In private
Prejudice towards gay men and a need for physical cleansing
Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, Sven Waldzus & Marzena Cypryanska
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The results of four studies suggest that contamination concerns involved in prejudice towards male homosexuals may be expressed in the increased need for physical cleansing after an imagined contact with a homosexual man. Participants in Study 1 completed word fragments according to the theme of cleansing, and in Study 2, they chose a cleansing wipe more often after imagining using the mobile of a homosexual (vs. heterosexual) man. The need for cleansing was specific to the body parts engaged in the contact. In Study 3, participants evaluated hand and mouth cleansing products as more desirable after imagining using a mobile phone of a homosexual (vs. heterosexual) man. The specific need for cleansing, but not the accessibility of cleansing related words, was more pronounced among political conservatives (Study 4). The results are discussed with reference to the behavioral immune system hypothesis, research on moral disgust, and the embodiment literature.
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Thomas Adams, Patrick Stewart & John Blanchar
PLoS ONE, May 2014
Abstract:
Disgust has been implicated as a potential causal agent underlying socio-political attitudes and behaviors. Several recent studies have suggested that pathogen disgust may be a causal mechanism underlying social conservatism. However, the specificity of this effect is still in question. The present study tested the effects of disgust on a range of policy preferences to clarify whether disgust is generally implicated in political conservatism across public policy attitudes or is uniquely related to specific content domains. Self-reported socio-political attitudes were compared between participants in two experimental conditions: 1) an odorless control condition, and 2) a disgusting odor condition. In keeping with previous research, the present study showed that exposure to a disgusting odor increased endorsement of socially conservative attitudes related to sexuality. In particular, there was a strong and consistent link between induced disgust and less support for gay marriage.
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Chemosensory Communication of Gender through Two Human Steroids in a Sexually Dimorphic Manner
Wen Zhou et al.
Current Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent studies have suggested the existence of human sex pheromones, with particular interest in two human steroids: androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one) and estratetraenol (estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol). The current study takes a critical step to test the qualification of the two steroids as sex pheromones by examining whether they communicate gender information in a sex-specific manner. By using dynamic point-light displays that portray the gaits of walkers whose gender is digitally morphed from male to female [ 1, 2 ], we show that smelling androstadienone systematically biases heterosexual females, but not males, toward perceiving the walkers as more masculine. By contrast, smelling estratetraenol systematically biases heterosexual males, but not females, toward perceiving the walkers as more feminine. Homosexual males exhibit a response pattern akin to that of heterosexual females, whereas bisexual or homosexual females fall in between heterosexual males and females. These effects are obtained despite that the olfactory stimuli are not explicitly discriminable. The results provide the first direct evidence that the two human steroids communicate opposite gender information that is differentially effective to the two sex groups based on their sexual orientation. Moreover, they demonstrate that human visual gender perception draws on subconscious chemosensory biological cues, an effect that has been hitherto unsuspected.
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School Violence and Bullying Among Sexual Minority High School Students, 2009–2011
Emily O'Malley Olsen et al.
Journal of Adolescent Health, forthcoming
Purpose: School-based victimization has short- and long-term implications for the health and academic lives of sexual minority students. This analysis assessed the prevalence and relative risk of school violence and bullying among sexual minority and heterosexual high school students.
Methods: Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 10 states and 10 large urban school districts that assessed sexual identity and had weighted data in the 2009 and/or 2011 cycle were combined to create two large population-based data sets, one containing state data and one containing district data. Prevalence of physical fighting, being threatened or injured with a weapon, weapon carrying, and being bullied on school property and not going to school because of safety concerns was calculated. Associations between these behaviors and sexual identity were identified.
Results: In the state data, sexual minority male students were at greater risk for being threatened or injured with a weapon, not going to school because of safety concerns and being bullied than heterosexual male students. Sexual minority female students were at greater risk than heterosexual female students for all five behaviors. In the district data, with one exception, sexual minority male and female students were at greater risk for all five behaviors than heterosexual students.
Conclusions: Sexual minority students still routinely experience more school victimization than their heterosexual counterparts. The implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based programs and policies has the ability to reduce school violence and bullying, especially among sexual minority students.
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Doug VanderLaan, Lanna Petterson & Paul Vasey
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study presents data bearing on an evolutionary developmental model of male homosexuality. This model hypothesizes that a predisposition toward elevated kin-directed altruism among homosexual males is expressed in childhood as elevated concern for close attachment figures (e.g., parents) and proximally influenced by the concomitant behavioral expression of femininity. We examined whether homosexual males recalled such elevated concern for parents during childhood and considered its association with recalled childhood gender behavior. Heterosexual and homosexual males and females (N = 524) provided measures of recalled childhood gender behavior, concern about parental wellbeing, and other potential sources of separation anxiety. Heterosexual males experienced significantly less anxiety about parental wellbeing than all other groups. Recalled separation anxiety was positively correlated with childhood femininity for heterosexual females and homosexual males. The heterosexual sex and male sexual orientation differences in concern about parental wellbeing were accounted for by childhood feminine behavior. These findings are consistent with the proposed evolutionary developmental model. We discuss possible proximate influences that facilitate the development of this putative evolved predisposition toward elevated kin-directed altruism among homosexual males as well as limitations and future directions.
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Individual Differences in Testosterone Predict Persistence in Men
Keith Welker & Justin Carré
European Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Abstract:
Persistence is an important predictor of future successes. The present research addresses the relationship between testosterone and persistence in men. One hundred eighteen men were randomly assigned to win or lose a competitive number tracing task against a confederate or complete the task alone in a non-competitive control condition. Saliva samples were collected prior to and after the competition or control conditions. Participants were then given a maximum time of 30 min to spend attempting to solve unsolvable puzzles, with the option to quit at any time. In contrast to our prediction, changes in testosterone concentrations in response to the competitive interaction did not predict persistence behaviour. However, individual differences in testosterone concentrations (pre-competition/non-competition) were positively correlated with persistence. These findings are the first to examine associations between neuroendocrine function and persistence behaviour in people and suggest that testosterone should also be considered when predicting persistence-related outcomes.
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Testosterone Reactivity to Facial Display of Emotions in Men and Women
Samuele Zilioli, Evan Caldbick & Neil Watson
Hormones and Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous studies have examined testosterone’s role in regulating the processing of facial displays of emotions (FDEs). However, the reciprocal process -- the influence of FDEs, an evolutionarily ancient and potent class of social signals, on the secretion of testosterone – has not yet been studied. To address this gap, we examined the effects of emotional content and sex of facial stimuli in modulating endogenous testosterone fluctuations, as well as sex differences in the endocrine responses to faces. One hundred and sixty-four young healthy men and women were exposed, in a between-subjects design, to happy or angry same-sex or opposite-sex facial expressions. Results showed that in both men (n = 85) and women (n = 79), extended exposure to faces of the opposite sex, regardless of their apparent emotional content, was accompanied by an accumulation in salivary testosterone when compared to exposure to faces of the same sex. Furthermore, testosterone change in women exposed to angry expressions was greater than testosterone change in women exposed to happy expressions. These results add emotional facial stimuli to the collection of social signals that modulate endocrine status, and are discussed with regard to the evolutionary roles of testosterone.
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Correlations between spatial skills: A test of the hunter-gatherer hypothesis
M. Hughes, D. Sulikowski & D. Burke
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, March 2014, Pages 19-44
Abstract:
The hunter-gatherer hypothesis of Silverman and Eals (1992) is the best-supported evolutionary explanation for sex differences in human spatial cognitive skills. It proposes that the sex differences in performance on a range of spatial task are a consequence of males (who hunted much more than did females) being better adapted to encode space allocentrically, and to rely on Euclidian navigational strategies employing distant landmarks, whereas females (who gathered much more than did males) are better adapted to encode space more egocentrically, navigating based more on local landmarks, and to be better able to precisely encode the position of particular objects. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the performance of male and female participants in a virtual navigation task (in which we could manipulate the landmark information available), a virtual dead-reckoning task and an object location memory task. The patterns of sex differences in the spatial tasks were strongly supportive of the hunter-gatherer hypothesis, but the sex-specific correlations between tasks thought to be underpinned by the same spatial-cognitive ability were not always supportive of the hypothesis, suggesting that the hunter-gatherer hypothesis requires some revisions or extensions.
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Hormonal contraceptive use and the objectification of women and men
Valentina Piccoli, Kelly Cobey & Andrea Carnaghi
Personality and Individual Differences, August 2014, Pages 44–47
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to test the influence of combined hormonal contraceptive (CHC) use on women’s objectification of other women and men (i.e., the tendency to attribute appearance-related body features rather than competence-related body features). A regression analysis showed that the higher the dose of the synthetic estrogen contained within a CHC, the higher the level of objectification of other women. As for men target, the synthetic estrogen was not a significant predictor, but it showed a positive trend, thus higher levels of estrogen might be, at least in part, associated with higher levels of objectification. There was no relationship between synthetic progesterone and the level of objectification of both women and men. The implications of these results are discussed with respect to the mate-retention strategies and intra-group dynamics.
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Pubertal Testosterone Influences Threat-Related Amygdala-Orbitofrontal Coupling
Jeffrey Spielberg et al.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
Growing evidence indicates that normative pubertal maturation is associated with increased threat reactivity, and this developmental shift has been implicated in the increased rates of adolescent affective disorders. However, the neural mechanisms involved in this pubertal increase in threat reactivity remain unknown. Research in adults indicates that testosterone transiently decreases amygdala-orbitofrontal cortex coupling. Consequently, we hypothesized that increased pubertal testosterone disrupts amygdala-orbitofrontal cortex coupling, which may contribute to developmental increases in threat reactivity in some adolescents. Hypotheses were tested in a longitudinal study by examining the impact of testosterone on functional connectivity. Findings were consistent with hypotheses and advance our understanding of normative pubertal changes in neural systems instantiating affect/motivation. Finally, potential novel insights into the neurodevelopmental pathways that may contribute to adolescent vulnerability to behavioral and emotional problems are discussed.
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Benjamin Walker, Colleen Sinclair & John MacArthur
Social Influence, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examined how individual differences in motivation to control prejudiced reactions (MCPR) affected one's sensitivity to social norms regarding the expression of gay rights attitudes. After measuring their political beliefs and MCPR, pro-gay rights and anti-gay rights participants took part in a discussion where they faced discussion groups that either opposed their position unanimously or nonunanimously (i.e., four opposing confederates vs. three opposing confederates and one undecided confederate). Anti-gay rights individuals showed more conformity overall, especially when high in MCPR. Anti-gay rights individuals also showed norm-consistent attitude change, regardless of MCPR, whereas attitude change among pro-gay rights individuals depended upon their level of MCPR.
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Carolyn Declerck, B. Lambert & C. Boone
Hormones and Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
In response to a recent hypothesis that the neuropeptide oxytocin might be involved in human pathogen avoidance mechanisms, we report the results of a study in which we investigate the effect of intranasal oxytocin on two behaviors serving as proxies for pathogen detection. Participants received either oxytocin or a placebo and were asked to evaluate (1) the health of Caucasian male computer-generated pictures that varied in facial redness (an indicator of hemoglobin perfusion) and (2) a series of pictures depicting disgusting scenarios. Men, but not women, evaluated all faces, regardless of color, as less healthy when given oxytocin compared to a placebo. Women, on the other hand, expressed decreased disgust when given oxytocin compared to a placebo. These results suggest that intranasal oxytocin administration does not facilitate pathogen detection based on visual cues, but instead reveal clear sex differences in the perception of health and sickness cues.
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Cuddling and Spooning: Heteromasculinity and Homosocial Tactility among Student-athletes
Eric Anderson & Mark McCormack
Men and Masculinities, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article examines the prevalence of homosocial tactility and the contemporary status and meaning of heteromasculinity among British male youth. Drawing on in-depth interviews with forty student-athletes at a British university, we find that thirty-seven participants have cuddled with another male. In addition to this cuddling, participants also engage in “spooning” with their heterosexual male friends. Demonstrating the pleasurable aspects of being a man in this culture, we argue that the expansion of esteemed homosocial behaviors for heterosexual men is evidence of an expansion of changing conceptions of masculinity in contemporary culture. We call for the discussion of heteromasculinities and contextualize our findings using inclusive masculinity theory.
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Matthew Stief, Gerulf Rieger & Ritch Savin-Williams
Personality and Individual Differences, August 2014, Pages 193–198
Abstract:
Sexual orientation is typically assumed to be independent of factors such as personality. Although this is probably accurate for heterosexual and homosexual orientations, personality may play a role in bisexuality. It was hypothesized that bisexuality is potentiated by personality traits that allow sexual behavior to occur independently of sexual response systems that are specifically “oriented” to male or female sexual stimuli. If so, such traits should be elevated in bisexual women and men. Because female sexual response is relatively independent of the sex of the partner it was also hypothesized that such relationships would be stronger for bisexual women than bisexual men. This was tested in two online studies. Study 1 (N = 828) tested for elevated levels of two relevant personality traits; sexual sensation seeking and sexual excitability. Study 2 (N = 655) assessed sexual curiosity, and tested whether the relationship between sexual curiosity and bisexuality was independent of the Big Five. Elevated levels of sexual sensation seeking and sexual curiosity were found for bisexual women and men; only bisexual women reported elevated levels of sexual excitability. The predicted sex difference was found for each trait, and sexual curiosity was elevated independently of the Big Five.
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Experiences of objectification and sexual risk behaviors among sexual minority men
Laurel Watson & Franco Dispenza
Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, March 2014, Pages 40-50
Abstract:
Through an objectification theory lens, this study sought to explore the relationships between various forms of objectification (i.e., sexual objectification and objectification based on masculine appearance norms violations) and sexual risk behaviors among sexual minority men. Utilizing an online data collection procedure, a sample of 216 self-identified sexual minority men participated in this study. This study assessed whether sexual objectification, objectification based on masculine appearance norm violations, and the feelings associated with such experiences predicted sexual risk behaviors. An additional goal of this study was to explore the potential moderating role of emotional valence in the relationship between various forms of objectification and sexual risk behaviors. Results revealed that a greater frequency of sexual objectification, as well as positive feelings associated with sexual objectification experiences, were directly related to more sexual risk behaviors. Additionally, negative feelings associated with objectification based on masculine appearance norm violations predicted sexual risk behaviors. No support was found for the moderating role of emotional valence in the relationship between the different forms of objectification and sexual risk behaviors. Implications for research and intervention are discussed, as well as the strengths and limitations of the study.