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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/trumps-facebook-posts-tended-to-elicit-positive-emotions-even-when-they-were-antagonistic-study-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Trump’s Facebook posts tended to elicit positive emotions, even when they were antagonistic, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 21st 2024, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>An analysis of a vast number of Facebook posts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and Germany reveals that posts from alternative and hyper-partisan media, as well as those from populist politicians and parties, tend to elicit elevated levels of angry reactions. An interesting exception to this pattern is former U.S. President Donald Trump, who, despite being classified as a populist, consistently elicited more positive emotions, including “love,” even when delivering messages that could be seen as antagonistic. These findings were recently published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10584609.2024.2350416">Political Communication</a>.</em></p>
<p>In recent decades, social media platforms have become central to political discussions and activities. They offer users the ability to express their attitudes and voice their opinions on various topics, making them a powerful tool for both citizens and political actors. Given this, news media and political figures are constantly competing for the attention of social media users. Posts that evoke strong emotions are particularly effective at capturing this attention, which is why these actors frequently use emotionally charged content.</p>
<p>Inciting negative emotions, such as anger or anxiety, has proven especially effective in grabbing the attention of social media users. Posts that stir emotions are more likely to provoke strong reactions, particularly when they address controversial issues. Populist politicians—those who claim to represent the common people against a perceived elite or establishment—have become particularly adept at using emotional appeals to increase their reach and attract new followers.</p>
<p>Similarly, alternative and hyper-partisan news outlets often publish emotionally charged content to boost user engagement and increase the visibility of their posts. Hyper-partisan media are news outlets that strongly favor a particular political party or ideology, often presenting information in a biased or exaggerated manner to promote their agenda.</p>
<p>Study author Edda Humprecht and her colleagues conducted a media analysis to explore how various countries differ in terms of the emotional reactions of users on Facebook and what kind of content provokes these reactions. The study specifically examined how different types of political actors—populist versus traditional politicians—and news media outlets—hyper-partisan versus traditional media—differ in their ability to elicit emotional user reactions, particularly anger.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed posts and user engagement levels from 148 Facebook pages belonging to various political actors and media outlets. The study period spanned from April 14, 2020, to June 30, 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when many countries were under lockdown in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the virus. These lockdowns, which were widely debated and sometimes contested by political actors, became a major topic of political discourse during this time. The six countries studied—Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—differed significantly in their approaches to managing the pandemic, which provided a rich context for examining the emotional responses to political content on social media.</p>
<p>Facebook was particularly suitable for studying emotional reactions because it allows users to express their feelings about a post not just by liking it but also by using one of six other emojis, each representing a different emotion (e.g., love, anger, sadness).</p>
<p>To gather data, the researchers accessed public Facebook posts using the CrowdTangle API and the Facebook Graph API through an application called Facepager. CrowdTangle, a Meta-owned analytics platform, tracks posts published by verified public profiles and groups, enabling the researchers to create a dataset consisting of over 175,000 Facebook posts.</p>
<p>Of these, 46,000 were from the United States, 43,000 from the United Kingdom, 36,000 from France, and between 10,000 and 25,000 from each of the other three countries. The analysis focused on metadata related to emotional reactions (expressed through likes or emojis), as well as the number of likes, shares, and comments for each post. The researchers then compared emotional reactions across countries and different groups of actors.</p>
<p>Results showed pronounced differences in emotional reactions across the six countries. Emotional reactions were comparatively rarer in posts from Switzerland and France, while they were more than twice as frequent in posts from Belgium and the United States. As expected, likes were the most common type of reaction, likely because the “like” button is the default and most easily accessible on Facebook. However, the second most frequently used reaction was “anger.”</p>
<p>Posts from alternative and hyper-partisan media outlets, as well as those from populist politicians and parties, consistently elicited higher levels of angry reactions. The researchers noted that these posts often employed anti-elitist and exclusionary language, which means they opposed and criticized perceived elites while marginalizing or dismissing certain groups or individuals as unworthy or as being outside the speaker’s group. Such rhetoric is designed to provoke strong emotional responses, particularly anger, among followers who resonate with these sentiments.</p>
<p>Donald Trump, who was the president of the United States during the study period, emerged as a notable exception to the general trend. Although the researchers describe him as “a populist governing figure,” his posts tended to elicit more positive emotions, including love, even when he delivered messages that could be considered antagonistic. This suggests that Trump’s core supporters reacted positively to his rhetoric, likely due to their strong loyalty to him and their alignment with his political messages, even when those messages targeted opponents or presented controversial views.</p>
<p>“Our findings provide a more nuanced view of the conditions that foster political misinformation and emotional contagion on social media. The similarities across countries show how some actors with extreme positions effectively utilize the mechanisms Facebook provides,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The research sheds light on the way individuals react to Facebook posts across six countries, highlighting the significant role that populist rhetoric and hyper-partisan media play in shaping emotional responses online. However, it is important to note that the study was conducted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period marked by unprecedented lockdowns and widespread social and political tension. As such, the emotional reactions observed in this study might differ from those in more typical times.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2350416">Emotionalized Social Media Environments: How Alternative News Media and Populist Actors Drive Angry Reactions,</a>” was authored by Edda Humprecht, Michael Amsler, Frank Esser, and Peter Van Aelst.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists-often-believe-they-are-morally-superior/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Narcissists, psychopaths, and sadists often believe they are morally superior</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 21st 2024, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>People who exhibit traits like narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism often believe they are morally superior to others, even when evidence suggests otherwise, according to new research published in the journal <em><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-07887-001?doi=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment</a></em>. The study found that individuals with higher levels of these “Dark Tetrad” traits tend to see themselves as better than the average person in terms of moral character, despite also showing tendencies towards immoral behavior. This disconnect between self-perception and reality may help explain why such individuals are resistant to changing their harmful behaviors.</p>
<p>The Dark Tetrad refers to a group of four distinct but related personality traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism—that are often associated with antagonistic and harmful behaviors. These traits are considered “dark” because they typically involve a disregard for others’ well-being and a focus on self-interest at the expense of others.</p>
<p>Each trait has its unique characteristics: narcissism is marked by an inflated sense of self-importance and entitlement; Machiavellianism involves manipulativeness, cynicism, and a strategic approach to social interactions; psychopathy is characterized by a lack of empathy, impulsivity, and antisocial behavior; and sadism involves deriving pleasure from others’ suffering.</p>
<p>The motivation behind the study on the Dark Tetrad was to explore a long-standing question in psychology: how do people with antagonistic personality traits perceive their own moral character? Previous research has produced mixed results, with some studies suggesting that individuals with these traits are aware of their moral shortcomings, while others imply they might view themselves as morally superior despite their harmful behaviors.</p>
<p>The researchers aimed to clarify this ambiguity by examining whether people with high levels of these traits exhibit what is known as the “better-than-average effect” — the tendency to see oneself as superior to others, particularly in areas of social desirability, such as moral character.</p>
<p>“There is not a lot of data on whether people with antagonistic personalities actually regard themselves as immoral (as others may regard them); if anything, it seemed that most of the research was hinting at the ironic idea that, despite their enhanced tendencies to do immoral things (e.g., lie, cheat, and steal), they may generally regard themselves as more moral than average others. So, we thought it would be interesting to check on that possibility,” said study author <a href="https://wphart.people.ua.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">William Hart</a>, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Alabama.</p>
<p>The study involved 515 undergraduate students who completed a series of online surveys assessing their levels of antagonistic personality traits and their self-perceived moral character. Participants were asked to rate themselves on a variety of moral and immoral character traits, such as honesty, kindness, selfishness, and cruelty. To ensure the robustness of their findings, the researchers used two different methods to measure better-than-average effects.</p>
<p>The first method involved direct comparisons, where participants were explicitly asked to rate how they compared to the average person on moral traits. The second method was more indirect, asking participants to rate themselves and others separately on both moral and immoral traits, with the researchers later comparing these ratings to determine whether participants viewed themselves as more moral than others.</p>
<p>The researchers found that, on average, participants exhibited very strong better-than-average effects. This effect was present even among those who scored high on the Dark Tetrad traits, which was somewhat surprising given the known associations between these traits and immoral behavior. In other words, even individuals with strong tendencies towards narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, or sadism still believed they were more moral than the average person.</p>
<p>However, the study did reveal some nuances. Individuals with higher levels of psychopathy and sadism were somewhat less likely to exhibit the better-than-average effect compared to those with high levels of narcissism and Machiavellianism. Despite this, even those with elevated psychopathy and sadism still generally viewed themselves as morally superior to others.</p>
<p>“Keep in mind that nearly no one thinks they are ‘bad’ or ‘evil,'” Hart told PsyPost. “Nearly everyone thinks they are more moral than average, even people that, for example, acknowledge being somewhat sadistic (enjoying others’ pain). Nearly everyone wants to think they are a good person, even people that do a lot of bad things. And, people that do a lot of bad things are still capable of reaching this favorable conclusion.”</p>
<p>One of the more interesting aspects of the findings was that participants, especially those with high levels of antagonistic traits, tended to have a low opinion of others’ moral character. They often viewed the average person as having a relatively equal mix of good and bad traits, which could have bolstered their own sense of moral superiority. This suggests that their better-than-average effect might be driven not only by an inflated view of their own morality but also by a particularly cynical view of others’ morality.</p>
<p>“The main findings were as predicted (it was all preregistered), but non-central aspects of the data surprised us,” Hart said. “For example, it was surprising that people in our study tended to evaluate others as an equal mix of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ traits. In other words, the bar seems really low when we compare ourselves to others on morality. If you are, for example, just slightly more prosocial than antisocial (which seems possible for almost everyone), you got the ‘average person’ beat.”</p>
<p>While this study sheds light on the self-perception of antagonistic individuals, it has some limitations that future research should address. For instance, the study relied on self-report measures, which are subject to biases like social desirability and self-deception. In addition, the data was based on a sample of undergraduate students, who may not be representative of the general population or of individuals with clinical levels of antagonistic personality traits.</p>
<p>“There is nothing representative about the sample,” Hart explained. “It was a convenience sample of students in a U.S. university, albeit we are hard pressed to provide any good theoretical reason why the findings would only apply to college students or people in the United States. Related to the sample, although we had people that could be regarded as pretty ‘sadistic’ and ‘psychopathic,’ these people were relatively rare.”</p>
<p>Future studies could benefit from examining more diverse and clinically relevant samples, including those diagnosed with personality disorders. Future research could incorporate other methods, such as peer reports or behavioral assessments, to gain a more objective understanding of how antagonistic individuals perceive their own moral character.</p>
<p>Another promising direction for future research involves testing interventions that might reduce these individuals’ unrealistic views of their moral character. For example, could providing feedback that challenges their better-than-average effect judgments lead to greater self-awareness and, ultimately, behavioral change?</p>
<p>“We think that antagonistic people may be more motivated to change their personalities if they knew they were struggling to be moral relative others,” Hart said. “We are interested, then, in understanding the process that is producing these evaluations. If we understand that, we can reduce the bias and make these people more realistic and ready for change. Change would probably be good for them and society (less harm caused).”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/per0000685" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Antagonistic but Holier Than Thou: Antagonistic People Think They Are (Way) Better-Than-Average on Moral Character</a>,” was authored by William Hart, Braden T. Hall, Joshua T. Lambert, Charlotte K. Cease, and Danielle E. Wahlers.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/children-of-parents-with-psychiatric-disorders-face-increased-risks-but-most-avoid-serious-diagnoses/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Children of parents with psychiatric disorders face increased risks, but most avoid serious diagnoses</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 21st 2024, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study offers a look at the ripple effects of parental mental health conditions on children, revealing a broad spectrum of risks that extend beyond the same psychiatric conditions that afflict their parents. The study, published in the <em><a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.20230353" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Journal of Psychiatry</a></em>, demonstrates that children with parents diagnosed with one of six major psychiatric conditions are at increased risk for a wide range of psychiatric and non-psychiatric outcomes.</p>
<p>Despite this, the majority of these children do not receive a psychiatric diagnosis in specialist care by mid-adulthood, suggesting that many factors may mitigate the potential impacts of having a parent with a mental health condition.</p>
<p>Mental health issues tend to run in families. Previous research has shown that children of parents with mental health disorders are more likely to develop similar conditions themselves. However, most studies have been narrow in scope, often focusing on severe conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, or examining only one outcome at a time. This has left significant gaps in our understanding of how parental psychiatric conditions might affect a broader range of outcomes in children, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric.</p>
<p>There is a need for a more comprehensive understanding of how parental mental health affects children across a broad range of outcomes, including behavioral, psychosocial, and cognitive domains. This study aimed to fill that gap by using extensive Swedish national register data to examine the associations between six parental psychiatric diagnoses and 32 different outcomes in their offspring.</p>
<p>“Children born to parents with a mental illness have been shown to be at an increased risk of developing mental health problems early in life. However, many studies have focused on parental severe mental illness because of the significant impairment associated with these disorders, less attention has been paid to more common disorders, despite their higher prevalence,” said study author <a href="https://ki.se/en/people/mengping-zhou" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mengping Zhou</a>, a PhD student in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet.</p>
<p>“Our study aims to supplement our knowledge and understanding of intergenerational transmission, not only by studying associations of parental diagnoses with rates of diagnoses and mental health issues among the offspring but also by including other behavioral outcomes, such as criminality, suicide, and aspects of psychosocial functioning, namely, school and labor performance.”</p>
<p>The study was based on a population-wide cohort of over three million individuals born in Sweden between 1970 and 2000. By linking several national registries, researchers could track these individuals from birth to middle adulthood, providing a comprehensive view of their psychiatric, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes. The study focused on children with parents diagnosed with one of six major psychiatric conditions: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, alcohol-related disorder, and drug-related disorder.</p>
<p>For each child exposed to a parental psychiatric diagnosis, the researchers matched 10 children from the general population who did not have a parent with that particular diagnosis. This matching allowed the researchers to compare outcomes across children of similar age, parental background, and birth conditions, minimizing the impact of potential confounding factors.</p>
<p>To measure the offspring’s outcomes, Zhou and her colleagues considered 32 different outcomes categorized into six broad groups: psychotic-like outcomes (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), neurodevelopmental outcomes (like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder), internalizing outcomes (such as anxiety and depression), externalizing outcomes (like substance use disorders and criminality), accidents and behavioral outcomes (including suicide and violent victimization), and school and labor performance outcomes.</p>
<p>They used advanced statistical models to estimate both the absolute risk (the likelihood of the outcome occurring) and the relative risk (the difference in risk between children with and without an affected parent).</p>
<p>The absolute risk data indicated that most children with parents who had psychiatric diagnoses were not themselves diagnosed with a psychiatric condition in specialist care by age 44. Depending on the parent’s diagnosis, between 22% and 25% of these children were diagnosed with one of the 16 psychiatric conditions considered in the study. This suggests that while these children are at higher risk than their peers, the majority do not receive psychiatric diagnoses in specialist care.</p>
<p>“Not all children with a genetic predisposition for mental illness fall ill; in fact, many of these children stay well, at least in terms of not being diagnosed,” Zhou told PsyPost.</p>
<p>However, when looking at relative risks, the picture becomes more concerning. Children with parents diagnosed with any of the six psychiatric conditions were at significantly higher risk for all 32 outcomes compared to their peers. This suggests that the transmission of psychiatric risk from parent to child is largely transdiagnostic, meaning it cuts across specific diagnoses and affects a wide range of psychiatric, behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes.</p>
<p>For example, children with parents diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were at especially high risk for developing psychotic-like outcomes themselves. Similarly, parental substance-related disorders were the strongest predictors of externalizing behaviors, accidents, and poor school and labor performance in offspring. The study also found that children with two affected parents were at even higher risk than those with just one, highlighting the potential compounding effects of parental psychiatric diagnoses.</p>
<p>“Our study found that most children who grew up with parents with mental health issues were free from the same issues as they reached middle adulthood,” Zhou explained. “However, these children still face higher possibilities of experiencing not only mental health issues, but also poor school and work performance, and even some serious behaviors such as suicide and victimization.”</p>
<p>One limitation is that it relied on clinical diagnoses recorded in specialist care settings, which means the absolute risks reported may be underestimates. Many individuals with psychiatric conditions, especially those with milder forms, may receive treatment exclusively in primary care settings or not seek treatment at all. As a result, the study may have missed cases where children did have psychiatric conditions but were not captured in the data.</p>
<p>Looking forward, future research could focus on understanding the mechanisms underlying this transdiagnostic transmission of risk. For instance, it would be valuable to explore the role of genetic, environmental, and psychosocial factors in this process.</p>
<p>Understanding how these factors interact could help develop targeted interventions to mitigate the risks for children with parents who have psychiatric diagnoses. Additionally, research could explore the potential protective factors that allow the majority of these children to avoid receiving psychiatric diagnoses in specialist care, despite their elevated risks.</p>
<p>Zhou hopes “to provide suggestions for preventive strategies and early intervention approaches that could have a positive impact on these children who grew up with parents with mental health issues.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.20230353" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Psychiatric Diagnoses in Parents and Psychiatric, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Outcomes in Their Offspring: A Swedish Population-Based Register Study</a>,” was authored by Mengping Zhou, Christine Takami Lageborn, Arvid Sjölander, Henrik Larsson, Brian D’Onofrio, Mikael Landén, Paul Lichtenstein, and Erik Pettersson.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/fear-of-being-single-romantic-disillusionment-dating-anxiety-untangling-the-psychological-connections/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Fear of being single, romantic disillusionment, dating anxiety: Untangling the psychological connections</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 20th 2024, 20:00</div>
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<p><p>For many, the prospect of being single is daunting, especially in a world where romantic relationships are often viewed as essential to happiness and social status. But does the fear of being single heighten dating anxiety, particularly in the context of online dating? A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108251" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Computers in Human Behavior</a></em> sheds light on this question, revealing connections between the fear of being single, dating anxiety, and the motivations that drive people to use online dating apps.</p>
<p>Previous research has suggested that people may turn to online dating either to compensate for social deficiencies or to enhance their already robust social lives. However, how these motivations interact with the fear of being single and subsequent dating anxiety has remained largely unexplored.</p>
<p>Given the increasing popularity of online dating in China—fueled by rapid urbanization and busy lifestyles—the researchers sought to understand whether online dating could alleviate or exacerbate the psychological distress associated with being single. They also wanted to examine the potential mediating roles of imagined interaction (thinking about potential romantic encounters) and romantic disillusionment (disappointment with romantic realities) in this process.</p>
<p>The study involved an online survey of 505 self-identified heterosexual users of popular Chinese online dating apps, including Momo, Tantan, and Soul. Participants, aged 19 to 58, were asked to respond to a series of questions designed to measure their fear of being single, their motivations for using dating apps, their experiences of imagined interactions, romantic disillusionment, and dating anxiety.</p>
<p>One of the key findings was that individuals who experience a strong fear of being single tend to have higher levels of dating anxiety. In other words, those who agreed with statements such as “It scares me to think that there might not be anyone out there for me” also tended to agree with statements such as “I become tense and jittery when I feel that someone of the opposite sex is checking me out.”</p>
<p>The researchers also explored how the fear of being single is related to the motivations that drive people to use online dating apps. They found that this fear was associated with a stronger motivation to seek romantic relationships through these platforms.</p>
<p>Interestingly, those who were motivated to find romantic connections through online dating reported lower levels of romantic disillusionment. This type of disillusionment includes sentiments such as feeling less attractive, experiencing self-disappointment, and becoming increasingly disillusioned with others and the concept of romance. This finding was somewhat surprising, as it was initially expected that high expectations in romantic pursuits might lead to greater disillusionment when reality fails to meet those expectations.</p>
<p>Another significant finding was related to the role of imagined interaction, which refers to the mental rehearsal or fantasy about potential romantic encounters. The study found that individuals motivated by sexual relationships were more likely to engage in these imagined interactions.</p>
<p>However, these mental exercises did not significantly reduce dating anxiety. This suggests that while imagined interactions may help satisfy immediate desires or provide a sense of preparation, they do not necessarily alleviate the deeper anxieties associated with dating, especially when the fear of being single is a driving force.</p>
<p>Finally, the researchers explored the pathways through which fear of being single could affect dating anxiety. They tested two main pathways: one where fear of being single led to increased sexual motivation and imagined interaction, and another where it led to romantic motivation and changes in romantic disillusionment.</p>
<p>The results supported the second pathway, but not in the expected direction. Instead of increasing disillusionment and anxiety, romantic motivation appeared to reduce disillusionment, thereby decreasing dating anxiety. This finding challenges the initial hypothesis and suggests that the relationship between fear of being single and dating anxiety is more nuanced than previously thought. The study suggests that individuals seeking romantic connections may have more realistic expectations and therefore experience less disappointment and anxiety.</p>
<p>“We theorized that online daters might hold high expectations of dating applications to seek long-term romantic relationships. These dating applications might enhance people’s negative feelings about self and others, as previous research and our observations suggested many negative aspects of online dating, such as encountering sexual content, aggressive interactions, bullying, ghosting, deception, and so on.”</p>
<p>“However, this may come as a bias we have about online dating. Rather than high expectations, some individuals might have reservations and caution about seeking romantic relationships through online dating. Instead of having many negative experiences, users may experience positive interactions with potential dates, engage in meaningful explorations, and understand themselves better through online dating. As a result, they would have decreased disillusionment.”</p>
<p>In summary, the study’s findings indicate that while the fear of being single is a significant predictor of dating anxiety, the way individuals cope with this fear — whether through seeking romantic or sexual relationships — might lead to different psychological outcomes. The reduction in romantic disillusionment among those motivated by romantic connections offers a hopeful perspective, suggesting that not all coping mechanisms exacerbate anxiety; some may actually alleviate it, depending on the expectations and experiences of the individual.</p>
<p>However, the cross-sectional nature of the study means that it cannot establish causality. For example, it is unclear whether the fear of being single leads to dating anxiety or whether individuals with higher dating anxiety are more likely to develop a fear of being single. Future research, particularly longitudinal studies, could help clarify these relationships and provide a more robust understanding of how online dating influences psychological well-being.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563224001195" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For imagination or disillusionment? The social compensation and social enhancement effects on dating anxiety for online daters who fear being single</a>,” was authored by Li Zhong and Vincent Huang.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/healthy-diet-linked-to-lower-anxiety-risk-new-research-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Healthy diet linked to lower anxiety risk, new research finds</a>
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<p><p>A study recently published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2024.2333688" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nutritional Neuroscience</a></em> found that people who follow a healthy diet are less likely to suffer from anxiety disorders, while those who adhere to more Westernized or mixed diets might face greater challenges with anxiety severity.</p>
<p>Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental health issues worldwide, affecting nearly one in five people each year. Despite the widespread use of treatments like therapy and medication, many people continue to struggle with anxiety, which can severely affect their quality of life. This has led scientists to explore alternative or complementary ways to manage anxiety, including changes in diet.</p>
<p>Previous research had often focused on specific nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids or vitamin D, but these studies provided inconsistent results. More recently, scientists have shifted their attention to broader dietary patterns, which may offer a more comprehensive view of how food choices affect mental health.</p>
<p>In particular, the researchers wanted to explore how different diets might influence anxiety disorders specifically, rather than general mental health. They were also interested in studying these effects within the context of a diverse cultural background, in this case, Iran, which has a rich and varied culinary tradition.</p>
<p>To conduct the study, the researchers employed a case-control design, which involved comparing two groups of people: those with anxiety disorders and those without. The study took place in Tehran, Iran, between 2021 and 2022 and involved 255 participants — 85 people with diagnosed anxiety disorders and 170 healthy individuals.</p>
<p>Participants in the anxiety group were diagnosed by psychiatrists according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), which is a widely used guide for diagnosing mental health conditions. The severity of their anxiety was measured using the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire, a tool that helps assess the intensity of anxiety symptoms.</p>
<p>The researchers collected detailed information about each participant’s diet using a food frequency questionnaire designed specifically for the Iranian population. This questionnaire asked participants to recall how often they consumed 147 different types of food over the past year. Based on this data, the researchers used a statistical method called principal component analysis to identify three major dietary patterns among the participants: the “healthy” pattern, the “Western” pattern, and a “mixed” pattern.</p>
<p>The healthy pattern was characterized by a high intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and low-fat dairy products. The Western pattern included foods such as red and processed meats, sugary snacks, fast food, and refined grains. The mixed pattern contained elements of both the healthy and Western patterns, reflecting a more varied diet that combined aspects of both.</p>
<p>The researchers found that people who followed a healthy dietary pattern were less likely to suffer from anxiety disorders. In other words, as adherence to a healthy diet increased, the likelihood of having an anxiety disorder decreased. In fact, those who adhered most closely to this healthy diet had about a 74% lower likelihood of having an anxiety disorder compared to those who did not follow this pattern.</p>
<p>The researchers also examined the severity of anxiety. Adherence to the healthy dietary pattern was associated with lower anxiety severity scores on the GAD-7 questionnaire, meaning that those who ate healthier experienced less intense anxiety symptoms. On the other hand, greater adherence to the Western and mixed dietary patterns was linked to higher anxiety severity scores, indicating that these diets might exacerbate anxiety symptoms.</p>
<p>The researchers controlled for various factors, including age, gender, energy intake, marital status, education, medication use, vitamin supplement use, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, health status, past medical history, and body mass index, to isolate the specific impact of dietary patterns on anxiety disorder.</p>
<p>But, as with all research, there are limitations. The study’s design — specifically, its reliance on self-reported data — could introduce bias. Participants might not accurately remember their dietary habits, or they might report them in a way they think is more favorable. Additionally, the study only shows an association between diet and anxiety; it does not prove that one causes the other. It’s possible that people with anxiety might change their eating habits as a result of their condition, rather than their diet being the cause of their anxiety.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1028415X.2024.2333688" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The association of major dietary patterns with odds and severity of anxiety disorders: a case–control study</a>,” was authored by Kimia Torabynasab, Hossein Shahinfar, Sheida Zeraattalab-Motlagh, Shima Jazayeri, Mohammad Effatpanah, and Leila Azadbakht.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-reveal-a-fascinating-neurocognitive-trait-linked-to-heightened-creativity/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists reveal a fascinating neurocognitive trait linked to heightened creativity</a>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106178"><em>Brain and Cognition</em></a> has found that creativity is linked with a reduced brain response to unusual, or “oddball,” stimuli. This suggests that creative individuals process the importance of surprising information differently, which may help explain their unique thinking patterns. This diminished brain response might enable creative individuals to access a broader range of information.</p>
<p>Creativity has often been associated with a wide focus of attention, sometimes leading to an interest in information that may not seem relevant at first glance. This characteristic has been thought to arise from a lack of cognitive control. However, the researchers behind this study proposed a different explanation: that creative individuals might process the importance, or salience, of information in an atypical way.</p>
<p>Salience processing is the brain’s way of highlighting what information is noteworthy and should be prioritized. This process can make certain pieces of information stand out, guiding attention and motivating behavior. By examining how creative people process salient information, the researchers aimed to uncover a fundamental mechanism that could explain the unique attentional patterns observed in creative individuals.</p>
<p>“Have you ever noticed that creative people often notice details that others overlook? This question drives my interest in exploring whether creative people process and prioritize sensory information differently,” said study author <a href="https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/schooler/jonathan/members/gross" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Madeleine E. Gross</a>, an assistant project scientist at the META (Memory Emotion Thought Awareness) lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>To explore this idea, the researchers conducted two studies. The first study used a classic task to examine how the brain responds to surprising information, while the second study looked at how creative people process rewards in their everyday lives.</p>
<p>The first study involved 51 participants from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Participants were asked to complete a task that measured creativity, called the Incomplete Figures Task. In this task, they were given a few simple lines and asked to create drawings from them within 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Participants then performed an oddball task while wearing an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap to measure brain activity. In this task, they were presented with a series of images, mostly of rocks, with occasional images of apples (the oddball stimuli) appearing less frequently. When an apple appeared, it was accompanied by a sound. The researchers measured the participants’ brain responses to these oddball stimuli, specifically looking at a brainwave called the P300, which is known to reflect how surprising or significant a stimulus is.</p>
<p>The EEG data showed that creative individuals had a significantly reduced P300 response to the oddball stimuli. This suggests that their brains did not find these surprising stimuli as noteworthy as the brains of less creative individuals. In other words, creative people might under-attribute importance to stimuli that are typically considered surprising.</p>
<p>“When tackling a creative problem, we often get stuck on the ‘obvious’ aspects, making it challenging to think outside the box and notice unusual elements within the problem space,” Gross told PsyPost. “Our study found that creative individuals do not perceive unusual information as odd; they process it similarly to typical information.”</p>
<p>“This may enhance creative thinking by making it more likely that unconventional details are noticed and considered, providing a fresh perspective during the creative process. In other words, creative individuals may not be confined by conventional boundaries because they don’t distinguish between odd and typical in the same way.”</p>
<p>In the second study, 200 participants completed a different creativity task called the Alternate Uses Task, where they had to think of creative uses for a common object, such as a cardboard box. They also completed a series of questions about everyday activities, rating how much they enjoyed these activities, how often they thought about them, and how much they wanted to do them again. This setup allowed the researchers to examine the relationship between how much participants enjoyed an activity (liking), how much they thought about it spontaneously (positive spontaneous thoughts), and how much they wanted to do it again (wanting).</p>
<p>The results revealed that creativity influenced how participants processed rewards. Creative individuals were generally more motivated to pursue various activities, showing a higher overall desire to engage in potentially rewarding activities. However, their motivation (wanting) was less tied to how much they enjoyed these activities (liking) compared to less creative individuals. This pattern suggests that creative people might assign motivational importance to a broader range of activities, not just those they find enjoyable.</p>
<p>“One surprising finding was the relationship between creativity and the concepts of <i>liking</i> versus <i>wanting</i>,” Gross explained. “We used a psychological task that has been used before to study schizotypy, a personality trait associated with eccentric ideas, unusual beliefs, and perceptual anomalies. The task measures how much pleasure people get from an activity (‘liking’) and how much they desire to engage in that activity (‘wanting’).”</p>
<p>“Previous research found that for people scoring high in schizotypy, there was a weak connection between liking and wanting. In other words, they might not want to do something just because they like it. Since schizotypy and creativity have been linked before, we expected to see a similar result with creative individuals. However, our findings showed that creative people had, overall, increased wanting, which could reflect a higher motivational drive. Unlike schizotypes, this drive was positively related to liking, meaning that the more they liked an activity, the more they wanted to engage in it.”</p>
<p>The findings provide evidence that more creative individuals process information differently, particularly when it comes to assessing what is noteworthy or motivationally significant.</p>
<p>“Our findings suggest that creative individuals pay attention differently, focusing on different aspects of their environment,” Gross said. “Past research has linked creativity to differences in attention, including relationships between creativity and ADHD, broad or unfocused attention, and so-called ‘leaky’ attention, where irrelevant information distracts but also reveals unconventional details.”</p>
<p>“Consistent with this, we propose that creative individuals have an atypical style of <i>salience attribution</i>, the process by which information is assigned meaningfulness, attention-worthiness, or motivational relevance. If creative people vary in how they assign “salience”, or meaning, to information, it may drive significant differences in what they pay attention to and draw inspiration from.”</p>
<p>But the study, like all research, includes some caveats. For instance, the study focused on a specific type of creativity measured in a controlled environment. Future research could explore whether these findings generalize to different forms of creativity and more diverse populations.</p>
<p>“When it comes to creativity, there are two distinct — even opposing — attentional profiles,” Gross told PsyPost. “One profile is the ‘leaky’ attention we’ve been discussing: a broad and distractible attentional style. This kind of attention allows individuals to notice unusual things and is linked to real-life creative achievements, especially in artistic domains. Real-life creativity may be better supported by leaky attention, which itself we suggest is underpinned by atypical salience assignment, because it encourages people to explore, and get inspiration from, unconventional ideas and stimuli: to find meaning in the unusual.”</p>
<p>“On the other hand, some forms of creativity are linked to an opposing attentional profile: focused and flexible attention. If the previous style can be thought of as ‘leaky,’ this profile can be considered ‘watertight.’ In this case, the spotlight of attention is highly controlled, and distractions are easily inhibited. This attentional style is a better predictor of the types of creativity measured in controlled laboratory contexts, where participants are asked to generate as many ideas as possible, in a limited time, in response to a given prompt. Success in these tasks requires focused attention and the ability to block out distractions, making a ‘watertight’ attentional style more beneficial.”</p>
<p>“Because of this nuance in the relationship between attention and creativity, it is crucial to consider the types of creativity being discussed.”</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the findings open new avenues for exploring the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying creativity, with potential implications for enhancing creative thinking through targeted interventions.</p>
<p>“The long term goals are plentiful! Based on our findings, we have presented a theoretical framework to explain why the brains of creative individuals seem to prioritize information differently,” Gross explained. “However, the evidence so far is correlational. We’re excited about the possibility of manipulating salience processes in order to examine whether we can promote creativity.”</p>
<p>“For example, certain contexts may encourage atypical salience processing — such as aesthetic experiences involving exposure to unconventional art or even the use of cannabis. It would be very interesting to experimentally examine whether aesthetic experiences or cannabis use can drive artistic forms of creativity via its impact on salience processing. These are some of the exciting future directions we hope to realize one day.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278262624000551">Why creatives don’t find the oddball odd: Neural and psychological evidence for atypical salience processing</a>,” was authored by Madeleine E. Gross, James C. Elliott, and Jonathan W. Schooler.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/do-hormonal-contraceptives-increase-depression-risk-a-neuroscientist-explains/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Do hormonal contraceptives increase depression risk? A neuroscientist explains</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 20th 2024, 16:00</div>
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<p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0412.2011.01333.x">More than 85% of women</a> – and <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/contraceptive-use-method-2019">more than 300 million people</a> worldwide at any given time – use hormonal contraceptives for at least five years of their life. Although primarily taken for birth control, many people also use hormonal contraceptives to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279264/">manage a variety of symptoms</a> related to menstruation, from cramps and acne to mood swings.</p>
<p>For <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0412.2011.01333.x">up to 10% of women</a>, however, hormone contraceptives can increase their risk of depression. Hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, are crucial for brain health. So, how does modifying hormone levels with hormone contraceptives affect mental health?</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DJPB9-8AAAAJ&hl=en">researcher studying the neuroscience</a> of stress and emotion-related processes. I also study sex differences in vulnerability and resilience to mental health disorders. Understanding how hormone contraceptives affect mood can help researchers predict who will experience positive or negative effects.</p>
<h2>How do hormone contraceptives work?</h2>
<p>In the U.S. and other western countries, the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/contraceptive-use-method-2019">most common form of hormonal contraceptive</a> is “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-how-pill-works/">the pill</a>” – a combination of a synthetic estrogen and a synthetic progesterone, two hormones involved in regulation of the menstrual cycle, ovulation and pregnancy. Estrogen coordinates the timed release of other hormones, and progesterone maintains a pregnancy.</p>
<p>This may seem counterintuitive – why do naturally occurring hormones required for pregnancy also prevent pregnancy? And why does taking a hormone reduce the levels of that same hormone?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<p><figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/598191/original/file-20240603-17-15zytx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Line graph plotting rising estrogen levels peaking at day one of the menstrual cycle before decreasing, and progesterone levels peaking at day eight before decreasing" width="600" height="479"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">When estrogen and progesterone reach a certain threshold level, the body decreases their production. (Dharani Kalidasan/R.I. McLachlan et al. 1987 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA)</figcaption></figure><figcaption></figcaption></p></figure>
<p>Hormone cycles are tightly controlled by the hormones themselves. When progesterone levels increase, it activates processes in cells that shut off production of more progesterone. This is called a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3gxb82/revision/2">negative feedback loop</a>.</p>
<p>Estrogen and progesterone from the daily pill, or other common forms of contraceptives such as implants or vaginal rings, cause the body to decrease production of those hormones, reducing them to levels observed outside the fertile window of the cycle. This disrupts the tightly orchestrated hormonal cycle required for ovulation, menstruation and pregnancy.</p>
<h2>Brain effects of hormonal contraceptives</h2>
<p>Hormonal contraceptives affect more than just the ovaries and uterus.</p>
<p>The brain, specifically an area called the hypothalamus, <a href="https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/the-menstrual-cycle">controls the synchronization</a> of ovarian hormone levels. Although they’re called “ovarian hormones,” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1210/rp.57.1.357">estrogen</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2008-0395">progesterone</a> receptors are also present throughout the brain.</p>
<p>Estrogen and progesterone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2022.09.001">have broad effects</a> on neurons and cellular processes that have nothing to do with reproduction. For example, estrogen plays a role in processes that control <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0362-7">memory formation and protect the brain</a> against damage. Progesterone helps <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.bpobgyn.2020.06.001">regulate emotion</a>.</p>
<p>By changing the levels of these hormones in the brain and the body, hormonal contraceptives may modulate mood – for better or for worse.</p>
<h2>Hormonal contraceptives interact with stress</h2>
<p>Estrogen and progesterone also regulate the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-anxiety-is-in-my-brain-why-is-my-heart-pounding-a-psychiatrist-explains-the-neuroscience-and-physiology-of-fear-210871">stress response</a> – the body’s “fight-or-flight” reaction to physical or psychological challenges.</p>
<p>The main hormone involved in the stress response – cortisol in humans and corticosterone in rodents, both abbreviated to CORT – is primarily a metabolic hormone, meaning that increasing blood levels of these hormones during stressful conditions results in more energy mobilized from fat stores. The interplay between stress systems and reproductive hormones is a crucial link between mood and hormone contraceptives, as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk6772">energy regulation</a> is extremely important during pregnancy.</p>
<p>So what happens to someone’s stress response when they’re on hormonal contraceptives?</p>
<p>When exposed to a mild stressor – sticking an arm in cold water, for example, or standing to give a public speech – women using hormone contraceptives show a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4530(94)00078-O">smaller increase in CORT</a> than people not on hormone contraceptives.</p>
<p>Researchers saw the same effect in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105470">rats and mice</a> – when treated daily with a combination of hormones that mimic the pill, female rats and mice also show a suppression of the stress response.</p>
<h2>Hormonal contraceptives and depression</h2>
<p>Do hormonal contraceptives increase depression risk? The short answer is it varies from person to person. But for most people, probably not.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that neither increased nor decreased stress responses are directly related to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.035">risk for or resilience against depression</a>. But stress is closely related to mood, and chronic stress <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037">substantially increases</a> risk for depression. By modifying stress responses, hormone contraceptives change the risk for depression after stress, leading to “protection” against depression for many people and “increased risk” for a minority of people. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0412.2011.01333.x">More than 9 out of 10 people</a> who use hormonal contraceptives will not experience decreased mood or depression symptoms, and many will experience improved mood.</p>
<p>But researchers don’t yet know who will experience increased risk. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.11.005">Genetic factors and previous stress exposures</a> increase risk for depression, and it seems that <a href="https://doi.org/10.18773/austprescr.2022.025">similar factors</a> contribute to mood changes related to hormone contraception.</p>
<p>Currently, hormone contraceptives are usually prescribed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F17151635231215061">by trial and error</a> – if one type causes side effects in a patient, another with a different dose, delivery method or formulation might be better. But the process of “try-and-see” is inefficient and frustrating, and many people give up instead of switching to a different option. Identifying the specific factors that increase depression risk and better communicating the benefits of hormone contraception beyond birth control can help patients make more informed health care decisions.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/229098/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
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<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-hormonal-contraceptives-increase-depression-risk-a-neuroscientist-explains-how-they-affect-your-mood-for-better-or-worse-229098">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/too-many-choices-at-the-ballot-box-as-has-unexpected-effect-on-voters-study-suggests/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Too many choices at the ballot box has an unexpected effect on voters, study suggests</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 20th 2024, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>When it comes to elections, the idea that more choices lead to better outcomes may not always hold true. A recent study conducted by <a href="https://cla.auburn.edu/directory/spencer-goidel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spencer Goidel</a> at Auburn University explores the phenomenon of “choice overload” in elections and how it can affect voter behavior. The study suggests that the abundance of candidates in elections leads to higher rates of ballot rolloff, a situation where voters participate in an election but abstain from casting votes for some races on the ballot.</p>
<p>The findings have been published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X241273132" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Politics Research</a></em>.</p>
<p>Political scientists have long been interested in how the structure of elections—such as the number of candidates or the type of primary—affects voter participation. Goidel’s research specifically focuses on Louisiana’s unique “jungle primary” system, which is a majority-vote, nonpartisan primary held on Election Day. This system can result in a crowded field of candidates, particularly from the same political party, and Goidel wanted to investigate whether this abundance of choice could lead to voter disengagement.</p>
<p>The study draws on theories from consumer psychology, particularly the concept of “choice overload,” which suggests that when individuals are faced with too many similar options, they can become overwhelmed and either opt out of making a decision or make a choice that they later regret. The study aimed to determine whether this concept applies to voting behavior, particularly in elections with many candidates.</p>
<p>“Following the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, I heard the refrain that there were no good options, and it absolutely baffled me. There were more than a dozen experienced candidates seeking the nomination on the Republican side in 2016,” explained Goidel, an assistant professor of political science at Auburn University.</p>
<p>“Then, the same thing occurred among Democrats in 2020. This got me thinking about how large candidate fields would affect voters. With that many options, it seemed like people started ‘cancelling’ candidates for the smallest reasons, and they were hesitant to strongly back any one candidate. At the simplest level, I figured large candidate fields would cause voters to abstain or roll off at the ballot box.”</p>
<p>To explore this, Goidel leveraged a natural experiment created by changes to Louisiana’s electoral rules due to Supreme Court decisions, which led to the abandonment and later readoption of the jungle primary system. This unique context allowed the researcher to compare voter behavior under different electoral systems within the same state.</p>
<p>“The case of the Louisiana jungle primary seemed natural to me, because in Louisiana voters would be voting in these elections with many candidates at the same time they went to choose between two presidential candidates — giving a good baseline for ‘normal’ turnout to measure roll off against,” Goidel explained.</p>
<p>For his aggregate-level analysis, Goidel used a difference-in-differences design, comparing ballot rolloff rates in Louisiana to those in Mississippi, a neighboring state with a different electoral system. He also employed a generalized synthetic control model, constructing control counties using data from Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas to further validate the results. These models allowed Goidel to isolate the effect of the jungle primary on ballot rolloff rates at the county level.</p>
<p>In addition to the aggregate analysis, Goidel conducted an individual-level analysis using survey data from Louisiana respondents to the Cooperative Election Study. This part of the study examined whether voters in congressional districts with more candidates were more likely to abstain from voting in House elections. By combining these two approaches, Goidel was able to assess the impact of candidate abundance on voter behavior from both a broad, population-level perspective and a more detailed, individual-level perspective.</p>
<p>The findings from both analyses were consistent and supported the hypothesis that an abundance of candidates in an election increases the likelihood of ballot rolloff. At the aggregate level, Goidel found that the reintroduction of the jungle primary in Louisiana led to a 5.7 to 7.1 percent increase in ballot rolloff compared to the period when the jungle primary was not in use. This means that when voters were presented with more candidates on the ballot, a significant portion of them chose not to cast a vote in the House elections, despite having turned out to vote.</p>
<p>The individual-level analysis further reinforced these findings. The study showed that for each additional candidate in a House election, there was a 1 percent increase in the likelihood that a voter would roll off. The probability of a voter abstaining from a House election increased significantly as the number of candidates grew, particularly when the number exceeded two. For example, in elections with as many as twelve candidates, the likelihood of ballot rolloff jumped from 2.9 percent to 19.1 percent. This suggests that even a moderate increase in the number of candidates can lead to a substantial rise in voter disengagement.</p>
<p>“Our default response to dissatisfaction in politics is to reform our institutions in a way that increases choice for the voters,” Goidel told PsyPost. “I’d caution that democratizing the process does not always produce better results. Democratizing the primary process could unintentionally burden and demobilize parts of the electorate.”</p>
<p>While the study provides insights into the impact of candidate abundance on voter behavior, it is important to consider its limitations. One key limitation is that the study focuses specifically on Louisiana and its unique jungle primary system. While the findings are relevant to other states with similar electoral systems, such as California and Alaska, the generalizability of the results to other contexts may be limited.</p>
<p>“There’s a decline in ballot rolloff in Louisiana in 2020 when absentee voting was at an all-time high,” Goidel noted. “Of course we can’t know what caused this decline, but I think it makes sense that voting at home with internet access and time would be less burdensome. In a state like Washington, where most voters vote by mail, it’s reasonable to suspect that the negative effects of overload would be offset by this more deliberative voting method.”</p>
<p>“A survey experiment that I conducted shows that large candidate fields do make voters feel overwhelmed. That paper is in the pipeline, and I plan on exploring how the top-two or top-four primaries adopted in other states have affected voters.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532673X241273132" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More Candidates and Fewer Voters: How an Abundance of Choice Demobilizes the Electorate</a>,” was published August 13, 2024.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-evolving-sexual-attitudes-in-china-influenced-by-age-urban-rural-divide-and-political-status/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Study reveals evolving sexual attitudes in China, influenced by age, urban-rural divide, and political status</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 20th 2024, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>Utilizing an age–period–cohort framework, new research reveals that while Chinese attitudes toward premarital sex and homosexuality have become more liberal over time, attitudes toward extramarital sex remain largely conservative. The study was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-02900-x"><em>Archives of Sexual Behavior</em></a>.</p>
<p>China’s rapid transformation since its reform and opening up has significantly altered its economic, political, cultural, and social landscape. In this work, researchers Jiangrui Liu and Hui Yang examined whether these changes have led to a shift in public sexual attitudes and what mechanisms drive these changes.</p>
<p>This study draws on data from seven waves of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), conducted between 2010 and 2021. The CGSS, one of China’s most comprehensive social survey projects, was collaboratively administered by Renmin University of China and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It employed a multi-stage stratified sampling design to ensure a nationally representative sample, covering diverse regions and demographics.</p>
<p>Participants were asked about their attitudes towards premarital sex, extramarital sex, and homosexuality using a 5-point scale ranging from “always wrong” to “always right,” with higher scores indicating more liberal attitudes. Independent variables included age, period, cohort, urban-rural divide (hukou status), and political status (CCP membership). Control variables such as gender, ethnicity, education, marital status, income, and social class were also included to account for potential confounding factors.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed significant effects of age, period, and cohort on sexual attitudes in China. Public attitudes towards premarital sex and homosexuality showed increased tolerance over time, whereas attitudes towards extramarital sex remained relatively conservative. Older individuals held conservative views across all three sexual attitudes. The period effect indicated a fluctuating but generally increasing acceptance of premarital sex and homosexuality. Cohort analysis showed that younger cohorts, especially those born after China’s reform and opening up, exhibited more liberal attitudes compared to older cohorts.</p>
<p>Structural factors also significantly shaped sexual attitudes. Urban residents were significantly more tolerant of premarital sex, extramarital sex, and homosexuality compared to their rural counterparts. CCP members, on the other hand, tended to hold more conservative sexual attitudes than non-CCP members, highlighting the influence of political status. Interaction terms between structural factors and cohorts revealed that these differences persisted across different age groups, indicating enduring disparities based on urban-rural and political status.</p>
<p>One limitation noted by the authors is the reliance on self-reported measures of sexual attitudes, which may be subject to social desirability bias.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-02900-x">Divergence in Chinese Sexual Attitudes: An Age–Period–Cohort Analysis</a>”, was authored by Jiangrui Liu and Hui Yang.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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