1,720,989 research outputs found
Retrieval Effort Cues Predict Eyewitness Accuracy
No full textPrevious research has documented that correct eyewitness memories are more rapidly recalled and recognized than are incorrect ones, suggesting that retrieval ease is diagnostic of memory accuracy. Building on these findings, the current research explores whether verbal and paraverbal cues to retrieval effort could be used to determine the accuracy of honestly reported eyewitness statements about a crime event. Moreover, we examine the relative role of such effort cues and witnesses’ subjective confidence in predicting memory accuracy. The results of 2 studies demonstrate that objectively verifiable verbal and paraverbal cues to retrieval effort are strongly related to honest witnesses’ memory accuracy and that several of these cues contribute uniquely to predict accuracy. Moreover, we show that subjective confidence in a memory rests on these effort cues and that the cues mediate the confidence-accuracy relation. Given research showing that most people have vast difficulties in judging the quality of others’ memories, combined with the scarcity of research on predictors of genuinely reported memories, these initial findings suggest unexplored alternatives that may prove highly useful for improving accuracy judgments, with potentially far-reaching significance not the least in the legal context
Body Odor Disgust Sensitivity Predicts Moral Harshness Toward Moral Violations of Purity
No full textDetecting pathogen threats and avoiding disease is fundamental to human survival. The behavioral immune system (BIS) framework outlines a set of psychological functions that may have evolved for this purpose. Disgust is a core emotion that plays a pivotal role in the BIS, as it activates the behavioral avoidance motives that prevent people from being in contact with pathogens. To date, there has been little agreement on how disgust sensitivity might underlie moral judgments. Here, we investigated moral violations of “purity” (assumed to elicit disgust) and violations of “harm” (assumed to elicit anger). We hypothesized that individual differences in BIS-related traits would be associated with greater disgust (vs. anger) reactivity to, and greater condemnation of Purity (vs. Harm) violations. The study was pre-registered (https://osf.io/57nm8/). Participants (N = 632) rated scenarios concerning moral wrongness or inappropriateness and regarding disgust and anger. To measure individual differences in the activation of the BIS, we used our recently developed Body Odor Disgust Scale (BODS), a BIS-related trait measure that assesses individual differences in feeling disgusted by body odors. In line with our predictions, we found that scores on the BODS relate more strongly to affective reactions to Purity, as compared to Harm, violations. In addition, BODS relates more strongly to Moral condemnation than to perceived Inappropriateness of an action, and to the condemnation of Purity violations as compared to Harm violations. These results suggest that the BIS is involved in moral judgment, although to some extent this role seems to be specific for violations of “moral purity,” a response that might be rooted in disease avoidance. Data and scripts to analyze the data are available on the Open Science Framework (OSF) repository: https://osf.io/tk4x5/. Planned analyses are available at https://osf.io/x6g3u/
Body Odor Trait Disgust Sensitivity Predicts Perception of Sweat Biosamples
No full textBody odors are potent triggers of disgust and regulate social behaviors in many species. The role of olfaction in disgust-associated behaviors has received scant attention in the research literature, in part because olfactory disgust assessments have required laboratory testing with odors. We have devised the "Body Odor Disgust Scale" (BODS) to facilitate research on olfactory disgust. In this study, we evaluated whether individual differences in BODS scores would be associated with the perception of disgust for sweat samples in a laboratory setting. Results show that BODS was a strong predictor of disgust ratings of sweat samples even when controlling for general disgust sensitivity. In contrast, odor intensity ratings were unrelated to BODS scores. Our findings suggest that the BODS scores reflect body odor disgust perception. The BODS scale might facilitate research on olfactory disgust responses and associated behaviors
Different kinds of abstract concept
No full textTo explain how abstract concepts, like “truth”, are represented is pivotal for embodied and grounded theories, according to which concepts are grounded in sensorimotor system. An important novelty in recent literature is the recognition that abstract concepts are not a unitary whole, but there might exist sub-kinds of abstract concepts, that are differently represented. Some studies have started to explore the differences between abstract concepts, such as mathematical, emotional, institutional and social concepts. However, an accurate classification has not yet been provided. The aim of our work is to identify fine-grained differences between abstract concepts. We selected 425 abstract words and classified them into preexisting and new categories of concepts: mathematical and logic, social, linguistics, institutional, temporal, spatial, mental states, characteristics of the self, events, pure abstract, imaginary, knowledge areas, cognitive processes, bodily states and physical. A sample of 240 participants rated words on a 7-points Likert-type scale on various dimensions. Aside classical dimensions, like concreteness, abstractness, and imageability, we considered novel dimensions highlighted by recent studies: age and modality of acquisition (perceptual vs linguistic); valence (positive and negative); social dimension; Body-object interaction; perceptual modality and interoception. Preliminary results highlighted a distinction between two macro-kinds of concepts, characterized by a different level of grounding. “Emotions” and “Bodily states” obtained higher BOI and interoception ratings than other categories. “Institutional concepts” and “Knowledge domains” were judged with higher MoA, i.e. mostly linguistically acquired. Our results suggest that differences in concepts kinds thus do not depend only on content but also on mechanisms like interoception and language activation
An fMRI study on the neural correlates of social conformity to a sexual minority
Full text linkSocial conformity refers to the tendency to align one’s own behaviors, beliefs and values to those of others. Little is known about social influence coming from a minority group. To test whether social pressure from sexual minorities triggers avoidance-motivated behaviors, we explored how being influenced by the preferences of gay peers modifies the behavioral and neural reactivity of individuals defined as in- vs. out- groups on the basis of sexual orientation. To this aim, we combined fMRI with a social conformity paradigm in which heterosexual and gay/bisexual (hereafter non-exclusively heterosexual, NEH) individuals provided with male body attractiveness ratings by a fictitious group of gay students may or may not alter their previous rating and may or may not conform to the mean. Behaviorally, conformity to the minority preference was found in in-group NEH more than in out-group heterosexuals. Analysis of BOLD signal showed that social pressure brought about increased brain activity in frontal and parietal regions associated with the detection of social conflict. These results show that members of a sexual majority group display a smaller level of conformity when a sexual minority group exerts social influence. However, the neural correlates of this modulation are yet to be clarified
The effect of the permanence in day-centers on adolescents' affective and behavioral problems
No full textRight-wing authoritarianism and stereotype-driven expectations interact in shaping intergroup trust in one-shot vs multiple-round social interactions
No full textTrust towards unrelated individuals is often conditioned by information about previous social interactions that can be derived from either personal or vicarious experience (e.g., reputation). Intergroup stereotypes can be operationalized as expectations about other groups’ traits/attitudes/behaviors that heavily influence our behavioral predictions when interacting with them. In this study we investigated the role of perceived social dimensions of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM)-Warmth (W) and Competence (C)-in affecting trusting behavior towards different European national group members during the Trust Game. Given the well-known role of ideological attitudes in regulating stereotypes, we also measured individual differences in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). In Experiment 1, we designed an online survey to study one-shot intergroup trust decisions by employing putative members of the European Union states which were also rated along SCM dimensions. We found that low-RWA participants’ trusting behavior was driven by perceived warmth (i.e., the dimension signaling the benevolence of social intentions) when interacting with low-C groups. In Experiment 2, we investigated the dynamics of trust in a multiple-round version of the European Trust Game. We found that in low-RWA participants trusting behavior decreased over time when interacting with high-W groups (i.e., expected to reciprocate trust), but did not change when interacting with low-W groups (i.e., expected not to reciprocate trust). Moreover, we found that high-RWA participants’ trusting behavior decreased when facing low-W groups but not high-W ones. This suggests that low-RWA individuals employ reputational priors but are also permeable to external evidence when learning about others’ trustworthiness. In contrast, high-RWA individuals kept relying on stereotypes despite contextual information. These results confirm the pivotal role played by reputational priors triggered by perceived warmth in shaping social interactions
Social Dominance Orientation and Perceived Similarity modulate the attracting power of the gaze of politicians on their electors. An fMRI study
No full textAlthough automatic, gaze-following (GF) behavior has found to be modulated by the interaction between the ideology of the onlooker and the political affiliation of the observed model. Here, we investigated the neural correlates of in-group political affiliation using a GF paradigm. During fMRI scanning, right- and left-wing participants were requested to make saccadic movements with respect the instruction given by a central fixation point (FP). The FP was located on the face of Italian political leaders (Berlusconi, Bersani) or either opinion-makers (Vespa, Floris) (respectively of a centre-right or centre-left coalition) and gazing at the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) location. After scanning, we acquired a measure of personality Perceived Similarity and a Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) score for each participant. In keeping with our previous findings, behavioral data showed higher interference for in-group more than out-group political affiliation in right wing participants. Furthermore, the SDO scores predicted this in-group effect. The analysis of the Incongruence-related BOLD signal (IE: incongruent>congruent) revealed a significant activation of left Frontal Eye Field, right Supra-Marginal Gyrus (rSMG) and right Middle Cingulate Cortex (rMCC). ROI analysis showed that the in-group vs. out-group Perceived Similarity score predicted rSMG and rMCC activations associated with the IE of in-group. In other words, participants perceiving themselves as ‘similar to in-group’ demonstrated greater engagement of rSMG and rMCC as a function of IE for in-group personage. Finally, we found an interaction between SDO and the group in predicting the rSMG activity for the IE of in-group v. out-group personage
Body odor disgust scale (BODS): Its validation and association with social biases
No full textBody odors provide important social and health-related cues in many species. While human body odor perception often triggers feelings of disgust, few studies have investigated body odor disgust in a systematic way. We have developed the body odor disgust scale (BODS), a brief 12-item scale to assess the extent to which individuals are disgusted by common body odors such as sweat and urine. The scale development included both internal and external validation tests. We used the BODS in conjunction with scales measuring social attitudes and biases, and found consistent associations between high body odor disgust and stronger authoritarian attitudes, as well as more pronounced outgroup biases. Our work is consistent with the "behavioral immune system" framework, wherein social attitudes and political ideologies are shaped by perceived pathogen risk and disease avoidance via feelings of disgust. Body odor perception may thus not only be important for personal interactions, but may also be linked to social attitudes and political ideologies
The smell of prejudice: individual differences in body odor disgust sensitivity predict prejudice towards a fictive unfamiliar group
No full textThe Behavioral Immune System (BIS), is a psychological mechanism adapted to detect and avoid pathogen threats. According the BIS framework, prejudice towards unfamiliar groups might be partially driven by concerns on their dissimilarity in terms of hygiene and food preparation. Disgust is a core and universal emotion supposedly evolved to avoid disease (pathogen threats) and olfaction plays a pivotal role in evoking this emotion. We investigated whether individual differences in Body Odor Disgust Sensitivity Scale (BODS) correlate with unfavorable attitudes towards a fictive unfamiliar group, the Dhrashnee refugees. We ran a pre-registered online questionnaire study on a sample of N = 800 participants from an MTurk pool. Participants rated their attitudes towards the Dhrashnee, perceptions of similarity with the Dhrashnee
and general attitudes towards immigration. Results fully supported our pre-registered hypotheses: higher levels of BODS are associated with higher levels of prejudice and this association is mediated by perceived dissimilarity in hygiene and food preparation practices,
a result that is consistent with the theoretical framework provided by the BIS
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