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(https://www.psypost.org/dark-personality-traits-linked-to-weaker-support-for-feminism/) Dark personality traits linked to weaker support for feminism
Nov 9th 2024, 08:00

New research published in (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111889) Personality and Individual Differences reveals a negative association between Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—and feminist attitudes.
Dark Triad traits are known for their association with manipulative, self-serving, and exploitative behaviors. Narcissism encompasses grandiosity, entitlement, and a craving for admiration; Machiavellianism involves cunning, deceit, and strategic manipulation; and psychopathy is marked by impulsivity, low empathy, and a disregard for others. Together, these traits form a personality profile often linked to competitive, dominance-oriented behaviors.
Previous research highlights that men generally exhibit higher levels of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy than women. However, it remains unclear how these traits relate to feminist attitudes. The Dark Triad traits are often associated with manipulative and self-serving behaviors, which some argue may align with traditional male gender roles. In this work, Melanie D. Douglass and colleagues investigated whether individuals high in these traits tend to hold more anti-feminist views.
The researchers recruited 343 participants (57% female, ages 18-54) from the United Kingdom, including universities, sports clubs, and workplaces. Participants completed the Short Dark Triad (SD3) and the Feminist Attitudes Scale (FEM), and also provided demographic information. The SD3, a 27-item scale, measures the Dark Triad traits. Participants rated their level of agreement with various statements on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), such as “I like to use clever manipulation to get my way” for Machiavellianism and “People see me as a natural leader” for narcissism.
The FEM scale assesses participants’ attitudes toward feminism. Statements like “Women have the right to compete with men in every sphere of activity” were rated similarly on a five-point scale. Participants’ responses were used to calculate indices for each Dark Triad trait and feminist attitudes.
Results showed a consistent gender difference in Dark Triad scores, with men scoring significantly higher than women on Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. However, no significant difference was observed between men and women in terms of feminist attitudes. The results also revealed that higher levels of each Dark Triad trait correlated with lower levels of feminist support across all participants, regardless of gender.
The results showed that men scored significantly higher than women on all three Dark Triad traits. However, no significant difference was observed between men and women in their feminist attitudes, suggesting that men and women may share similar surface-level views on feminism in today’s social climate.
Despite this, a key finding was the negative association between each Dark Triad trait and feminist attitudes: individuals with higher Dark Triad scores tended to hold more conservative, anti-feminist views. This relationship held across both men and women, but further analysis revealed a stronger effect in men, indicating that high Dark Triad traits in men are particularly associated with opposition to feminist ideals.
Overall, the study suggested that personality traits associated with manipulation, entitlement, and impulsivity tend to discourage support for feminist ideals, particularly in men.
One limitation is the use of self-report measures, which could introduce social desirability bias, especially regarding attitudes toward feminism. Participants might be more inclined to underreport conservative or anti-feminist views in socially progressive environments, such as universities or workplaces.
The research, “(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111889) The Relationship Between the Dark Triad and Attitudes Towards Feminism”, was authored by Melanie D. Douglass, Michael Stirrat, Monica A. Koehn, and Robert S. Vaughan.

(https://www.psypost.org/scientists-reveal-the-disturbing-impact-of-sleep-disruption-on-the-developing-brain/) Scientists reveal the disturbing impact of sleep disruption on the developing brain
Nov 9th 2024, 06:00

A new study underscores the heightened importance of sleep during early brain development, finding that sleep deprivation impacts young mice far more severely than adults. Published in the (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407533121) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research discovered that sleep supports the formation of brain connections essential for learning and memory in young mice. The results offer a window into why children may be more sensitive to sleep loss and how it could influence their cognitive development over time.
“Why we sleep is a long-standing and unanswered question. Sleep is increasingly understood as a fundamental pillar of health,” said study author (https://dieringlab.web.unc.edu/) Graham Diering, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “In this study, we asked whether sleep may perform unique functions during brain development, distinct from adulthood. In other words, is the reason why babies and children need sleep different from why adults need sleep? The companion question then becomes, is losing sleep more detrimental to health during development, and do adults become resilient?”
“We were especially motivated to study this question because children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), show very high rates of sleep disruption compared to typically developing peers. Understanding the vulnerabilities associated with sleep disruption during development could lead to new understanding and treatment opportunities for ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders.”
“This current study was also heavily motivated by (https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-022-00514-5) an earlier study from our lab where we showed that a period of chronic early-life sleep disruption interacted with underlying genetic vulnerability to cause long-lasting (permanent) effects on adult social behavior in mice,” Diering continued. “In other words, sleep disruption during a sensitive period of development is causal of ASD-relevant phenotypes when combined with genetic risk.”
To investigate, the scientists examined the molecular and behavioral effects of sleep deprivation on three groups of mice: juvenile (21–28 days old), adolescent (42–49 days old), and adult (70–100 days old). The sleep-wake behavior of each mouse was monitored with a non-invasive piezoelectric system that detects breathing and movement patterns, allowing researchers to accurately record when each mouse was awake or asleep.
After establishing a baseline sleep pattern, the mice were deprived of sleep and observed during the recovery phase to see how much sleep was regained, examining whether different age groups compensated for lost sleep differently.
The researchers measured a range of indicators to understand the impact of sleep deprivation. Behaviorally, they used a novel object recognition task to assess cognitive performance by measuring how long each mouse spent exploring a familiar versus a new object. On a molecular level, they studied brain tissue from the forebrain region to examine proteins associated with synaptic plasticity and growth, as well as specific genetic activity linked to brain development and stress responses.
The results showed striking differences between younger and older mice in both behavior and brain chemistry. In young mice, sleep deprivation had profound effects, leading to cognitive deficits and impairments in memory performance. In behavioral tests, juvenile mice exposed to sleep deprivation struggled significantly with tasks requiring memory and learning, while adults largely retained their cognitive abilities despite similar sleep loss. This suggests that young brains may be more vulnerable to the cognitive effects of sleep disruption, underscoring the importance of sleep during early development.
“We all intuitively understand that babies and children ‘need their sleep,'” Diering told PsyPost. “We know not to wake the sleeping baby. When we deprived adult mice of sleep for 4 hours, they showed a clear increase in sleep from the normal undisturbed level later that same day. We call this ‘sleep rebound,’ which allows animals to make up for lost sleep. In other words, the adult mice ‘stayed up past bedtime and slept in the next day,’ a very familiar behavior to people.”
“What was quite surprising was when we sleep deprived young mice, they showed no sleep rebound; they never made up the lost sleep, even though we believe they ‘need’ the sleep more than adults. After this result, even though we were looking for different responses to sleep loss in developing versus adult subjects, it was further surprising to find that the developing mice showed a different response to sleep deprivation in every single experiment we conducted. The differences in response to sleep deprivation weren’t just a little bit different between developing and adult subjects; they were fundamentally distinct.”
On a molecular level, the researchers found that sleep deprivation in juvenile mice led to noticeable changes in brain proteins linked to synaptogenesis, the formation and strengthening of connections between neurons. These proteins are essential for building neural networks, which support learning, memory, and other cognitive functions.
In adult mice, however, sleep deprivation did not significantly alter these developmental proteins, suggesting that while adult brains need sleep for maintenance and repair, younger brains require it for ongoing growth and development. This distinct molecular response in juveniles highlights how critical sleep is for the developing brain, where it may facilitate essential processes like synaptic pruning, strengthening, and circuit refinement that form the foundation for lifelong learning.
The study also found that juvenile mice lacked some of the adaptive responses to sleep deprivation that adults exhibited. For instance, in adults, sleep loss triggered an increase in specific stress-related and homeostatic markers like Homer1a, a protein associated with the brain’s need for sleep and recovery. Juveniles, however, showed a weaker or absent response in these adaptive markers, indicating they may not have fully developed the mechanisms to counteract the effects of sleep loss effectively. This inability to adapt makes younger brains not only more sensitive to sleep deprivation but potentially less able to recover from it.
A particularly striking finding was the connection between sleep deprivation in young mice and proteins associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically autism spectrum disorder. Many of the proteins affected by sleep loss in juvenile brains have been linked to genetic risk factors for autism, suggesting that disrupted sleep during critical developmental periods could interact with genetic vulnerabilities. This connection points to a potential mechanism by which early-life sleep deprivation might contribute to developmental challenges, especially in children with preexisting genetic risks.
“Sleep is something that is very important for your whole life, but sleep is especially important for babies and children,” Diering explained. “There is an increasing appreciation that one cannot ‘make up’ for lost sleep. This is especially true during development. Sleep loss can negatively impact brain development. Once development is finished (maturation), we don’t get to go back and do it again.”
While this study offers new insights into the age-specific roles of sleep in brain health, there are some limitations to consider. First, the study was conducted on mice, so while the findings offer a model for understanding brain development, translating these results to humans requires further research. Additionally, the study focused on short-term sleep deprivation; future research could explore how long-term sleep disruption affects brain development.
“We believe our project has important implications for understanding the links between sleep disruption and ASD,” Diering said. “However, in this study we only conducted acute sleep deprivation, a single episode of sleep loss, which is not expected to cause long-lasting effects. Chronic sleep disruption is much more likely to be clinically relevant in human patients.”
“We specifically conducted this acute sleep deprivation to identify what may be the unique vulnerabilities associated with sleep loss during development that could then be further studied in an ASD context. Another caveat is that this study was conducted in mice and not people. However, sleep is conserved across all animal species, and in this study, we believe our findings from mice are relevant to humans.”
Further investigations could also examine how different sleep stages, like rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep, play roles in synaptic development across ages. Future research could explore the molecular mechanisms linking sleep deprivation in juveniles to increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, potentially uncovering novel treatments or interventions for at-risk children.
“We want to study further how sustained developmental sleep loss interacts with ASD genetic risk to cause lasting changes in behavior,” Diering said. “Which types of genetic risks are associated with greater vulnerability to sleep loss? Do we see important differences between males and females?”
“Longer term, we want to use our molecular analysis to learn more about the basis for sleep’s benefits. How does sleeping actually modify the brain at the molecular level to give the various health and cognitive benefits of quality sleep? With these insights, we can then develop next-generation sleep medicine—treatments that will make sleep work better and not just act as simple sedatives that knock people out. This is especially important for children. If sleep performs unique functions during development, distinct from adulthood, we will need dedicated sleep medicines for use in children. Currently, there are no sleep-based medicines approved for use in children.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2407533121) Developing forebrain synapses are uniquely vulnerable to sleep loss,” was authored by Sean M. Gaya, Elissavet Chartampilaa, Julia S. Lorda, Sawyer Grizzarda, Tekla Maisashvilia, Michael Yea, Natalie K. Barkerb, Angie L. Mordant, C. Allie Mills, Laura E. Herring, and Graham H. Diering.

(https://www.psypost.org/teachers-who-leverage-ai-for-guidance-and-lesson-plans-feel-more-effective/) Teachers who leverage AI for guidance and lesson plans feel more effective
Nov 8th 2024, 18:00

Teachers can use generative AI in a variety of ways. They may use it to develop lesson plans and quizzes. Or teachers may rely on a generative AI tool, such as ChatGPT, for insight on how to teach a concept more effectively.
In (http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4924786) our new research, only the teachers doing both of those things reported feeling that they were getting more done. They also told us that their teaching was more effective with AI.
Over the course of the 2023-2024 school year, we followed 24 teachers at K-12 schools throughout the United States as they wrestled with whether and how to use generative AI for their work. We gave them a standard training session on generative AI in the fall of 2023. We then conducted multiple observations, interviews and surveys throughout the year.
We found that teachers felt more productive and effective with generative AI when they turned to it for advice. The standard methods to teach to (https://www.thecorestandards.org/read-the-standards/) state standards that work for one student, or in one school year, might not work as well in another. Teachers may get stuck and need to try a different approach. Generative AI, it turns out, can be a source of ideas for those alternative approaches.
While many (https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2023/11/ai-for-teachers-defeating-burnout-boosting-productivity-perfcon) focus on the productivity benefits of how generative AI can help teachers make quizzes or activities faster, our study points to something different. Teachers feel more productive and effective when their students are learning, and generative AI seems to help some teachers get new ideas about how to advance student learning.
Why it matters
K-12 teaching (https://www.trevormuir.com/blog/creative-profession) requires creativity, particularly when it comes to tasks such as lesson plans or how to integrate technology into the classroom. Teachers are under pressure to work quickly, however, because they have so many things to do, such as prepare teaching materials, meet with parents and grade students’ schoolwork. Teachers (https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/how-teachers-manage-their-workload/) do not have enough time each day to do all of the work that they need to.
We know that such pressure often (https://hbr.org/2002/08/creativity-under-the-gun) makes creativity difficult. This can make teachers feel stuck. Some people, in particular AI experts, view generative AI as a (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJP5GqnTrNo) solution to this problem; generative AI is always on call, it works quickly, and it never tires.
However, this view assumes that teachers will know how to use generative AI effectively to get the solutions they are seeking. Our research reveals that for many teachers, the time it takes to get a satisfactory output from the technology – and revise it to fit their needs – is no shorter than the time it would take to create the materials from scratch on their own. This is why using generative AI to create materials is not enough to get more done.
By understanding how teachers can effectively use generative AI for advice, schools can make more informed decisions about how to invest in AI for their teachers and how to support teachers in using these new tools. Further, this feeds back to the scientists creating AI tools, who can make better decisions about how to design these systems.
What still isn’t known
(https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA956-21.html) Many teachers face roadblocks that prevent them from seeing the benefits of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. These benefits include being able to create better materials faster. The teachers we talked to, however, were all new users of the technology. Teachers who are more familiar with ways to prompt generative AI – we call them “power users” – might have other ways of interacting with the technology that we did not see. We also do not yet know exactly why some teachers move from being new users to proficient users but others do not.

 
This article is republished from (https://theconversation.com) The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the (https://theconversation.com/teachers-feel-most-productive-when-they-use-ai-for-teaching-strategies-236543) original article.

(https://www.psypost.org/religious-involvement-linked-to-higher-perception-of-compulsive-sexual-behavior/) Religious involvement linked to higher perception of compulsive sexual behavior
Nov 8th 2024, 16:00

A recent study published in the (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2024.2353221) Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy offers insights into how religious beliefs influence the way people perceive their own sexual behavior, particularly in relation to viewing pornography. The research, conducted with two groups—one consisting of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and another drawn from the general population—found that individuals who attend religious services more frequently are more likely to see their pornography use as compulsive, even when their viewing frequency might not suggest a clinical issue.
Previous research has shown that highly religious individuals often feel guilt or distress about sexual behaviors like pornography viewing due to their faith’s teachings, which can sometimes lead them to perceive their own sexual behavior as compulsive. By studying this connection, researchers aimed to clarify whether this perception of compulsive sexual behavior in religious individuals could be attributed more to moral disapproval than to actual problematic use.
To investigate the link between religiousness and perceived compulsive sexual behavior, the researchers recruited two samples of heterosexual adults living in the United States. One group included 263 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while the other included 270 individuals from the general population with various religious affiliations.
Participants answered questions designed to measure how often they attended religious services, their frequency of pornography use, and their level of moral disapproval of pornography. To assess perceived compulsive sexual behavior, they responded to a series of statements regarding their ability to control their sexual thoughts and behaviors, such as, “I fail to meet my commitments and responsibilities because of my sexual behaviors.” All responses were scored to create a measure of how much participants felt their pornography use was compulsive.
The study found that individuals who frequently attend religious services are more likely to perceive their pornography use as compulsive, particularly when they watch it often. This effect was observed in both groups. Essentially, the findings indicate that people who are more religiously involved tend to experience moral disapproval toward pornography, which in turn affects how they view their own usage.
Interestingly, while the general and religious samples differed in how often they viewed pornography, the patterns in the relationship between religiousness, moral disapproval, and perceived compulsive behavior were similar across both groups. In other words, the degree of moral disapproval was the key link between religious attendance and perceived compulsive behavior, regardless of the sample’s background.
Another important aspect of the findings is that perceptions of compulsive sexual behavior in religious individuals may not necessarily reflect actual behavior that would be classified as compulsive by clinical standards. Compulsive sexual behavior, as defined in the International Classification of Diseases, requires the behavior to be uncontrollable and cause significant distress or life impairment.
However, many participants in the study viewed their pornography use as problematic primarily due to moral conflict with their religious values, rather than due to real-world consequences or a loss of control. This suggests that some religious individuals may misinterpret moral disapproval as a sign of addiction or compulsivity, even in cases where their behavior does not fit clinical definitions of compulsive behavior.
As with any study, however, there are some limitations to consider. The data were collected through self-reported surveys, which means that participants’ responses could be influenced by social desirability bias—the tendency to answer questions in a way that aligns with what is socially acceptable.
Additionally, the study’s cross-sectional design (data collected at a single time point) makes it impossible to draw conclusions about causation. For example, while the researchers suggest that frequent religious attendance may increase feelings of moral disapproval, it is also possible that individuals who perceive their sexual behavior as problematic seek out religious communities more often for support.
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2024.2353221) Understanding How Religiousness Shapes Perceptions of Compulsive Sexual Behavior,” was authored by Sydney A. Sorrell, G. Tyler Lefevor, Samuel J. Skidmore, Rachel M. Golightly, and Kyrstin N. L. Searle.

(https://www.psypost.org/language-use-predicts-depression-and-anxiety-severity-over-time/) Language use predicts depression and anxiety severity over time
Nov 8th 2024, 14:00

A study published in (https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2024.2351952) Cognition & Emotion provides evidence that the general use of negative words in natural language are associated with elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety over time, regardless of individual mental health status.
Depression and anxiety are two of the most prevalent psychological disorders, prompting research into early detection and symptom monitoring using everyday language. Studies suggest that language, especially the frequency of negatively valenced words, can reveal psychological states. Izabela Kaźmierczak and colleagues conducted this study to explore whether patterns in language use, particularly in real-life settings, could serve as reliable markers for these mental health conditions.
Previous studies have shown mixed results regarding positive language usage in relation to symptoms of depression. To clarify these results, the researchers examined both positive and negative language across participants, including individuals with clinically diagnosed depression and non-depressed controls. This work contributes to an emerging area that utilizes natural language processing to improve mental health diagnostics.
The researchers recruited 40 participants (22 women and 18 men), ages 22 to 44, who had recently undergone a significant negative life event. Participants were carefully selected to include those not currently in therapy, allowing researchers to examine language sentiment without intervention effects. Each participant was assessed for depression using the SCID-I diagnostic module, which categorized them into depressed and non-depressed groups.
Additionally, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) measured the intensity of their depressive and anxiety symptoms. Participants were recorded describing critical life events three times over a year, each session lasting about an hour. These sessions were spaced out to align with key stages of emotional adjustment: the initial shock period (within two months of the event), a period of inner crisis (around five months later), and a phase of reconstruction (eight or more months post-event).
Throughout each session, participants described their experiences in structured interviews. These interviews were recorded, transcribed, and later analyzed for sentiment using sentiment dictionaries designed for the Polish language. The dictionaries contained thousands of words labeled for positive or negative valence.
Across all sessions, the study amassed 1,440 narratives. The sentiment analysis, focusing on both positive and negative word use, allowed researchers to track shifts in sentiment across time and across participants with varying levels of depression and anxiety symptoms.
The results showed that participants who generally used more negative words in their language also had higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, a trend that was evident across both clinically depressed and non-depressed groups. This association between negative word use and symptom severity was strong, highlighting that persistent use of negatively valenced language could indicate more intense mental health challenges. In contrast, positive language use was associated with slightly lower levels of depression and anxiety, though this link was weaker compared to that of negative language.
The researchers also found that changes in the frequency of positive or negative word use over time did not correspond with changes in depression or anxiety symptoms. This suggests that a stable pattern of language use, rather than short-term fluctuations in word sentiment, may be a more reliable indicator of mental health status.
These findings underscore the potential of negative language patterns as a marker for assessing depression and anxiety severity.
One limitation noted by the authors is the study’s reliance on spoken language, which may differ from written communication, especially in online contexts.
The research, “(https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2024.2351952) Natural language sentiment as an indicator of depression and anxiety symptoms: a longitudinal mixed methods study”, was authored by Izabela Kaźmierczak, Adrianna Jakubowska, Agnieszka Pietraszkiewicz, Anna Zajenkowska, David Lacko, Aleksander Wawer, and Justyna Sarzyńska-Wawer.

(https://www.psypost.org/relaxation-not-mystical-experiences-emerges-as-best-predictor-of-psychedelic-therapys-impact-in-surprising-new-study/) Relaxation — not mystical experiences — emerges as best predictor of psychedelic therapy’s impact in surprising new study
Nov 8th 2024, 12:00

A recent study published in the (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02698811241278873) Journal of Psychopharmacology examined the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy on patients with treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders. Researchers found that therapy sessions involving psychedelics, specifically LSD or psilocybin, significantly improved depressive symptoms. Interestingly, the study revealed that patients who felt relaxed during their therapy sessions experienced the most pronounced antidepressant effects.
In Switzerland, psychedelic-assisted therapy is allowed for limited medical use, which provides a unique opportunity to study its effects in people with severe, treatment-resistant conditions such as depression and anxiety. Most existing studies have focused on whether certain aspects of the psychedelic experience, such as mystical or transformative moments, predict positive outcomes in mental health. These transformative experiences often include ego dissolution, in which the boundary between self and surroundings blurs.
However, some experts believe that other factors, like feeling relaxed or having a positive emotional experience during the session, may also contribute significantly to the therapeutic effects. Given this range of possibilities, the researchers aimed to use data from Switzerland’s program to identify which aspects of the psychedelic experience are most strongly linked to improvements in mental health.
“I am a depression researcher and am particularly excited about exploring new treatment methods and mechanisms. Additionally, as a psychiatrist in Switzerland, I have the unique opportunity to treat patients with psychedelics,” said study author Gregor Hasler, the principal investigator at (https://molecularpsychiatry.ch/) the Molecular Psychiatry Lab at the University of Fribourg and author of (https://amzn.to/3YW5xfP) Higher Self.
To conduct this study, researchers compared data from two groups: 28 patients undergoing psychedelic-assisted therapy in Switzerland and 28 healthy participants who were involved in a controlled clinical trial. The patient group included individuals with various treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions, such as depression and anxiety. These individuals had not found success with conventional treatments and were referred to psychedelic-assisted therapy by a psychiatrist or came on their own initiative.
The therapy sessions followed a well-defined process that began with preparatory consultations. Each patient met with their psychiatrist twice before the actual psychedelic session. During these preparatory meetings, the psychiatrist gathered a full psychiatric history, discussing current complaints and exploring the patient’s goals for therapy. The psychiatrist also provided information on both positive and negative effects that could arise from taking a psychedelic and talked about how any difficult parts of the experience might be managed.
On the day of the psychedelic-assisted therapy session, patients received their dose of either LSD or psilocybin in a quiet, comfortable room. They were encouraged to relax, wear eyeshades, and listen to a specially curated music playlist, which included periods of silence to allow space for reflection.
The psychiatrist was present throughout the session and occasionally led guided meditation when patients were receptive to it. Patients were allowed to bring books to read or to sit quietly, and after they took the psychedelic, they were asked to rate various aspects of their experience every hour. These ratings included the overall intensity of effects, positive or negative feelings, any sense of ego dissolution, and levels of relaxation.
In contrast, the healthy participants experienced psychedelic sessions in a clinical trial setting, where they were also given either LSD or psilocybin in a calm hospital room with an investigator present. Like the patients, the healthy participants rated their experiences, although they did not rate their level of relaxation. After a 24-hour observation period, they were allowed to go home. These real-time data collection methods for both groups helped researchers capture the unfolding psychedelic experience with an immediacy that retrospective evaluations can miss.
After the psychedelic sessions, the patient group attended follow-up integration sessions within 48 hours, during which they explored how their experiences could apply to daily life and mental health. Depression symptoms were measured before and after each psychedelic session using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, allowing researchers to track any immediate changes in mood or depressive symptoms.
The researchers observed a reduction in depression symptoms among patients, as indicated by lower scores on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale after the therapy sessions. This improvement was not just an immediate effect but continued to be evident for an average of one week post-session. This suggests that psychedelic-assisted therapy may have rapid antidepressant effects that last beyond the session itself, offering hope for individuals who have not found relief through other treatments.
Interestingly, the study found that this improvement was not strongly linked to the typical hallmarks of a psychedelic experience, such as mystical insights or ego dissolution. Ego dissolution, which involves a sense of losing one’s boundaries and merging with the environment, is often regarded as a defining feature of the psychedelic state. However, compared to the healthy participants, patients undergoing therapy reported lower levels of ego dissolution.
“Previous studies found a connection between mystical experiences and antidepressant response, but we did not confirm this association,” Hasler told PsyPost.
The researchers proposed a few possible reasons for this. One explanation is that the patients, many of whom were on psychiatric medications, might have experienced less intense effects due to the long-term influence of these medications on brain function. Another possibility is that the therapeutic setting and mental health challenges led patients to maintain a more guarded experience, focused on self-control rather than surrendering to the psychedelic state.
The researchers found that one specific aspect—relaxation—was the strongest predictor of positive mental health outcomes for the patients. Those who felt relaxed during their therapy sessions showed the most significant reductions in depressive symptoms. This finding suggests that the quality of the therapeutic environment and the level of comfort and ease experienced by the patient may be critical to the success of the treatment.
“This study contributes to the ongoing discussion about the best approach to psychotherapy in conjunction with psychedelic therapy,” Hasler said. The findings suggest that “relaxation on the day of substance administration is a key factor for treatment success (antidepressant response) and is potentially modifiable. The study also shows that, under the right conditions and following safety protocols, naturalistic psychedelic treatments can be safe.”
The researchers proposed that relaxation might allow patients to engage more fully with their experience, providing a sense of safety that encourages emotional openness. In fact, the importance of relaxation in therapeutic settings has been documented in other types of therapy, and the study authors suggest that encouraging a state of calmness might help patients make the most of the psychedelic experience.
Although the results of this study are promising, there are a few limitations. The data were collected from a diverse group of patients, each with different mental health conditions, medications, and therapy session schedules. This diversity increases the study’s real-world relevance but also limits the ability to draw definitive conclusions about the exact effects of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Additionally, because the study was conducted in a naturalistic setting without randomization or a control group, it’s difficult to separate the effects of the psychedelic therapy from other aspects of the patient’s ongoing care.
“The study had a relatively small sample size, and as a naturalistic study, there was significant variability in the study population, as well as in the substances and dosages used,” Hasler said.
Future studies might benefit from including a larger and more controlled sample and examining whether stopping medications before psychedelic therapy would intensify or alter the effects. The researchers also suggest investigating ways to increase relaxation in therapy sessions, such as incorporating breathing exercises or meditation, to see if these techniques can amplify the therapy’s benefits.
The long-term goal is “to improve the safety and efficacy of psychedelic therapy,” Hasler explained. “Knowing that relaxation on the substance day is important allows us to monitor it and take measures to enhance relaxation, for example, through position adjustments, mindfulness interventions, and music.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811241278873) Naturalistic psychedelic therapy: The role of relaxation and subjective drug effects in antidepressant response,” was authored by Abigail E. Calder, Benjamin Rausch, Matthias E. Liechti, Friederike Holze, and Gregor Hasler

(https://www.psypost.org/female-body-attractiveness-more-about-curviness-than-waist-to-hip-ratio-study-finds/) Female body attractiveness more about curviness than waist-to-hip ratio, study finds
Nov 8th 2024, 10:00

Two experiments in Germany using line drawings of female bodies suggest that perceived attractiveness of a woman’s body depends more on its curviness than on the waist-to-hip ratio. The research was published in (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-74265-z) Scientific Reports.
When it comes to judging the attractiveness of the human body, both artists and scientists have long believed that certain proportions play a central role. For centuries, artists have explored the concept of the “golden ratio,” a mathematical proportion that is thought to be inherently pleasing to the human eye. In aesthetics research, these ratios have proven useful for studying human perception of beauty because they simplify the complex shapes of the human body into measurable, easy-to-assess proportions.
One specific proportion that researchers frequently emphasize in studies of female beauty is the waist-to-hip ratio, which is calculated by dividing the circumference of the waist by the circumference of the hips. A lower waist-to-hip ratio, typically around 0.7, is often linked to higher attractiveness ratings. Evolutionary psychologists suggest this ratio may act as a cue for health and fertility, signaling to potential mates that a woman could be reproductively fit.
However, Ronald Hübner and Emily Sophie Ufken, the study authors, questioned whether waist-to-hip ratio alone might oversimplify the factors that contribute to perceived attractiveness. They wanted to see if the curviness of the body’s shape—a feature that encompasses more than just the waist and hip measurements—might offer a better predictor of attractiveness. They note that although waist-to-hip ratio and curviness are related, curviness might provide a more comprehensive understanding of body shape, especially when considering the overall contours of the torso.
To explore this question, the researchers conducted two experiments, both of which involved participants rating the attractiveness of line drawings representing different female body figures.
The first experiment involved 80 adults, mostly students from the University of Konstanz in Germany, including 25 men, with an average age of around 28 to 29 years. Participants were shown a set of 12 line drawings of female bodies and asked to rate each figure on a scale of 1 to 100, indicating how attractive they found each body. Importantly, in this experiment, each drawing’s curviness was perfectly matched with its waist-to-hip ratio, meaning the two features were aligned and thus could not be independently assessed. This setup allowed the researchers to first test whether waist-to-hip ratio alone could predict attractiveness in line with previous studies.
In the second experiment, Hübner and Ufken modified the drawings to vary the curviness of the lateral body contours independently of the waist-to-hip ratio. This method created a sample in which curviness and waist-to-hip ratio were no longer aligned, allowing the researchers to test how each feature influenced perceived attractiveness separately. The second experiment involved 98 adults, again mostly students from the University of Konstanz, who viewed a set of 25 line drawings. These figures differed both in waist-to-hip ratios and in curviness, giving participants a broader range of body shapes to rate.
The first experiment confirmed some traditional findings. Participants rated bodies with lower waist-to-hip ratios as more attractive and generally preferred figures representing women of normal weight over those of other weights. The figure with a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 consistently received the highest ratings, aligning with the idea that a waist circumference about 30% smaller than the hip circumference is seen as most attractive. These results fit within the common understanding that a lower waist-to-hip ratio is associated with higher attractiveness.
However, the findings of the second experiment were different. While a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 was still rated most attractive for the narrowest body widths, this was no longer the case as body width increased. For larger body widths, curviness became a more reliable indicator of attractiveness, suggesting that a fixed waist-to-hip ratio was not a universally applicable measure. Instead, bodies with a moderate level of curviness—based on the contour shapes used in the drawings—received the highest attractiveness ratings, regardless of their waist-to-hip ratios. This indicates that curviness itself plays a key role in perceived attractiveness, particularly as body shapes move beyond narrower frames.
“Theoretical considerations suggest that the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) cannot serve as a valid indicator of curviness, contrary to what is frequently assumed, either implicitly or explicitly. Consequently, one of these two attributes must be a more effective predictor of a woman’s body attractiveness. The results of this study clearly show that curviness is far superior to the WHR in this respect,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on elements people rely on to judge the beauty of female body contours. However, the study used ratings of line drawings of female bodies, not ratings of real body shapes. Results might not be the same if participants rated real body shapes rather than pictures.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-74265-z) Curviness is a better predictor of a woman’s body attractiveness than the waist-to-hip ratio,” was authored by Ronald Hübner and Emily Sophie Ufken.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

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