristiques du développement de son propre corps et aux réactions que cela suscite. Une telle hypothèse a été vérifiée sur 2 groupes, strabiques et personnes voyantes, composés chacun de 32 sujets, des deux sexes, sous-divisés en: enfants (9-11 ans) et préadolescents (13-14 ans). Trois échelles ont été distribuées à chaque sujet (Vécu Corporel, Compétence de l’Entourage, Relations Interpersonnelles) tirées du TMA de Bracken. Les analyses statistiques des résultats ont mis en évidence le fait que les trois dimensions de la confiance en soi, bien que non trop éloignées de la norme, sont significativement inférieures chez les préadolescents par rapport aux enfants et, à plus forte raison, chez les sujets atteints de strabisme comparé aux voyants. Globalement, les résultats obtenus indiquent que la perception de mal à l’aise physique conditionne de manière négative la confiance en soi à la préadolescence, en particulier chez les sujets féminins, pour les aspects ayant attrait aux Relations Interpersonnelles