Folk beliefs about genetic variation predict avoidance of biracial individuals

People give widely varying estimates for the amount of genetic overlap that exists between humans. While some laypeople believe that humans are highly genetically similar to one another, others believe that humans share very little genetic overlap. These studies examine how beliefs about genetic overlap affect neural and evaluative reactions to racially-ambiguous and biracial targets. In Study 1, we found that lower genetic overlap estimates predicted a stronger neural avoidance response to biracial compared to monoracial targets. In Study 2, we found that lower genetic overlap estimates predicted longer response times to classify biracial (versus monoracial) faces into racial categories. In Study 3, we manipulated genetic overlap beliefs and found that participants in the low overlap condition explicitly rated biracial targets more negatively than those in the high overlap condition. Taken together, these data suggest that genetic overlap beliefs influence perceivers’ processing fluency and evaluation of biracial and racially-ambiguous individuals

Understanding the mechanisms underlying the effects of negative age stereotypes and perceived age discrimination on older adults’ well-being

Objectives: Although numerous studies have documented that negative age stereotypes and perceived age discrimination are related to older adults’ lower well-being, few studies have investigated the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In this study, we tested whether self-perceptions of aging and subjective age would help to account for the relation between stereotypes and discrimination and self-esteem. According to the internalization hypothesis, we expected that the effects of negative age stereotypes and greater perceived age discrimination would be driven by more negative self-perceptions of aging and older subjective age. Method: A total of 151 older adults completed questions assessing their endorsement of negative age stereotypes, perceived age discrimination, self-perceptions of aging, subjective age, and self-esteem. Relationships among these variables were assessed using serial mediation analyses. Results: Consistent with the internalization hypothesis, negative age stereotypes and perceived age discrimination indirectly predicted older subjective age and lower self-esteem through worsening self-perceptions of aging. However, we did not find a direct effect of negative age stereotypes or perceived discrimination on subjective age, nor an indirect effect of negative age stereotypes and perceived age discrimination on self-esteem through subjective age. Conclusion: These results support the internalization hypothesis: among older adults, holding more negative age stereotypes and perceiving more age discrimination is associated with feeling older and with lower self-esteem through worsened perceptions of one’s own aging. Given the central role of self-perceptions of aging, these findings highlight the importance of promoting more positive self-perceptions in order to maintain or increase older adults’ well-being

Psychological Predictors and Consequences of Hearing Health Behaviors in Older Adults

Introduction: Hearing loss is a common chronic condition affecting older adults in Western populations [1, 2]. Even if older adults could benefit from hearing aid use, they are reluctant to wear them [1]. The purpose of the present study was twofold: a) to examine whether older adults’ implicit theories regarding the modifiability of abilities in general would predict their hearing health behaviors; and (b) to assess consequences of these behaviors on subjective aging. Methods: One hundred and sixty-three older adults (Mean age = 68.62, SD = 5.40) completed, among other questionnaires, questions assessing their implicit theories of ability (i.e., seeing general abilities as fixed vs. improvable with effort [3]) and their subjective age (i.e., felt age, do age, look age, and interest age [4]). They also reported their perceptions of the benefits of various hearing health behaviors for slowing the effects of aging (i.e., getting their hearing tested and using hearing aids) as well as their intentions to engage in those behaviors. Results: We found that the more older people considered that abilities are alterable, the more they perceived hearing health behaviors as being beneficial, which in turn increased their intentions to engage in these behaviors. Also, the greater their intentions, the younger subjective age they reported. Key conclusions: These relationships between implicit theories, hearing health behaviors, and subjective age are particularly important to take into account. Indeed, neglecting hearing problems and experiencing an older subjective age may have detrimental health-related outcomes over time [5, 6]. 1. Feder, K., Michaud, D., Ramage-Morin, P., McNamee, J., & Beauregard, Y. (2015). Prevalence of hearing loss among Canadians aged 20 to 79: Audiometric results from the 2012/2013 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Reports, 26(7), 18-25. 2. Lin, F. R., Thorpe, R., Gordon-Salant, S., & Ferrucci, L. (2011). Hearing loss prevalence and risk factors among older adults in the United States. The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 66(5), 582-590. doi: doi:10.1093/gerona/glr002 3. Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadephia, PA: Psychology Press. 4. Kastenbaum, R., Derbin, V., Sabatini, P., & Artt, S. (1972). “The ages of me”: Toward personal and interpersonal definitions of functional aging. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 3(2), 197-211. 5. Bainbridge, K. E., & Wallhagen, M. I. (2014). Hearing loss in an aging American population: Extent, impact, and management. Annual Review of Public Health, 35, 139-152. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182510 6. Kotter-Grühn, D., Kornadt, A. E., & Stephan, Y. (2015). Looking beyond chronological age: Current knowledge and future directions in the study of subjective age. Gerontology, 62(1), 86-93. doi: 10.1159/00043867

Do Older Adults' Growth Mindsets Predict Their Willingness to Engage in Preventative Health Behaviors?

Promoting health behaviors among older adults has become increasingly important given the accumulating health problems that can accompany older age. The present study examined the linkages between implicit theories regarding the modifiability of abilities, health behaviors, and subjective age among older adults. A total of 147 older adults (Mean age = 68.62, SD = 5.40) completed, among other measures, questions assessing their implicit theories of ability and their subjective age. They also reported their perceptions of the benefits of different health behaviors (i.e., healthy sleep and diet habits, exercising, and seeking help for hearing or vision problems) for slowing the effects of aging as well as their intentions to engage in those behaviors. As hypothesized, we found that the more older people believed that abilities are changeable, the more they perceived benefits of health behaviors, which in turn increased their intentions. Also, the greater their intentions, the younger the subjective age they reported. The finding that perceived benefits mediated the relationship between implicit theories and intentions toward health behaviors may have important implications for designing interventions to promote and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle in later life. Interventions that focus on modifying fixed mindsets regarding general abilities could indirectly yield positive consequences on intentions to engage in health behaviors by leading older people to see those behaviors as useful for slowing the effects of aging

Supplementary_Material_2 - Nothing ventured, nothing gained: People anticipate more regret from missed romantic opportunities than from rejection

<p>Supplementary_Material_2 for Nothing ventured, nothing gained: People anticipate more regret from missed romantic opportunities than from rejection by Samantha Joel, Jason E. Plaks, and Geoff MacDonald in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships</p

Supplementary_Material_1 - Nothing ventured, nothing gained: People anticipate more regret from missed romantic opportunities than from rejection

<p>Supplementary_Material_1 for Nothing ventured, nothing gained: People anticipate more regret from missed romantic opportunities than from rejection by Samantha Joel, Jason E. Plaks, and Geoff MacDonald in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships</p

Impressions at the intersection of ambiguous and obvious social categories: Does gay + black = likable?

How do perceivers combine information about perceptually obvious categories (e.g., Black) with information about perceptually ambiguous categories (e.g., gay) during impression formation? Given that gay stereotypes are activated automatically, we predicted that positive gay stereotypes confer evaluative bene fi ts to Black gay targets, even whenperceivers areunaware oftargets' sexual orientations. Participants in Study 1 rated faces of White straight men as more likable than White gay men, but rated Black men in the opposite manner: gays were liked more than straights. In Study 2, participants approaching Whites during an approach – avoidance task responded faster to straights than gays, whereas participants approaching Blacks responded faster to gays than straights. These fi ndings highlight the striking extent to which less visible categories, like sexual orientation, subtly in fl uence person perception and determine the explicit and implicit evaluations individuals form about others

An orderly personality partially explains the link between trait disgust and political conservatism

Individuals who are more easily disgusted tend to be more politically conservative. Individuals who have a preference for order also tend to be more politically conservative. In the present research, we hypothesised that these three variables are psychologically interrelated. Specifically, trait disgust encourages a generalised search for order, which, in turn, encourages the endorsement of political positions that aim to maintain societal order. Taking an individual differences approach, we operationalised the preference for order via Orderliness, one aspect of the Big Five trait Conscientiousness. Across six samples (total N = 1485), participants completed measures of trait disgust, aspect/trait personality, and political orientation. Analyses revealed that Orderliness was a consistent mediator of the association between trait disgust and conservatism. Analyses of subscales of disgust revealed preliminary evidence that Orderliness most consistently mediated the relationships between Contamination, Pathogen, and Sexual disgust and conservatism. These data suggest that disgust-sensitive people extend their preference for order in the physical environment (e.g. tidying up one's room) to the sociopolitical environment (e.g. strengthening traditional norms). The present findings illustrate one way in which emotional, cognitive, and personality processes work together to influence political orientation

Effects of Culture and Gender on Judgments of Intent and Responsibility

<div><p>Do different cultures hold different views of intentionality? In four studies, participants read scenarios in which the actor’s <i>distal intent</i> (a focus on a broader goal) and <i>proximal intent</i> (a focus on the mechanics of the act) were manipulated. In Studies 1–2, when distal intent was more prominent in the actor’s mind, North Americans rated the actor more responsible than did Chinese and South Asian participants. When proximal intent was more prominent, Chinese and South Asian participants, if anything, rated the actor more responsible. In Studies 3–4, when distal intent was more prominent, male Americans rated the actor more responsible than did female Americans. When proximal intent was more prominent, females rated the actor more responsible. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the literatures on moral reasoning and cultural psychology.</p></div