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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News Daily Digest (Unofficial)</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/mentalizing-skills-drive-teen-storytelling-ability-more-than-autism-diagnosis/" 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;">Mentalizing skills drive teen storytelling ability more than autism diagnosis</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Feb 24th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3272" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Autism Research</a></em> has found that the ability to understand what others are thinking and feeling, known as mentalizing, is strongly linked to how well teenagers can tell stories. This skill appears to be more influential in storytelling than whether or not a young person has autism. The study suggests that supporting the development of mentalizing abilities could be beneficial for improving communication skills in all adolescents, regardless of their background.</p>
<p>Storytelling is a fundamental part of human interaction. It’s how we share experiences, connect with others, and even learn in school. For teenagers, being able to tell a good story is important for making friends, participating in class, and navigating daily life. Previous studies have indicated that some young people with autism may find it more difficult to create well-structured and clear stories compared to their peers without autism. However, research findings have been inconsistent, and scientists are still working to understand the reasons behind these differences.</p>
<p>“Producing spoken narrative accounts is an essential aspect of communication for adolescents in everyday social contexts, such as in the classroom, with friends, or at home,” said study author Anna Harvey of City St George’s, University of London. “Autistic young people tend to find these kinds of verbal interactions particularly challenging. We were therefore interested in exploring some of the underlying cognitive skills that may support the production of well-structured and coherent narratives in autistic versus non-autistic adolescents.”</p>
<p>To explore this further, the research team investigated cognitive skills that might influence storytelling ability in teenagers, focusing on two areas often discussed in relation to autism: mentalizing and executive function. Mentalizing is the ability to understand that other people have their own thoughts, feelings, and intentions and to infer what those mental states might be. Executive function refers to a set of mental processes that help people plan, organize, and manage thoughts and actions, including remembering information, switching between tasks, and controlling impulses.</p>
<p>While both mentalizing and executive function have been studied in connection to autism, their relationship to storytelling skills—especially spoken narratives—remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify those connections by examining both autistic and non-autistic adolescents.</p>
<p>To conduct their research, the scientists recruited 44 teenagers with autism and 54 teenagers without autism, all between the ages of 11 and 15. The two groups were carefully matched in age, gender, general cognitive abilities, and language skills. This matching ensured that any differences in storytelling were not simply due to these basic factors. All participants completed a single session conducted online via video conferencing. While these assessments are typically done in person, research suggests that online versions can yield reliable results.</p>
<p>The teenagers participated in several tasks. First, to assess storytelling abilities, they watched two short video clips. One was an animated video with no dialogue, depicting a misunderstanding between two people. The other was a live-action clip featuring real actors and dialogue, showing a student arriving late to class and getting into trouble. After watching each video, the teenagers were asked to describe what happened in their own words.</p>
<p>These spoken stories were recorded and later analyzed in two ways. The first analysis examined the overall structure of the story, sometimes referred to as “story grammar.” This involved checking whether the stories included key elements such as the setting, the problem, the actions taken, and the outcome. The second analysis focused on how coherent the story was, evaluating whether it was easy to follow, made logical sense, and provided enough context for a listener to understand.</p>
<p>In addition to the storytelling tasks, the teenagers completed several tests designed to measure their mentalizing and executive function skills. Mentalizing ability was assessed using two tasks. In one, participants read short stories about social situations and answered questions that required understanding the characters’ thoughts and feelings. The other task used silent film clips, with participants responding to questions that tested their ability to infer the characters’ mental states.</p>
<p>Executive function was measured through four different tasks, each targeting a specific cognitive skill. These included tests of working memory (the ability to hold and manipulate information), inhibition (the ability to resist impulsive responses), shifting (the ability to switch between different tasks or ways of thinking), and generativity (the ability to rapidly generate ideas or words).</p>
<p>The study’s findings revealed a strong link between mentalizing skills and storytelling ability. Teenagers who performed better on the mentalizing tasks produced stories that were both well-structured and coherent, regardless of whether they had autism. In fact, mentalizing ability was a stronger predictor of storytelling performance than an autism diagnosis.</p>
<p>Although the researchers found that autism diagnosis predicted overall story structure—autistic teenagers tended to have slightly lower structure scores—it did not predict how coherent the stories were.</p>
<p>“Mentalizing—the ability to infer what others may be thinking or feeling—appears to be strongly linked to narrative ability. Adolescents with better mentalizing skills produced more coherent and structured narrative accounts than those with poorer mentalizing skills, regardless of whether they were autistic or not,” Harvey told PsyPost.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the executive function tests did not show a significant relationship with storytelling skills. This suggests that, at least in this group of teenagers, mentalizing is more important for spoken storytelling than the specific aspects of executive function that were measured.</p>
<p>“We were surprised not to find a significant relationship between executive functions and narrative ability in this sample, as some previous research would suggest,” Harvey said. “There are various possible explanations for this. For example, it could be that the controlled executive function tasks we used did not accurately reflect how participants use their executive skills in real-life situations.”</p>
<p>The study accounted for factors such as age, cognitive abilities, and language skills to isolate the specific effects of mentalizing, executive function, and diagnosis. However, like all research, it had some limitations. The autistic participants in this study generally had good cognitive and language skills and required less support, meaning the findings might not apply to all autistic individuals—particularly those with intellectual disabilities or more significant communication challenges.</p>
<p>Additionally, while the study included both boys and girls, fewer autistic girls were in the sample, which could limit how well the findings apply to autistic girls, who sometimes present differently than autistic boys. The researchers also noted that while the tool used to measure story coherence was new and promising, it could be refined further to improve reliability.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers suggest that future studies could explore what factors contribute to differences in mentalizing skills among teenagers and whether specific interventions designed to improve mentalizing could also enhance storytelling abilities. Given the strong link between mentalizing and narrative skills, such interventions could benefit a wide range of young people—not just those with autism—who struggle with communication and social interaction.</p>
<p>“Our findings raise the question of whether developing adolescents’ mentalizing skills could lead to improvements in their spoken narrative ability,” Harvey said. “We feel that this would be an interesting avenue for future research.”</p>
<p>“This study adds to the growing body of research highlighting the limitations of diagnostic labels in characterizing areas of strength and challenge across individuals. It may be more useful to identify important dimensions that affect task performance—such as mentalizing ability—rather than focusing solely on specific diagnoses.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3272" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Narrative abilities of autistic and non-autistic adolescents: The role of mentalising and executive function</a>,” was authored by Anna Harvey, Helen Spicer-Cain, Nicola Botting, and Lucy Henry.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/psychology-study-reveals-a-fascinating-fact-about-artwork/" 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;">Psychology study reveals a fascinating fact about artwork</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Feb 24th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>People are more willing to engage with negative content when it is presented as art rather than as a straightforward photograph, according to new research published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2412406122" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a></em>. The researchers discovered that artworks depicting distressing scenes held viewers’ attention for longer periods and were often chosen over similar non-art images. This work suggests that art can serve as a powerful tool for communicating difficult or unpleasant information in a way that makes it more accessible.</p>
<p>Throughout history, artists have explored themes of death, suffering, and violence. Think of “memento mori” artworks that remind us of our mortality, or powerful paintings like Caravaggio’s “Medusa” and Frida Kahlo’s unflinching self-portraits depicting chronic pain. These works, though potentially disturbing, captivate audiences and have become iconic.</p>
<p>A team of researchers set out to understand this phenomenon, specifically focusing on whether art makes us more willing to engage with negative content. They wanted to test if people show a stronger interest in seeing negative situations depicted in paintings compared to similar situations shown in photographs. Beyond simply measuring interest, the researchers also wanted to understand the psychological reasons behind this potential preference for art, exploring what motivates us to engage with negative content in different forms.</p>
<p>“I’m curious about why people engage with negative content, from true crime to accident videos. Research on morbid curiosity suggests that negative information serves important functions—it helps us gain knowledge, understand emotions, and connect with others—primarily because it is grounded in reality and relevant to real-life,” said study author Yagmur Ozbay, a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam.</p>
<p>“This creates an interesting challenge for art, which often abstracts reality rather than depicting it directly. If real-world content is inherently more informative and socially relevant, why does art hold such a dominant role in portraying negative themes?”</p>
<p>“While many assume it’s intuitive that people would prefer engaging with negative content through art, I questioned whether this was truly the case from a functional perspective. This led me to investigate whether, when given the choice, people actually prefer engaging with negative content—specifically moral transgressions involving harm and violence—through art or non-art, and why.”</p>
<p>The researchers conducted a series of five online experiments. They started by selecting ten pairs of images. Each pair consisted of a painting and a photograph that depicted the same negative situation involving a moral violation – things like violence or injustice. For example, one pair might show a painting and a photograph of people fighting. They also created a set of image pairs showing positive moral actions, like caring for others, for use in one of their studies.</p>
<p>The researchers selected paintings by well-known artists and then identified photographs depicting similar scenes to ensure content comparability. It was important that the photographs were seen as less artistic than the paintings, so they conducted a preliminary study to confirm this. They ensured that both the paintings and photographs in each pair were seen as equally representative of the moral content they were meant to portray. In the experiments, the paintings were presented as “a painting selected to be displayed in an art gallery,” while the photographs were described as “a photo selected to illustrate a news article.”</p>
<p>The participants were recruited online through a platform called Prolific. All participants were native English speakers, had a high rating for completing studies reliably, and had not taken part in any similar studies before. Across the five experiments, over a thousand people participated.</p>
<p>In the first experiment, 200 participants were divided into two groups. One group was told they would be looking at descriptions of paintings, and the other group was told they would be looking at descriptions of photographs. For each description, participants were asked if they wanted to see the image. The descriptions covered both positive and negative situations. The researchers measured whether people chose to see the images and how long they looked at them if they chose “yes.”</p>
<p>The second experiment involved 119 participants. This time, for each negative situation, participants were given a choice: did they want to see the painting or the photograph? Again, the researchers tracked which type of image people chose and how long they looked at it.</p>
<p>In the third set of experiments (Studies 3A and 3B), participants were shown both paintings and photographs of negative situations. In one version (3A), everyone saw both types of images. In another version (3B), some participants only saw paintings, and others only saw photographs. After viewing each image, participants rated their experience. They answered questions about their emotional responses like distress, compassion, and feeling moved. They also rated how aesthetically pleasing and thought-provoking they found the image, and whether it gave them a realistic or original perspective, among other things. The researchers still measured how long participants spent looking at each image.</p>
<p>The final experiment, Study 4, had three parts and involved 191 participants. First, participants were presented with descriptions of negative situations paired with either a painting or a photograph label, and they chose whether or not they wanted to see the image, but they didn’t see it yet. Second, before seeing any images, they were asked to rate how they expected viewing each image (painting or photograph) would affect them in terms of various motivations, such as providing a realistic perspective or being emotionally costly. Finally, in the third part, they were shown the images they had chosen to see earlier. Researchers again tracked viewing time and also asked participants if the images were more or less interesting than they had expected.</p>
<p>After analyzing the data from all five experiments, the researchers found a clear pattern. People showed a stronger preference for engaging with negative content when it was presented as art. In the first study, participants were more likely to choose to view paintings depicting negative situations compared to photographs of similar situations. Interestingly, this preference for art was not seen when the content was positive.</p>
<p>In the second study, when participants were directly asked to choose between a painting and a photograph of the same negative event, they chose the painting more often than the photograph. While the fourth study did not replicate the choice preference, the researchers believe this was due to a change in the experimental design that removed the immediate feedback of viewing an image after choosing it.</p>
<p>Across all five studies, a consistent finding emerged: people spent more time looking at artworks depicting negative content than at photographs of similar content. This was true whether participants chose to see the images or were shown them automatically.</p>
<p>“Our study provides empirical evidence that people are more likely to engage with negative content when it is presented through art rather than matched control photographs,” Ozbay told PsyPost. “Participants not only chose to engage with this content more frequently but also spent more time with it. The content specifically involved scenes of violence and harm, with participants making engagement choices based on identical descriptions across art and non-art formats—for example, ‘Police violently restrain a woman at a gathering,’ ‘A young boy is forced to work in a factory,’ and “Guerrilla soldiers attack civilians in a village.'”</p>
<p>“These scenarios reflect real-world social issues like child labor, war, and police violence. The fact that participants engaged with these depictions more often—and for longer—suggests that art may be a powerful tool for sustaining attention on critical yet emotionally challenging issues that people might otherwise avoid. This has important implications for artists, educators, journalists, and activists who seek to communicate difficult topics and foster public awareness and action.”</p>
<p>To understand why people preferred art for negative content, the researchers examined the ratings from Studies 3A and 3B. They discovered that participants consistently rated the artworks as more aesthetically pleasing than the photographs. Furthermore, viewing negative content in art form was seen as less emotionally draining or “costly” compared to viewing it in photographs. Artworks also provided a less realistic perspective than the photographs. However, there were no significant differences in how thought-provoking, original, or moving the art and non-art images were perceived to be.</p>
<p>In Study 4, when examining motivations, the researchers found that people were more likely to choose to engage with negative content if they expected it to be thought-provoking, aesthetically pleasing, and offer an original perspective – regardless of whether it was art or a photograph. However, the expected emotional cost played a significant role in people’s decisions to avoid content, especially when it was presented as a photograph. In other words, people were less deterred by the potential emotional difficulty of engaging with negative content if they believed it was art.</p>
<p>These findings suggest that art acts as a kind of buffer when we engage with difficult or negative subjects. The aesthetic qualities of art and the sense that we are in a slightly removed, “as-if” world when experiencing art, may reduce the emotional impact of negative content, making it more approachable. This reduced emotional cost, combined with the appeal of aesthetic appreciation and thought-provoking perspectives, makes people more willing to explore negative themes through art than through non-art media.</p>
<p>“One surprising finding was that the motivations driving engagement with negative content—such as seeking aesthetic value, thought-provoking material, and an original perspective—were not exclusive to art,” Ozbay explained. “This is important because while our experimental design, which strictly categorizes art and non-art, strengthens the validity of our findings, such a black-and-white distinction may not always translate to real-life experiences.”</p>
<p>“This result suggests that engagement is not about whether something is strictly labeled as ‘art’ but rather whether it creates expectations of artistic qualities. This means our findings don’t imply that news photography should be replaced by paintings, but rather that incorporating artistic elements into various formats could help sustain engagement with difficult topics without requiring every representation to be classified as ‘art.'”</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledge that their study focused solely on visual art. They point out that different forms of art, like literature or music, might create similar or different effects, which is an interesting avenue for future research. Also, all the experiments were conducted online. While this setting mirrors how we often encounter images in our daily digital lives and allowed for controlled experiments, exploring how people engage with negative art in real-world settings like museums would be valuable.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers are interested in exploring the longer-term effects of this increased engagement with negative content through art. “I’m interested in expanding this research to explore what this increased engagement can offer,” Ozbay said. “If people are more willing to engage with difficult yet important social issues through the arts, could this lead to greater awareness, foster empathy, or even inspire action? We’ve only just begun to explore these possibilities, and I’m excited to see what lies ahead.”</p>
<p>“I’m excited to discuss the arts beyond beauty and aesthetics. Because we often associate art with these qualities, some may dismiss the idea that art can present real-world issues, either seeing it as outside art’s purpose or believing these issues are too important to be represented artistically. I hope this study encourages people to think about the role of art beyond aesthetics.”</p>
<p>“Art is not just about beauty—it’s a tool for processing, understanding, and confronting difficult aspects of life,” Ozbay concluded. “Artists use it to communicate real stories, perspectives, and emotions; we engage with it and, through it, connect with culture, history, and identities.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2412406122" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art promotes exploration of negative content</a>,” was authored by Yagmur Ozbay, Eftychia Stamkou, and Suzanne Oosterwijk.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-neuroscience-research-sheds-light-on-how-anxiety-affects-childrens-emotional-processing/" 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;">New neuroscience research sheds light on how anxiety affects children’s emotional processing</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Feb 23rd 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study using brain imaging technology has shed light on how anxiety might change the way young people process emotions. Researchers discovered that children and teenagers with higher levels of generalized anxiety symptoms displayed a distinct pattern of brain activity when watching emotionally negative scenes from a movie. This pattern suggests that anxious youth may become more deeply engrossed in negative emotions when faced with upsetting situations. The findings were published in <em><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2827795" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMA Psychiatry</a></em>.</p>
<p>Generalized anxiety disorder is a common mental health condition, particularly among children and adolescents. It is characterized by excessive and persistent worry about various aspects of life, such as school, social situations, and future events. Experts have long known that generalized anxiety is linked to difficulties in processing emotions. Individuals with this condition often struggle to manage negative feelings and may be overly sensitive to negative cues in their environment. However, the precise brain mechanisms behind these emotional processing differences in anxious youth have remained unclear.</p>
<p>Previous studies attempting to understand the brain basis of anxiety have often relied on simple, artificial stimuli, like static images of faces displaying different emotions. While these studies have provided some insights, they may not fully capture how people process emotions in real-world situations, which are typically more complex and dynamic. Our everyday experiences involve a constant stream of social and emotional information, often unfolding over time, such as when watching a movie or interacting with others.</p>
<p>To address this limitation, the researchers in the current study chose to use a more realistic approach by examining brain activity while young people watched a movie clip designed to evoke a range of emotions. By understanding how brain activity changes during this type of natural emotional processing, the researchers hoped to gain a more accurate picture of the brain differences associated with anxiety and potentially identify new avenues for developing more effective treatments.</p>
<p>To conduct their investigation, the researchers recruited a large group of 620 young people between the ages of 5 and 15. These participants were part of a larger ongoing research project studying brain development in youth facing challenges in school. All participants underwent brain scanning using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. This technology allows scientists to measure brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.</p>
<p>While in the scanner, the young participants watched a ten-minute segment from the animated movie “Despicable Me.” This particular movie clip was chosen because it contains a mix of scenes designed to elicit different emotions, including both positive and negative feelings. The clip included scenes of a bedtime story, a tea party, moments where children are taken away by social services, humorous side stories, and a scene where the main character abandons the children to commit a crime.</p>
<p>Before the brain scans, the researchers also assessed the anxiety levels of the participants using a questionnaire called the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders. This questionnaire asks young people to report on their own anxiety symptoms. Using self-reports allowed the researchers to directly capture each child’s individual experience of anxiety.</p>
<p>After collecting the brain scan data, the researchers used a sophisticated data analysis technique called hidden Markov modeling. This method is like searching for hidden patterns within complex data. In this case, it allowed the researchers to identify distinct “brain states” that occurred as the young people watched the movie. Think of these brain states as different modes of brain activity that the participants cycled through as the movie unfolded.</p>
<p>The researchers also analyzed the movie clip itself, frame by frame, noting the emotional content, including how positive or negative the scenes were, as well as other visual and auditory features like brightness, motion, and loudness. This detailed analysis of the movie content allowed them to link specific brain states to particular types of scenes.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed that the young people cycled through three primary brain states while watching the movie. The first state was characterized by high activity in brain regions associated with visual processing and movement, but lower activity in areas linked to attention and emotional processing. This state seemed to be associated with movie scenes that were brighter, louder, and less emotionally charged.</p>
<p>The second brain state showed high activity in auditory and motor areas, but again, lower activity in emotion-related regions. This state appeared to be linked to scenes that were louder, less negative, contained more visual motion, and less focused on faces or bodies.</p>
<p>The third brain state was different. It showed high activity in brain regions involved in attention and emotional processing, but lower activity in visual and auditory areas. This state was more likely to occur during movie scenes that were emotionally negative, quieter, and had less visual motion.</p>
<p>Most importantly, the researchers found a significant link between generalized anxiety symptoms and brain state three. Young people who reported higher levels of generalized anxiety symptoms spent more time in this third brain state, particularly when watching emotionally negative parts of the movie. This suggests that when confronted with negative emotional content, anxious youth may be more inclined to engage a brain state associated with deeper emotional processing and attention to internal thoughts and feelings, potentially becoming more immersed in the negativity.</p>
<p>Interestingly, these anxious youth also spent less time in brain state two during negative scenes. Furthermore, the researchers observed that young people with higher anxiety symptoms had more frequent shifts between brain state one (the state associated with less emotional processing) and brain state three (the state associated with higher emotional processing). This might indicate a greater reactivity to emotional changes in the movie for anxious youth. These patterns were specifically linked to generalized anxiety and were not found in relation to social anxiety symptoms, suggesting that these brain activity patterns are particularly relevant to the type of excessive worry that defines generalized anxiety.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, this research opens new directions for understanding and treating anxiety in young people. The finding that anxious youth tend to get “stuck” in a brain state associated with heightened emotional processing during negative situations suggests potential targets for interventions. For example, therapies aimed at helping anxious youth shift out of this state, perhaps by training them to redirect their attention or strengthen their ability to control their focus, could be beneficial.</p>
<p>The ability to identify these brain states in real-time could potentially lead to innovative interventions using techniques like brain stimulation to help young people regulate their emotional responses as they happen. Further studies are needed to explore these possibilities and to fully understand how brain activation states can be used to improve the lives of children and teenagers struggling with anxiety.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4105" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youth Generalized Anxiety and Brain Activation States During Socioemotional Processing</a>,” was authored by M. Catalina Camacho, Rebecca F. Schwarzlose, Michael T. Perino, Alyssa K. Labonte, Sanju Koirala, Deanna M. Barch, and Chad M. Sylvester.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/unattractive-faces-may-get-a-break-study-reveals-ugly-leniency-effect-in-guilt-judgments/" 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;">Unattractive faces may get a break: Study reveals “ugly leniency effect” in guilt judgments</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Feb 23rd 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A surprising study published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2260847"><em>Psychiatry, Psychology and Law</em></a> suggests that when people make judgments about a defendant’s guilt in a case where physical appearance could plausibly play a role—such as a blind date swindle—they tend to be more lenient toward unattractive faces. This finding, which the researchers describe as an “ugly leniency effect,” challenges the assumption that attractive individuals always receive more favorable treatment.</p>
<p>The researchers set out to understand how first impressions based on facial appearance might affect decisions of guilt or innocence in legal cases. They were particularly interested in the roles of facial attractiveness and trustworthiness when a defendant’s appearance could be used as an advantage in committing a crime.</p>
<p>Previous work had shown that attractive people are often assumed to possess positive traits, while unattractive individuals may be unfairly judged harshly. However, the connection between attractiveness and guilt had not been fully explored, especially in cases where the appearance itself might help the crime succeed.</p>
<p>“I was really interested in exploring the consequences of facial biases in the legal field,” said study author Antonio Olivera-La Rosa, a full professor at Luis Amigó Catholic University in Medellín. “I feel that, among all the areas susceptible to experiencing the consequences of facial biases, the legal field is one that requires the most attention. It is not difficult to understand why. Personally, I think it’s important to integrate our knowledge of human cognition to human practices and institutions.”</p>
<p>For their study, the researchers recruited 128 participants through email and social media. The participants were primarily from Colombia, with a smaller number from Spain and Peru. The study was conducted online, and all participants provided their consent before starting.</p>
<p>First, participants completed a questionnaire to collect demographic information, such as age, gender, and education level. They also completed the Rational Experiential Inventory, a tool used to measure individual differences in thinking styles. This inventory assesses the degree to which individuals rely on rational thinking (analytical, intentional) versus experiential thinking (intuitive, automatic).</p>
<p>Next, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a high time pressure condition or a low time pressure condition. In the high time pressure condition, participants were instructed to make their judgments as quickly as possible. In the low time pressure condition, they were given as much time as they needed.</p>
<p>All participants were then presented with a hypothetical scenario: a blind date swindle case. They were asked to imagine themselves as judges and to assess the guilt or innocence of nine male faces. The faces were selected from the Chicago Face Database and categorized into three levels of attractiveness: unattractive, neutral, and attractive. Importantly, all faces had consistent and average levels of perceived trustworthiness. Participants were asked to give their first impression of whether or not each face looked guilty. After each judgment, they rated how certain they were about their decision on a seven-point scale.</p>
<p>The results of the study revealed a significant effect of facial attractiveness on guilt judgments. Specifically, participants were more likely to judge unattractive faces as innocent compared to both neutral and attractive faces. This finding suggests that an “ugly leniency effect” was at play, where less attractive individuals were given the benefit of the doubt.</p>
<p>The researchers found that time pressure did not significantly influence the relationship between facial attractiveness and guilt judgments. Whether participants were under time constraints or not, the ugly leniency effect persisted.</p>
<p>They also found that individual differences in thinking styles, as measured by the Rational Experiential Inventory, did not significantly impact guilt judgments. Participants who were more inclined toward rational thinking were just as likely to exhibit the ugly leniency effect as those who were more inclined toward experiential thinking.</p>
<p>The study further explored participants’ beliefs about the role of physical appearance in the crime scenario. Researchers found that participants generally believed that the defendant’s appearance could influence the success or failure of the swindle. Additionally, a majority of participants acknowledged that the attractiveness or unattractiveness of the faces may have influenced their responses.</p>
<p>“Our results provide valuable insights by demonstrating that, under specific conditions, unattractive faces can reduce guilt perception,” Olivera-La Rosa told PsyPost. “This evidence could enhance awareness of how implicit bias influences legal decisions, potentially reducing the skepticism many judges express towards such extralegal factors. While the legal system is traditionally grounded in rationality, it is not immune to the influence of facial biases.”</p>
<p>But there is an important caveat to consider: the study focused on a specific type of crime—a blind date swindle. This focus limits the generalizability of the findings to other types of offenses.</p>
<p>“The purpose of our study was to gain a deeper insight into the intuitive nature of initial judgments about guilt or innocence,” Olivera-La Rosa explained. “As such, our findings should not be seen as proof that individuals with unattractive (yet moderately trustworthy) faces are necessarily more likely to receive lenient judicial sentences. Indeed, facial bias may be reduced or even diminished during the examination of evidence.”</p>
<p>Future research could examine the effects of facial attractiveness on guilt judgments in a wider range of criminal scenarios, using both male and female faces. The researchers aim to further explore how factors such as facial appearance can unconsciously influence jurors’ decisions and to develop methods for reducing these biases within the legal system.</p>
<p>“The progress made within the interdisciplinary field known as neurolaw has led to greater interest in studying these issues from perspectives that incorporate cognitive sciences,” Olivera-La Rosa said. “Although it may sound obvious, jurors are still people, which means that they can be susceptible to facial bias. More research is definitely needed, along with identifying the best ways to incorporate these findings into traditional legal systems.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2260847">When being unattractive is an advantage: effects of face perception on intuitive culpability judgments</a>,” was authored by Antonio Olivera-La Rosa, Luis D. Ayala, and Ricardo M. Tamayo.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-psychology-research-angrier-men-perceived-as-less-intelligent-by-women/" 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;">New psychology research: Angrier men perceived as less intelligent by women</a>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049241275706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evolutionary Psychology</a></em> has found a connection between men’s anger, their partners’ perception of their intelligence, and overall relationship satisfaction. The research suggests that men who exhibit higher levels of anger are viewed as less intelligent by their female partners, and this perception contributes to lower satisfaction within the relationship for both partners.</p>
<p>Evolutionary psychology suggests that people seek partners who exhibit qualities of both competence and compassion. Competence, often reflected in traits like intelligence, signals an individual’s ability to acquire resources and successfully navigate the world. Compassion, on the other hand, encompasses qualities like kindness and low anger, indicating a willingness to share resources and foster a harmonious relationship environment.</p>
<p>While previous research had extensively examined how these traits influence mate selection (i.e., who people choose to be with), less was known about how they operate <em>within</em> established romantic relationships. The researchers recognized a gap in the literature: how do perceptions of a partner’s competence (intelligence) and compassion (low anger) relate to the ongoing satisfaction and stability of a relationship? The new study was designed to address that question.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited 148 heterosexual couples. The women in the study ranged in age from 18 to 74, with an average age of about 28, while the men ranged from 18 to 80, with an average age of about 29. Each partner was assessed individually in a face-to-face session to prevent them from influencing each other’s responses. These sessions, lasting roughly 45 minutes each, involved a series of questionnaires and tests.</p>
<p>The participants’ trait anger, meaning their general tendency to experience anger, was measured using a standardized questionnaire called the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2. This questionnaire asks individuals to rate how often they experience angry feelings using items such as “I am a hothead person.” Each individual’s objective intelligence was assessed using Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices, a well-regarded test of fluid intelligence. This test involves identifying patterns in a series of visual matrices and selecting the missing piece from a set of options. Subjective intelligence, or how smart individuals perceived themselves and their partners to be, was measured using a simple rating scale.</p>
<p>Participants were asked to rate both their own and their partner’s intelligence on a scale from 1 to 25, relative to other people. Finally, relationship satisfaction was measured using the Relationship Assessment Scale, a questionnaire that assesses how well each partner feels their needs are being met within the relationship. The researchers also collected information about the length of the relationship, any previous breakups within the relationship, and the number of prior relationships each partner had.</p>
<p>The results showed a negative correlation between men’s trait anger and relationship satisfaction. This means that men who reported higher levels of general anger also reported being less satisfied in their romantic relationships. Importantly, their female partners also reported lower relationship satisfaction.</p>
<p>The researchers also found a negative relationship between men’s anger and how their partners perceived their intelligence. Women in the study tended to rate angrier men as less intelligent, regardless of those men’s actual, objectively measured intelligence scores. The researchers took care to statistically control for the men’s scores on the fluid intelligence test, meaning that the link between anger and perceived intelligence couldn’t be explained simply by angrier men actually being less intelligent.</p>
<p>This finding suggests that there’s something about anger itself, perhaps its association with impulsivity or poor emotional regulation, that leads to the perception of lower cognitive ability, even when that perception isn’t entirely accurate.</p>
<p>Importantly, the researchers used a statistical technique called mediation analysis to test whether the link between men’s anger and relationship satisfaction (for both partners) could be explained by the women’s perceptions of their partners’ intelligence. The results supported this idea. The pathway went like this: men’s anger was associated with lower perceived intelligence by their partners, and this lower perceived intelligence, in turn, was associated with lower relationship satisfaction for both the men themselves and their female partners.</p>
<p>In simpler terms, angrier men were seen as less intelligent, and this perception appeared to contribute to both partners feeling less happy in the relationship. This finding highlights the importance of perceptions in relationship dynamics. It’s not just about objective qualities like actual intelligence; it’s also about how partners view each other, and these views can have a significant impact on relationship outcomes.</p>
<p>The research support the idea that there’s a perceived trade-off between competence (intelligence) and compassion (low anger) within relationships. When a partner exhibits low compassion (high anger), it seems to negatively color the perception of their competence, even if their actual competence is high. This skewed perception then ripples out to affect the overall satisfaction of both individuals in the relationship. It should also be highlighted that there was an association between a man’s reported anger, and the number of reported breakups, indicating a potential impact on relationship stability.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049241275706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kindness or Intelligence? Angry Men are Perceived as Less Intelligent by Their Female Romantic Partners</a>,” was authored by Jeremiasz Górniak, Marcin Zajenkowski, Kinga Szymaniak, and Peter K. Jonason.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/non-smokers-dating-profiles-are-more-likely-to-receive-video-chat-invitations/" 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;">Non-smokers’ dating profiles are more likely to receive video chat invitations</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Feb 23rd 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>New research has found that dating profiles indicating that their owners are non-smokers are more likely to receive video chat invitations compared to profiles of smokers. Male participants reported being more likely to send messages (to the owners of the dating profiles they were shown), initiate video chats, propose to meet offline, and make dating decisions than female participants. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2024.102192"><em>Telematics and Informatics</em></a>.</p>
<p>With the advent of the Internet over the past couple of decades, many human activities have gradually moved online. Dating is one of them. Online dating is a method of meeting potential romantic partners through websites or mobile apps, where users create profiles and interact based on shared interests or compatibility algorithms. It has become increasingly popular due to its convenience, accessibility, and the ability to connect with people outside one’s immediate social circle.</p>
<p>The online dating app market generated almost 5 billion dollars in revenue in 2022. It is estimated that more than 300 million people have used dating apps worldwide, with about 20 million paying for premium features. The use of dating apps surged during the COVID-19 pandemic when the number of downloads sharply increased, as did the number of payments for the use of dating sites. However, scientific knowledge about the psychological experiences of dating site users is still insufficiently explored.</p>
<p>Study authors Ruoxu Wang and Jin Yang aimed to examine the effects of gender, smoking, and COVID-19 vaccination status on impressions and dating decisions toward online dating profiles (i.e., toward the people represented by these profiles). They note that people form first impressions about a person in online dating based on cues contained in the dating profiles. These first impressions then shape if and how the relationship will further develop.</p>
<p>They conducted an experiment with 250 Amazon MTurk workers as study participants. The average age was 34 years, 55% were male, 82% had used online dating services before, and 83% reported having dated someone after using an online dating service. On average, participants had used online dating services for 3–4 years.</p>
<p>The authors created a set of simulated dating profiles mimicking the interface of the dating website Match.com. These profiles displayed a profile picture (taken from a database of free pictures and pretested to ensure they were neither too attractive nor too unattractive), as well as the profile owner’s name, age, job, constellation, personality, hobbies, education, body type, height, smoking status, and COVID-19 vaccination status.</p>
<p>The authors were particularly interested in how gender, smoking status, and COVID-19 vaccination status affected participants’ perceptions of the profile. To this end, the profiles differed in these three characteristics, while all the other elements remained identical. Participants were asked to rate the profiles on perceived intelligence, perceived similarity to themselves, and to report their dating decision (whether they would like the profile, send a message to the person, engage in a video chat, meet the person offline, and make a short- or long-term dating decision).</p>
<p>Participants also completed assessments of loneliness (e.g., “How often do you feel that you are not in tune with the people around you?”) and dating anxiety (e.g., “I worry that I may not be attractive to people of the opposite sex”).</p>
<p>The results showed that non-smokers were more likely to receive a video chat invitation than smokers. Male participants were more likely to initiate contact (by sending a message, initiating a video chat, or arranging an offline meeting) and make dating decisions based on the profiles they viewed than female participants. Additionally, COVID-19 vaccinated females and unvaccinated males were more likely to receive offline meeting invitations from study participants. Participants’ perceptions of the profile owners’ intelligence and similarity to themselves varied with the owners’ smoking and vaccination statuses.</p>
<p>“One surprising finding emerging from this study was that smoking status was still an important health cue when it comes to making online dating decisions. However, the COVID-19 vaccination status was not that important, people take profile owner’s gender and smoking status altogether to make online dating decision. It is probably because this study was conducted during the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the way people make decisions in online dating. However, the study was conducted on MTurk workers, a population that might not be fully representative of the general population. Additionally, real life dating decisions are critically shaped by interactions between individuals, while the study only applied ratings of static profiles.</p>
<p>The paper “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2024.102192">Displaying health cues on online dating profiles: How do gender, smoking, and COVID-19 vaccination statuses influence impression and dating decision?</a>” was authored by Ruoxu Wang and Jin Yang.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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