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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/study-uncovers-three-sexual-power-profiles-and-only-one-is-linked-to-relationship-satisfaction/" 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 uncovers three sexual power profiles—and only one is linked to relationship satisfaction</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 22nd 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2025.2492859" target="_blank">Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy</a></em> has identified three distinct profiles of individuals in sex therapy based on their sexual power dynamics and beliefs about gender roles. The research found that people who hold more egalitarian views and have flexible sexual preferences report greater relationship satisfaction and lower levels of avoidant attachment, while those with conflicting views about gender roles tend to experience more relationship strain.</p>
<p>The study aimed to better understand how people’s sexual interests—particularly those related to dominance, submission, and emotional connection—and their beliefs about traditional gender roles shape their experiences in relationships. Despite widespread interest in these topics, little research has explored how they combine to form distinct psychological profiles, especially among people seeking sex therapy. This study helps fill that gap by examining how these factors influence attachment, sexual satisfaction, and relationship dynamics.</p>
<p>Sexual power dynamics refer to the ways people relate to one another during sexual activity, including interests in taking control (dominance), giving up control (submission), or focusing on mutual emotional connection (tender sex). These dynamics are often influenced by gender role beliefs—ideas about how people should behave based on their gender. Historically, interest in dominance or submission has sometimes been viewed as a sign of psychological dysfunction, but more recent research suggests that these interests can also be part of healthy sexual expression, depending on the relationship context.</p>
<p>The researchers were particularly interested in how sexual power preferences intersect with attitudes toward gender roles. Some individuals believe that social and relational roles should be determined by gender—for example, that men should lead and women should follow—while others take a more egalitarian approach, rejecting the idea that roles should be gendered. Sexual script theory, which suggests that cultural norms shape people’s expectations for sexual and romantic behavior, provided the guiding framework for the study.</p>
<p>“Sexual power dynamics are the focal point in my thesis, where this article is part of my doctoral thesis in sexology,” said study author <a href="https://www.roxannebolduc.com/" target="_blank">Roxanne Bolduc</a>, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Université Laval, sexologist, and psychotherapist.</p>
<p>“I was inspired to look into power dynamics within romantic relationships and wanted to explore how they operate outside of BDSM contexts. During my internship in sex therapy, I heard clients reference dynamics like dominance, submission, and tender sex, but most did not identify as BDSM practitioners. That led me to focus more broadly on these interests outside of specific subcultures.</p>
<p>“I wanted to study whether participants’ interests clustered into distinct profiles. Also, when looking at power dynamics, there are many preconceptions about gender and roles in sex, so I wanted to examine this component to get a clearer picture.”</p>
<p>To investigate these ideas, the researchers conducted a latent profile analysis using data from 325 adults currently in sex therapy. The majority of participants were women (62.5%), with men comprising about one-third of the sample. Most identified as cisgender and were in romantic relationships. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their interest in sexual dominance, submission, and tender sex, as well as their agreement with both traditional and egalitarian gender role beliefs. They also completed measures of attachment style, relationship satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed three distinct profiles. The first and smallest group, labeled “Dominant stereotypical thinkers,” represented just 3.7% of the sample. People in this group showed the highest interest in sexual dominance and held relatively strong beliefs in both traditional and egalitarian gender roles, suggesting a somewhat contradictory perspective. Most individuals in this profile were men.</p>
<p>The second group, called “Tender conflicted traditionalists,” made up 15.4% of the sample. These individuals scored highest in preference for tender sex and strongly endorsed traditional gender roles, while also expressing moderate agreement with egalitarian views. This internal conflict may reflect difficulty reconciling older values with more modern perspectives. Compared to the other groups, members of this profile were older, had higher levels of avoidant attachment, and reported the lowest relationship satisfaction.</p>
<p>The largest group, accounting for 80.9% of participants, was labeled “Flexible and coherent lovers.” People in this group held the lowest levels of traditional gender role beliefs and were more likely to endorse egalitarian views. They also had the lowest interest in sexual dominance. This profile included a majority of women and was associated with higher relationship satisfaction and lower avoidant attachment.</p>
<p>The findings suggest that consistency in one’s gender role beliefs—particularly when those beliefs are egalitarian—may support stronger relationships. People in the Flexible and coherent lovers group appeared to benefit from their alignment between beliefs and sexual interests, which was reflected in better relationship functioning.</p>
<p>“Congruence in terms of gender roles was associated with better sexo-relational well-being, which is the element that stood out the most from our results,” Bolduc told PsyPost.</p>
<p>Interestingly, while the Dominant stereotypical thinkers held the most traditionally masculine views and sexual interests, they did not report significantly lower relationship or sexual satisfaction compared to other groups. This challenges the assumption that dominance-oriented sexual preferences or adherence to gender stereotypes necessarily lead to distress. The authors suggest that when beliefs and behaviors align with an individual’s identity or social context, they may not produce internal conflict or dissatisfaction, even if the views are more traditional.</p>
<p>In contrast, the Tender conflicted traditionalists showed signs of strain, possibly due to inner contradictions. Holding both traditional and egalitarian beliefs may create psychological tension that impacts intimacy and satisfaction. This group’s higher avoidant attachment and lower relationship satisfaction support that interpretation.</p>
<p>“Our findings highlight that individuals with egalitarian and congruent views on gender roles (profile #3: Flexible and coherent lovers) report higher relationship satisfaction and less avoidant attachment, whereas traditional and conflicting perspectives (profile #2: Tender conflicted traditionalists) experience greater relational distress and more avoidant attachment,” Bolduc said. “Therapeutic intervention could focus on fostering egalitarian and congruent gender roles, which may enhance relationship satisfaction and emotional security.”</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledge several limitations. Because the sample came from a clinical population—people already seeking sex therapy—the findings may not generalize to the broader public. Most participants were highly educated and Canadian, which may shape both their beliefs about gender and their sexual interests. Additionally, the measure used to assess gender-transcendent beliefs showed relatively low reliability, which could reduce precision in assessing this dimension.</p>
<p>Future research could explore how these profiles appear in more diverse populations, including people from different cultural backgrounds and education levels. Another important direction would be to examine how individuals’ stated preferences and beliefs are reflected in their actual behavior and how that alignment—or lack thereof—affects relationship health.</p>
<p>“For this specific research topic, I would love to recruit a new sample with partners in committed romantic relationships to consider how partners influence each other,” Bolduc said. “Replicating this study with a sample from the general population is also a goal, to validate the findings beyond the clinical context.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2025.2492859" target="_blank">That’s the Way (I like It): Latent Profiles of Sexual Power Dynamics and Gender Roles</a>,” was authored by Roxanne Bolduc, Cloé Canivet, Martine Hébert, and Natacha Godbout.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/neuroscientists-discover-how-aha-moments-rewire-the-brain-to-enhance-memory/" 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;">Neuroscientists discover how “aha” moments rewire the brain to enhance memory</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 22nd 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>New research published in <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59355-4" target="_blank">Nature Communications</a></em> sheds light on what happens in the brain during moments of sudden insight — and why those breakthroughs are often so unforgettable. The study shows that the “aha!” experience of solving a challenging visual problem triggers a distinct reorganization of brain activity, involving changes in the visual cortex and increased coordination with memory-related regions like the hippocampus and emotion-processing areas such as the amygdala. These rapid shifts not only help people solve problems more efficiently, but also make the solution more likely to be remembered days later.</p>
<p>Creativity and memory are closely linked. People often need prior knowledge to solve problems creatively, and in turn, creative solutions are typically remembered more vividly. One powerful form of creative problem-solving is insight — the kind of sudden realization that feels effortless but results in a novel understanding or solution. Past research has shown that insight is more likely to lead to lasting memory than standard problem-solving methods. However, the brain mechanisms behind this effect remained unclear.</p>
<p>“I’ve always found those sudden moments of insight—those ‘Aha!’ experiences—deeply fascinating. They’re powerful emotionally, giving you a rush of pleasure, and they’re also striking cognitively, because once the answer clicks into place, it suddenly feels obvious and perfectly fitting with what you already know,” said study author Maxi Becker, a postdoctoral researcher at<br>
Duke University and member of <a href="https://cabezalab.org/" target="_blank">the Mnemology Lab</a>.</p>
<p>“Since my PhD, I’ve been curious about how the brain produces these moments—what’s going on under the hood, so to speak. Only recently have we been able to use tools, like representational similarity analysis, that allow us to really investigate this. With these methods, we can now actually observe how brain activity shifts as a person moves from confusion to clarity—from searching for meaning to that sudden moment when everything makes sense.”</p>
<p>In particular, the researchers wanted to investigate whether this type of insight reorganizes mental representations in the brain — a process they called representational change — and how that process interacts with regions linked to emotion and memory to promote lasting learning. They also sought to determine whether these brain processes work together as a network to facilitate insight and improve memory.</p>
<p>To study the brain basis of insight, the researchers recruited 31 participants who completed a visual problem-solving task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task used “Mooney images” — high-contrast black-and-white pictures of real-world objects that are difficult to recognize at first glance. With enough time, some people suddenly “see” the hidden object, producing a classic insight experience.</p>
<p>Participants viewed these images in the scanner and were asked to press a button when they recognized the object. Afterward, they rated the experience on three dimensions commonly associated with insight: how sudden it was, how certain they felt, and how emotionally rewarding the solution felt. The three ratings were combined into a single measure of insight intensity.</p>
<p>Five days later, participants completed a memory test at home. They were shown the same Mooney images along with new ones and were asked to identify whether they had seen each image before, whether they had solved it, and to recall the name of the hidden object. Only trials where participants had correctly identified and remembered the object were counted as successful recall.</p>
<p>The results showed that higher-rated insight experiences were strongly associated with better memory performance. Participants were more likely to recall the solution to a visual puzzle if it had been accompanied by a strong insight experience during the original task. These “Aha!” moments appeared to help consolidate the information, making it easier to retrieve later.</p>
<p>Brain scans revealed why. First, the researchers observed significant representational change in two visual regions of the brain: the posterior fusiform gyrus and the inferior lateral occipital cortex. These areas showed altered patterns of activity before and after the solution was found — suggesting that the brain had reorganized its representation of the visual information once the object was recognized. This change was larger for trials where participants experienced stronger insight.</p>
<p>In addition, the brain’s emotion and memory centers — the amygdala and the anterior hippocampus — showed increased activity during high-insight trials. The amygdala is known to process emotional salience, while the hippocampus plays a key role in novelty detection and memory formation. The researchers found that insight-related activation in the anterior hippocampus was particularly important for later memory, especially when participants rated their insights as sudden.</p>
<p>“I was actually quite surprised by how consistent the results were,” Becker told PsyPost. “Neuroimaging is a pretty noisy method, especially when you’re studying something as complex and high-level as insight. So I didn’t expect the patterns to be so clear and reliable—but they were.”</p>
<p>Importantly, these brain areas worked together. Functional connectivity analysis showed that during high-insight trials, the visual regions, amygdala, and hippocampus became more tightly interconnected — forming what the authors described as a “solution network.” This network was more integrated and efficient during insightful moments, indicating that the brain was combining visual reorganization with emotional and memory evaluation in a coordinated way.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that the strength of this network integration predicted how likely participants were to remember the solution five days later. In other words, the more effectively these regions communicated during the “Aha!” moment, the more likely the solution was to be retained in memory.</p>
<p>“Our findings show that when people experience an ‘Aha!’ moment—solving a problem in a sudden flash of insight—it’s not just a psychological experience,” Becker explained. “We can actually see this shift happening in the brain. Specifically, parts of the brain that store the solution relevant information (in our case visual information), along with regions involved in emotion and memory, work together during these moments. And the stronger this brain shift is, the more likely people are to remember the solution later. So in short, insight doesn’t just feel good—it also helps us remember what we’ve learned.”</p>
<p>But as with all research, there are caveats to consider.</p>
<p>“One important limitation is that we used Mooney images—these are black-and-white pictures that test object recognition—to study insight,” Becker noted. “While our findings make a lot of sense in this context, it’s still an open question whether they will hold up for more complex types of problems. Future research will need to explore that.”</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers hope to build on this work by tracking the moment-to-moment unfolding of insight in the brain. “Now that we have a solid method to study how the brain shifts from a state of confusion to one of sudden understanding,” said Becker, “our next step is to map out the exact timing of this process. We want to see how insight unfolds in the brain moment by moment, and identify which brain areas are working together to make that ‘Aha!’ moment happen.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59355-4" target="_blank">Insight predicts subsequent memory via cortical representational change and hippocampal activity</a>,” was authored by Maxi Becker, Tobias Sommer, and Roberto Cabeza.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/common-blood-pressure-drug-shows-promise-for-treating-adhd-symptoms/" 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;">Common blood pressure drug shows promise for treating ADHD symptoms</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 22nd 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02062-x" target="_blank">Neuropsychopharmacology</a></em> provides preliminary evidence that amlodipine, a widely used medication for high blood pressure, may help manage symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In a series of experiments using animal models and human genetic data, researchers found that amlodipine reduced hyperactivity and impulsivity—key features of ADHD—while also demonstrating potential advantages over current stimulant medications. The findings suggest that this well-tolerated drug could serve as a foundation for a new type of non-stimulant treatment for the condition.</p>
<p>ADHD is a common neurodevelopmental condition that typically emerges in childhood and can persist into adulthood. It is characterized by persistent symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that interfere with daily life, academic achievement, work performance, and social relationships. ADHD affects an estimated 2 to 5 percent of the global population and is associated with a higher risk of other mental health problems, including mood and anxiety disorders, substance use, and even suicide.</p>
<p>Current treatments for ADHD typically involve stimulant medications such as methylphenidate or amphetamines. These drugs can be effective for many people, but they are also associated with several drawbacks. Side effects like insomnia, appetite loss, headaches, and increased blood pressure are common. There is also a potential for misuse, especially in adolescents and young adults. Importantly, about 25 percent of individuals with ADHD do not experience adequate symptom relief from any available medication. These limitations have driven researchers to explore new therapeutic options that are both effective and better tolerated.</p>
<p>Researchers at 3Z Pharmaceuticals in Iceland sought to identify a non-stimulant medication that could offer an alternative for individuals who do not respond well to existing treatments. They focused on amlodipine, a widely used drug for treating high blood pressure, because it targets L-type calcium channels—proteins in the brain that help regulate electrical activity in neurons and are increasingly recognized as playing a role in neuropsychiatric disorders. </p>
<p>The researchers hypothesized that modulating these calcium channels could help alleviate the symptoms of ADHD. Their goal was to determine whether amlodipine, which already has a strong safety record, could be repurposed as a novel treatment for the disorder. Their strategy was to integrate findings across multiple experimental systems—including behavioral testing in rats and zebrafish, pharmacological and brain imaging studies, and human genetic analyses.</p>
<p>“At 3Z, we developed a high-throughput behavioral screening platform for drug discovery, using genetically engineered zebrafish models,” explained corresponding author Karl Ægir Karlsson, the CEO of 3Z and a professor of neuroscience at Reykjavik University. “The platform is built to detect therapeutic effects across a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders with a behavioral phenotype. ADHD was a natural fit: it’s highly prevalent, current medications have significant limitations — including adverse effects and a large non-responder group — and there’s a clear need for novel therapeutics.”</p>
<p>“Crucially, we also engineered a robust zebrafish model of ADHD that exhibits core behavioral symptoms like hyperactivity and impulsivity. These symptoms are reversed by existing ADHD medications, giving us a solid positive control and validating the model’s predictive power. With this in place, we were positioned to conduct an unbiased drug repurposing screen to identify compounds with improved efficacy or safety profiles.”</p>
<p>In the first part of the study, researchers tested five drug candidates in rats bred to exhibit ADHD-like hyperactivity. Among the options, only amlodipine consistently reduced hyperactive behaviors, particularly in female rats. These effects were observed after 30 days of treatment and were confirmed through objective measures such as distance traveled and time spent moving. Other compounds tested did not show significant effects.</p>
<p>To extend their findings to another species, Karlsson and his colleagues examined how amlodipine affected behavior in zebrafish with a genetic mutation linked to impulsivity and hyperactivity. Zebrafish are a useful model for studying brain function, as they share a large proportion of their genes with humans. In this experiment, the researchers used a behavioral task designed to measure impulsive actions. They found that amlodipine significantly reduced premature responses in the zebrafish, indicating improved impulse control. The results were comparable to those produced by methylphenidate.</p>
<p>The researchers then explored whether amlodipine could enter the brain and influence neural activity. They confirmed that the drug crosses the blood-brain barrier in both zebrafish and rats. In zebrafish, exposure to amlodipine reduced activation of a brain region involved in regulating attention and behavior, as indicated by a drop in the expression of a protein called c-Fos. These results suggest that the behavioral effects of amlodipine are likely due to its direct action on the brain, not just its effects on blood pressure.</p>
<p>“The magnitude and consistency of amlodipine’s behavioral effects in our ADHD model were unexpected, given the widespread assumption that the drug does not significantly cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB),” Karlsson told PsyPost. “This posed a challenge in interpreting our data: the effects were too robust to plausibly arise from peripheral mechanisms alone.”</p>
<p>“Applying Occam’s Razor, the most straightforward explanation was that amlodipine does in fact reach the brain. We confirmed this directly using unbound brain-to-plasma partition coefficient assays across multiple species, including zebrafish, mice, and rats. These assays demonstrated that amlodipine does cross the BBB, at levels consistent with central nervous system (CNS) activity.”</p>
<p>To understand how these findings might apply to humans, the researchers conducted genetic analyses using large datasets. One analysis used a technique called Mendelian randomization to explore whether genetic variations that affect calcium channels are linked to ADHD. The results showed a significant association between ADHD and several subunits of L-type calcium channels—the same ones targeted by amlodipine. This supports the idea that these channels may play a role in ADHD symptoms and could be a meaningful treatment target.</p>
<p>A second genetic analysis looked at data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale health database with genetic and health information from over 500,000 participants. Individuals with a higher genetic risk for ADHD were more likely to report mood swings and risk-taking behavior. However, among those taking amlodipine, these tendencies were less common, suggesting that the drug may help manage some core features of ADHD even outside of a clinical diagnosis.</p>
<p>“We identified amlodipine, a commonly prescribed calcium channel blocker for hypertension, as a candidate for repurposing in ADHD,” Karlsson said. “Our findings suggest that it targets a previously underappreciated mechanism in the brain relevant to attention and impulse control. This is significant because it shows how existing medications, already well-characterized in terms of safety and pharmacology, can be redirected to address unmet needs in psychiatric disorders — potentially reducing the time and cost of drug development.”</p>
<p>The researchers emphasize that while these findings are promising, amlodipine is not yet approved for ADHD treatment and further testing in clinical trials is necessary. Still, the drug’s long-standing safety record and widespread availability make it an appealing candidate for repurposing. Amlodipine is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is inexpensive, and has a low risk of drug interactions.</p>
<p>One strength of the study was its multi-pronged approach, which combined laboratory experiments with large-scale human genetic data. By showing consistent effects across species and methods, the researchers were able to build a compelling case for further investigation. The study also introduced a new way of using genetic tools to assess drug effects across multiple biological targets, an approach that could help accelerate drug discovery for other brain disorders.</p>
<p>However, the research is not without limitations. The animal studies, while informative, do not fully capture the complexity of human ADHD, which involves a wide range of behavioral and cognitive symptoms. Additionally, the genetic analyses relied on self-reported symptoms and indirect measures of ADHD traits rather than formal diagnoses. Future clinical studies will be needed to determine whether the benefits of amlodipine extend to diagnosed individuals and how the drug compares to existing treatments in real-world settings.</p>
<p>“While amlodipine shows promise in preclinical models, it is not currently suitable for use in ADHD in its marketed form,” Karlsson noted. “Further optimization through chemical modification is necessary to enhance CNS selectivity and ensure a favorable therapeutic index in the context of ADHD.”</p>
<p>The researchers are now preparing to launch a Phase II clinical trial to formally evaluate the safety and effectiveness of amlodipine for ADHD in humans. If successful, this effort could pave the way for a new class of non-stimulant treatments, offering hope to individuals who do not respond to or cannot tolerate current medications.</p>
<p>“While the spotlight is on amlodipine and ADHD, this work also represents a proof-of-concept for a broader drug repurposing pipeline for CNS disorders,” Karlsson said. “Our approach combines unbiased screening in disease-relevant zebrafish models with human genetic validation to prioritize and de-risk candidates before clinical development. This dual strategy can accelerate the discovery of novel CNS therapeutics by leveraging known molecules in new ways — a particularly attractive proposition in an area where traditional drug development has often struggled.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02062-x" target="_blank">Validation of L-type calcium channel blocker amlodipine as a novel ADHD treatment through cross-species analysis, drug-target Mendelian randomization, and clinical evidence from medical records</a>,” was authored by Haraldur Þorsteinsson, Hannes A. Baukmann, Hildur S. Sveinsdóttir, Dagmar Þ. Halldórsdóttir, Bartosz Grzymala, Courtney Hillman, Jude Rolfe-Tarrant, Matthew O. Parker, Justin L. Cope, Charles N. J. Ravarani, Marco F. Schmidt, and Karl Karlsson.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cognitive-training-may-reduce-negative-self-perceptions-in-people-with-depression-and-ptsd/" 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;">Cognitive training may reduce negative self-perceptions in people with depression and PTSD</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 21st 2025, 20:00</div>
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<p><p>People with depression and posttraumatic stress disorder tend to underestimate their cognitive abilities—a pattern that may worsen their mental health. A new study published in <em><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-18950-001" target="_blank">Neuropsychology</a></em> provides evidence that this negative self-perception, known as metacognitive bias, is both common and severe in individuals with high levels of depressive and PTSD symptoms. The researchers also found that targeted or game-based cognitive training can improve these biases and may contribute to a reduction in symptom severity.</p>
<p>Depression and PTSD are two of the most common mental health conditions, often marked by persistent negative thoughts and emotional distress. Depression is characterized by symptoms such as sadness, low energy, and loss of interest in daily activities, while PTSD can involve intrusive memories, avoidance of reminders, emotional numbness, and heightened arousal following exposure to traumatic events. Both conditions are known to distort how individuals perceive themselves and the world around them.</p>
<p>In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in how metacognition—the ability to reflect on and evaluate one’s own thoughts and abilities—may influence mental health. One important aspect of metacognition is “metacognitive bias,” or the tendency to systematically overestimate or underestimate one’s own abilities. </p>
<p>While people in the general population often show a slight tendency to overestimate themselves, this study focused on the opposite problem: large-scale underestimation among individuals with depression and PTSD. The researchers wanted to examine how strongly these negative self-perceptions were related to symptoms and whether cognitive training could help reduce them.</p>
<p>To explore these questions, researchers reanalyzed data from a randomized controlled trial known as the BRAVE study, which involved 84 participants, mostly military veterans, who had experienced mild traumatic brain injuries and reported cognitive difficulties. About three-quarters of the participants had either elevated depression, PTSD symptoms, or both. </p>
<p>The participants were randomly assigned to one of two 13-week training programs: a “targeted cognitive training” group that completed computerized exercises designed to improve attention, memory, and executive function, or an “entertainment training” group that played puzzle and board games like Tetris and Solitaire.</p>
<p>Before and after the training, participants completed a variety of assessments. Self-reported cognitive performance was measured using the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, a validated 25-item scale that captures daily lapses in attention and memory. Objective cognitive performance was evaluated using a battery of tests measuring learning, memory, working memory, attention, and cognitive flexibility. By comparing self-perceived and actual performance, researchers calculated each participant’s metacognitive bias. Depression and PTSD symptoms were also measured using well-established clinical questionnaires.</p>
<p>At the start of the study, the researchers found that people with elevated depression or PTSD symptoms significantly underestimated their cognitive abilities compared to their actual test scores. On average, participants with both conditions scored nearly 2.3 standard deviations below the norm in their self-assessments, despite relatively mild objective impairments. This discrepancy—referred to as a negative global metacognitive bias—was strongly linked to the severity of depression and PTSD symptoms. The researchers found no evidence that these negative biases were linked to specific types of cognitive impairment, suggesting that they reflect a broader pattern of self-doubt rather than performance in a particular area.</p>
<p>Over the 13-week intervention period, participants in both the targeted and entertainment training groups showed notable improvements. Those who completed either program reported fewer cognitive problems, reduced depression symptoms, and improved metacognitive accuracy. Importantly, the size of the improvement in metacognitive bias was correlated with the reduction in both depression and PTSD symptoms. This relationship was especially strong in the entertainment training group, where participants who most improved their self-perception also experienced the greatest mental health benefits.</p>
<p>Interestingly, while both training programs improved self-reported cognition and metacognitive bias, only the targeted training group showed small, non-significant trends toward better objective cognitive performance. This suggests that the subjective feeling of improved cognitive ability—rather than actual test performance—may play a more important role in symptom improvement for people with depression and PTSD.</p>
<p>The researchers believe the performance feedback embedded in both training programs may be key to these improvements. In both training conditions, participants received feedback on their progress and were rewarded for correct performance, helping them to form more accurate beliefs about their cognitive abilities. This positive reinforcement may have helped counteract the negative thinking patterns common in depression and PTSD.</p>
<p>Three months after training ended, participants continued to report lower depression symptoms, and those in the entertainment group also maintained improvements in PTSD symptoms and metacognitive bias. These lasting effects suggest that cognitive training—especially when designed to be engaging and motivating—may have durable benefits for people struggling with self-doubt and negative thinking.</p>
<p>While the study offers promising evidence, the authors note several limitations. The sample consisted primarily of military veterans with a history of mild traumatic brain injury, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other groups. Additionally, the study did not include a no-treatment control group, making it difficult to rule out the influence of nonspecific effects such as time, attention, or participant expectations. </p>
<p>Future studies with larger, more diverse samples and more rigorous control conditions will be needed to confirm whether improvements in metacognitive bias can directly lead to reductions in depression and PTSD symptoms.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/neu0000967" target="_blank">Negative Global Metacognitive Biases Are Associated With Depressive and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Improve With Targeted or Game-Based Cognitive Training</a>,” was authored by Sam Agnoli, Henry Mahncke, Sarah-Jane Grant, Zachary T. Goodman, William P. Milberg, Michael Esterman, and Joseph DeGutis.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/genetic-essentialism-more-common-among-supporters-of-radical-right-wing-parties/" 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;">Genetic essentialism more common among supporters of radical right-wing parties</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 21st 2025, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edae058" target="_blank">International Journal of Public Opinion Research</a></em> sheds light on a troubling connection between support for far-right political parties and belief in genetic essentialism. Genetic essentialism is the idea that genes largely determine who we are, including our social traits and behaviors. The study, led by political scientist <a href="https://alexandremorinchasse.wixsite.com/accueil" target="_blank">Alexandre Morin-Chassé</a>, found that supporters of populist radical right parties in Sweden and Norway are more likely than others to endorse these views, which have historically been linked to discriminatory and eugenic ideologies.</p>
<p>Morin-Chassé was motivated to investigate this topic after noticing a striking pattern in the manifestos of several far-right terrorists. These individuals did not merely express bigoted views; they attempted to root them in what appeared to be scientific authority, promoting the belief that different racial or ethnic groups possess fixed, biologically determined traits. The study set out to answer a previously unexplored question: do ordinary supporters of far-right populist parties also hold genetically essentialist beliefs?</p>
<p>“My previous works investigate the causes of genetic essentialism. Every once in awhile, the news media publish a story about how scientists have underpinned the influence of genetics on social traits like musical talents, intelligence or political preferences,” said Morin-Chassé, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tA30QvAAAAAJ&hl=fr" target="_blank">an independent researcher</a> based in Canada.</p>
<p>“In <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/64/12/1170/2754192?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank">Morin-Chassé 2014</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11191-020-00166-y" target="_blank">Morin-Chassé 2020</a>, I have tested how people interpret these findings and found that readers tend to extrapolate scientists’ statements. For instance, after reading a news story about the influence of genetics on gambling addiction, participants increased the role they attribute to genetics in explaining other social traits not mentioned in the news (e.g. turning out to vote at elections). In other words, news about behavioral genetics research can increase genetic essentialism.”</p>
<p>“My recent piece turns to another, related question: who endorses genetic essentialism? Interestingly, a look at the manifestos left by far-right terrorists in Chicago, Oslo and Christchurch reveals that they all made references to genetic essentialist arguments to legitimize their crimes. Also, the literature shows that some psychological traits are consistently associated with genetic essentialism: nationalism, xenophobia, racism, right-wing authoritarianism, social-dominance orientation, sexism and conservative ideology.” </p>
<p>“As it turns out, these psychological traits are also associated with support for far-right parties,” Morin-Chassé explained. “In spite of this converging evidence, no study had examined how supporters of far-right parties view the influence of genetics, so I thought it was worth conducting research on this matter.”</p>
<p>In Sweden, the data came from over 8,000 adults who participated in the University of Gothenburg’s Citizen Panel in 2015. Respondents rated how much they liked various political parties and answered questions that measured the extent to which they believed genetics determine traits such as intelligence, behavior, and group differences. These questions were drawn from a validated psychological scale assessing belief in genetic determinism.</p>
<p>Statistical analysis showed that higher levels of genetic essentialism were associated with greater support for the Sweden Democrats, a right-wing populist political party. Even after controlling for age, gender, education, and ideological self-placement on the left-right spectrum, the link remained. The effect of genetic essentialism was smaller than that of political ideology but stronger than that of education. Interestingly, the relationship followed a curvilinear pattern: the more strongly someone endorsed genetic essentialism, the more likely they were to support the Sweden Democrats, with the steepest increase among those holding the most extreme essentialist beliefs.</p>
<p>In Norway, Morin-Chassé analyzed data from the Norwegian Citizen Panel, a large online survey conducted in 2016. Out of nearly 5,000 participants, a subset of 1,190 answered the genetic essentialism questions. While the pattern of results was broadly similar, the link between genetic essentialism and support for the conservative Progress Party was weaker than in Sweden. The association was still statistically significant, but less pronounced and not curvilinear.</p>
<p>Morin-Chassé suggests a few possible reasons for these country-level differences. The Sweden Democrats are generally considered more radical than the Progress Party, which may attract a broader range of supporters in Norway, diluting the relationship. The Swedish survey also used a longer and more reliable measure of genetic essentialism, which may have yielded more accurate estimates.</p>
<p>“The results showed that, in both Sweden and Norway, high levels of genetic essentialism correlated with stronger support for Far-right parties,” Morin-Chassé said. “In other words, compared to supporters of other parties, Far-right supporters were more inclined to view genetics as a significant factor influencing abilities, talents, and social behaviors, as well as explaining similarities and differences among individuals, genders, and ethnic groups.” </p>
<p>“Notably, this association was stronger in Sweden among supporters of the Swedish Democrats than in Norway, where supporters of the relatively less radical Progress Party were surveyed. Genetic essentialism was also positively correlated with support for some other right-wing parties (e.g. Christian Democratic Party in Sweden, the Conservative Party in Norway), though to a lesser extent than for far-right ones.”</p>
<p>The study does have limitations. The data were collected nearly a decade ago, in 2015 and 2016, when both the Sweden Democrats and the Progress Party were less politically prominent than they are today. As these parties have grown, they may have attracted a more diverse set of voters, potentially weakening the observed associations. Additionally, both Sweden and Norway are relatively similar in terms of culture and political structure, so it remains to be seen whether these findings apply to far-right supporters in other parts of the world, such as Latin America, Asia, or Africa.</p>
<p>“In spite of these limitations, these findings should raise concern for at least two reasons,” Morin-Chassé explained.</p>
<p>“First, high levels of genetic essentialism contradict the contemporary scientific understanding of genetics. Scholars and scientists of the 19th and 20th centuries speculated about the influence of genetics on social outcomes without having the appropriate tools to validate their theories. The completion of the human genome sequencing in 2003 provided scientists with new information to directly investigate the role of genes. ”</p>
<p>“The findings revealed a far more complex picture than previously anticipated,” Morin-Chassé continued. “Simple Mendelian inheritance models fail to account for most human traits, including some basic biological characteristics. According to contemporary research, genes interact with each other and with various environmental factors. Epigenetics adds another layer of complexity by demonstrating that heritable biological traits can exist outside of DNA and can be reversible. In short, the beliefs held by far-right supporters regarding genetics are oversimplified, lack scientific backing, and more closely resemble outdated biological theories.</p>
<p>“Second, and most importantly : eugenics, i.e. public policies promoting reproduction among individuals deemed fit for breeding or discouraging it among those declared unfit. In the 19th and 20th centuries, deterministic views of genetics were used to justify eugenic policies, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2010.0009" target="_blank">including those implemented in Scandinavian countries</a>. Thousands of individuals categorized as ‘feeble-minded,’ ‘sexually deviant,’ or ‘unfit to be custodians of children’ underwent coerced or pressured sterilization, all in the name of improving public health based on the assumption that their conditions had unchangeable genetic roots.” </p>
<p>“While compulsory sterilization was largely discredited in the decades following World War II, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.soscij.2019.01.003" target="_blank">recent</a> <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0257954" target="_blank">studies</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886921003640?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">indicate</a> that some level of public support for eugenic policies remains,” Morin-Chassé said. “These studies also find that genetic essentialism significantly predicts support for such policies. Combining this research with my findings leads to a troubling hypothesis: far-right supporters—who often exhibit high levels of genetic essentialism—may also be inclined to endorse eugenic policies. Future studies should empirically investigate this question.”</p>
<p>Looking ahead, Morin-Chassé argues that social scientists must better understand how people come to believe that genes explain social traits, especially within political communities. It is also vital to assess whether these individuals are aware of scientific research that challenges such beliefs, and whether their views could shift in response to clearer communication from the scientific community.</p>
<p>“In many countries, far-right parties are gaining political power, attracting more votes, and winning an unprecedented number of seats,” Morin-Chassé said. “Social scientists investigate the risks associated with this trend, comparing this wave of support and the previous ones. If my findings offer an interesting path of research, they raise more questions than they offer answers. Indeed, research on how contemporary far-right parties view genetic essentialism and eugenic policies is still in its early stages. In particular, there is a need for knowledge of how party supporters of the Far-right come to believe that genes are a significant factor influencing social outcomes. Furthermore, research should explore their awareness of scientific research challenging this viewpoint, and whether they would support or oppose eugenic policies if the question arose.” </p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edae058" target="_blank">Genetic Essentialism Among Supporters of Populist Radical-Right Parties: Evidence From Sweden and Norway</a>,” was published March 11, 2025.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/enjoying-nature-not-just-visiting-it-linked-to-greater-happiness-and-life-satisfaction-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;">Enjoying nature, not just visiting it, linked to greater happiness and life satisfaction, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 21st 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102617" target="_blank">Journal of Environmental Psychology</a></em> suggests that simply enjoying the experience of being in nature may be more strongly associated with happiness and life satisfaction than the frequency of outdoor activities. While being physically present in natural environments like parks or hiking trails is commonly thought to boost well-being, the findings indicate that emotional engagement with nature plays a more central role. The research also finds that physical contact with nature might not directly enhance well-being and, when considered alongside perceptual enjoyment, could even negatively influence the relationship.</p>
<p>The researchers conducted this study to examine how different types of nature contact—specifically, perceptual and physical—relate to subjective well-being. Although a large body of prior research has emphasized the mental health benefits of spending time in natural environments, results have been mixed. </p>
<p>Much of the literature has focused on either how often people go outdoors or how connected they feel to nature, but less attention has been paid to the emotional enjoyment people get from nature itself. The team aimed to explore whether the enjoyment of nature, independent of how often people physically engage with it, contributes to greater happiness and life satisfaction.</p>
<p>“I am a survey methodologist, but subjective well-being, particularly happiness and life satisfaction, and environmental issues have been my research interests since graduate school,” said study author Pei-shan Liao of the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Academia Sinica.</p>
<p>“This publication is part of a series based on my research. Another key objective is to promote and validate the question items on nature contact and enjoyment. These items, derived from the ISSP 2020 Environment module, were proposed by the Taiwanese team to measure positive aspects of natural environment through intentional interaction. We are happy and satisfied with the results.”</p>
<p>For their new study, the researchers used data from the <a href="https://www2.ios.sinica.edu.tw/sc/en/home2.php" target="_blank">2020 Taiwan Social Change Survey</a>, a nationally representative dataset collected from over 1,800 adults across Taiwan between June 2020 and February 2021. The survey focused on environmental issues and included questions about participants’ frequency of outdoor activities, how much they enjoyed being in nature, their general happiness, and life satisfaction. These responses were then combined with environmental data on temperature, rainfall, and air quality at the township level to assess how external conditions might influence the opportunity for nature contact.</p>
<p>To measure physical contact with nature, participants reported how often they engaged in outdoor leisure activities such as hiking, swimming, or birdwatching. Enjoyment of nature was assessed by asking respondents to rate how much they enjoyed being outside in natural settings. Happiness and life satisfaction were measured with standard single-item questions asking participants to rate their general happiness and overall satisfaction with life on a five-point scale.</p>
<p>The researchers also accounted for several background variables known to influence well-being, including age, gender, income, marital status, education, employment status, religious activity, perceived health, and social status. Additionally, they included contextual factors such as whether people thought their neighborhood was affected by air pollution or extreme weather, and how their outdoor activity habits changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>Using a two-stage statistical model, the researchers first examined what factors predicted how often participants engaged in outdoor activities. They found that enjoyment of nature was a strong predictor of outdoor activity frequency, meaning that people who enjoyed nature more were also more likely to spend time outside. Environmental factors like January rainfall and local perceptions of air pollution also played a role.</p>
<p>In the second stage of analysis, the team looked at how enjoyment and physical activity each related to subjective well-being. When examining happiness, they found that enjoyment of nature was consistently associated with higher happiness scores. However, physical contact with nature—how often people actually went outside—was not positively related to happiness. In fact, after adjusting for possible statistical bias, greater physical engagement with nature showed a surprising negative association with happiness.</p>
<p>Life satisfaction showed a similar pattern. While enjoyment of nature was associated with greater life satisfaction after statistical adjustments, physical activity in nature again showed a negative association when modeled as an endogenous factor. In other words, people who enjoyed nature reported higher well-being, but those who more frequently participated in outdoor activities didn’t necessarily feel more satisfied with their lives—and might even have felt slightly less so when all other factors were considered.</p>
<p>“The negative association between visiting nature and subjective well-being, including both happiness and life satisfaction, surprised us,” Liao told PsyPost. “We have tried different coding scheme for data analysis but the findings remained the same. It is possible that enjoying contact with nature makes people want to engage in outdoor activities more than they are actually able to, which may lead to dissatisfaction with their situation. Such results may also be attributed to the study’s non-Western setting. It will be great to have data from more countries to further examine the issue.”</p>
<p>Alternatively, individuals who are already struggling with low well-being might seek out nature more often as a coping strategy, which could obscure any positive effects of outdoor time when analyzing the data.</p>
<p>Beyond the nature-related measures, the researchers also confirmed that other well-established factors play significant roles in shaping happiness and life satisfaction. Better self-reported health, higher perceived social status, being married, and participating more frequently in religious activities were all associated with greater well-being. The researchers also found a U-shaped relationship between age and happiness, with middle-aged adults reporting lower happiness than both younger and older individuals.</p>
<p>Interestingly, while objective environmental factors such as temperature and air quality were included in the analysis, they were not strongly related to well-being outcomes. Only one seasonal variable—rainfall in January—showed a significant relationship, possibly reflecting regional concerns about drought. Subjective perceptions of environmental problems, such as perceived air pollution, were more strongly linked to well-being, echoing earlier studies that highlight the importance of how people interpret their surroundings rather than just the environmental conditions themselves.</p>
<p>“Most people are likely to feel happy or satisfied with their lives when they visit a natural environment and enjoy the experience,” Liao said. “However, if they do not find joy in the visit, being in nature may actually reduce their happiness or life satisfaction, possibly due to uncomfortable weather conditions. In sum, enjoyment with nature serves as a more important stimulus of subjective well-being than physical contact with nature.”</p>
<p>As with any study, there are caveats to consider. Because the data were collected at a single point in time, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions about cause and effect. Additionally, the study relied on single-item measures for happiness, life satisfaction, and other variables, which can limit the depth and reliability of the findings. However, these kinds of simple measures are often used in large-scale surveys for practical reasons and have been shown to correlate well with more complex instruments.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the study adds an important nuance to our understanding of how contact with nature relates to happiness and life satisfaction. It suggests that emotional engagement with nature—the enjoyment one feels when in natural surroundings—may matter more than how often someone goes outdoors. Physical activity in natural settings, while often assumed to be beneficial, does not show a straightforward relationship with well-being once environmental and individual differences are accounted for.</p>
<p>“My long-term goals are to understand the relationship between subjective well-being and various different environmental issues,” Liao explained. “This may include, but not limited to, some pro-environmental behaviors, such as water conservation or the use of electric vehicles. I would also like to further compare the contribution of objective environmental conditions and subjective perceptions of environmental issues to subjective well-being.”</p>
<p>“People should know that protecting the environment isn’t just good for nature; it’s also good for their happiness.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102617" target="_blank">Exploring the link between subjective well-being, nature enjoyment, and physical contact with nature</a>,” was authored by Pei-shan Liao, Daigee Shaw, Le-Yu Chen, and Chuan-Yao Lin.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-study-finds-that-nostalgic-memories-become-more-bittersweet-over-time/" 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 study finds that nostalgic memories become more bittersweet over time</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 21st 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>Nostalgic memories tend to become more bittersweet over time, as reported in a new study published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2025.2484646"><em>Cognition & Emotion</em></a>.</p>
<p>Nostalgia is described as a sentimental longing for the past. Previous research has found that nostalgic reflection can promote psychological benefits such as social connectedness, self-continuity, and optimism. However, while nostalgia is typically seen as positive, it is also tinged with sadness, and little is known about how its emotional signature changes over time.</p>
<p>Tim Wildschut and colleagues examined whether the affect (emotion) associated with nostalgic memories fades or intensifies with time, and how this temporal trajectory differs from other kinds of memories.</p>
<p>The researchers explored this question using a framework known as the Fading Affect Bias, which shows that negative emotions typically fade more than positive ones when people recall past events. The team conducted two experiments to see whether nostalgic events follow this pattern or whether they display a distinct trajectory—specifically, whether nostalgic events become less positive and more negative over time, and how this change relates to specific emotions like regret or loneliness.</p>
<p>In Experiment 1, 199 university undergraduates were randomly assigned to reflect on either a nostalgic or an ordinary event. After recalling the event, participants rated how positive and negative they felt at the time of the event’s occurrence and at the time of recall. They also completed scales assessing six psychological benefits (e.g., social connectedness, meaning in life). All procedures were completed online.</p>
<p>In Experiment 2, 197 MTurk workers were assigned to recall either a nostalgic or an affectively neutral event. Participants again rated their emotions at both the time of the event and at recall, including not just general positive and negative affect but also 13 discrete emotions (e.g., gratitude, regret, loneliness). The aim was to assess how these discrete emotions changed over time and whether they helped explain shifts in overall affect.</p>
<p>In both experiments, nostalgic memories diverged from the typical Fading Affect Bias pattern. Rather than becoming more emotionally neutral, nostalgic events became less positive and more negative over time. In Experiment 1, nostalgic events showed a significant decrease in positive affect and increase in negative affect from occurrence to recall, whereas ordinary events showed a decrease only in negative affect, consistent with the Fading Affect Bias. Nostalgic memories also remained more positive than ordinary memories overall, particularly at the time of the event, and this positivity was a plausible mediator of the psychological benefits associated with nostalgia.</p>
<p>Experiment 2 replicated these findings with a neutral-event control group. Nostalgic events again showed a fading of positive affect and an intensification of negative affect over time, unlike neutral events. Mediation analyses suggested that the emotional changes in nostalgic memories were linked to increases in specific emotions. In particular, increases in regret were linked to the decline in positive affect, while increases in loneliness mediated the rise in negative affect. Interestingly, gratitude increased over time and was a notable exception to the general fading trend, highlighting the complexity of nostalgia.</p>
<p>The authors note that both studies relied on retrospective self-reports, which may be influenced by memory biases. While such designs are common in this area of research, prospective assessments could strengthen future findings.</p>
<p>The research, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2025.2484646">Remembrance of things past: temporal change in the affective signature of nostalgic events</a>,” was authored by Tim Wildschut, Constantine Sedikides, Bettina Zengel, and John J. Skowronski.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/narcissists-are-more-likely-to-become-addicted-to-social-networking-sites/" 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 are more likely to become addicted to social networking sites</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">May 21st 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A longitudinal study of social networking site users found that almost all forms of narcissism are associated with symptoms of social networking site addiction. In other words, individuals with narcissistic traits were more likely to develop problematic patterns of social media use. The paper was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2024.104566"><em>Journal of Research in Personality</em></a>.</p>
<p>Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok allow users to create profiles, share content, and interact with others online. They serve as platforms for social connection, entertainment, self-expression, and information exchange. However, excessive use of these platforms can lead to a behavioral pattern known as social networking site addiction.</p>
<p>This form of addiction is characterized by compulsive checking, an inability to cut back despite negative consequences, and emotional dependence on online interactions. It is associated with outcomes such as reduced real-life social engagement, sleep disturbances, and impaired academic or occupational performance. Psychological factors like low self-esteem, loneliness, and fear of missing out can contribute to the development of this behavioral addiction. Some neuroimaging studies suggest that social networking site addiction activates brain reward circuits in ways similar to other behavioral addictions.</p>
<p>Study author Julia Maria Balcerowska and her colleagues aimed to examine the relationship between narcissism and social networking site addiction. They were particularly interested in whether different forms of narcissism predict changes in addiction symptoms over time—and whether addiction symptoms predict changes in narcissistic traits.</p>
<p>Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by a stable tendency toward self-centeredness, inflated self-views, and a strong desire for attention and admiration. The study was grounded in the Circumplex Model of Narcissism, which organizes narcissistic traits along two dimensions: <strong>agency</strong> (ranging from assertiveness to passivity) and <strong>communion</strong> (ranging from warmth to coldness). A combination of these dimensions produces distinct forms of narcissism. The study examined six forms: admiration, rivalry, enmity, isolation, heroism, and sanctity. The researchers hypothesized that social networking site addiction would be associated with admiration, rivalry, enmity, and isolation.</p>
<p>The study employed a longitudinal design, with participants completing assessments at four time points between 2020 and 2021. Of the 665 individuals who participated in the second wave of data collection, 362 also participated in the fourth. The final analysis included 339 participants, all from Poland, ranging in age from 19 to 41 years. The sample was evenly split between men and women.</p>
<p>Participants completed self-report measures of narcissism (using a combination of three validated instruments) and social networking site addiction (using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale). They also reported how much time they spent daily on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).</p>
<p>The results showed that all forms of narcissism except sanctity were positively associated with social networking site addiction. In other words, individuals scoring higher on most forms of narcissism also reported more symptoms of problematic social media use.</p>
<p>However, the longitudinal results revealed more nuanced patterns. Sanctity was not associated with social networking site addiction at either time point or over time. Heroism, admiration, and rivalry showed reciprocal temporal associations with addiction: after controlling for baseline levels, increases in these narcissistic traits predicted decreases in addiction symptoms, and increases in addiction symptoms predicted decreases in those narcissism scores—suggesting a dynamic, oscillating relationship.</p>
<p>In contrast, enmity and isolation changed in parallel with social networking site addiction. When addiction symptoms increased, so did these narcissistic traits, and vice versa. These forms of narcissism appeared to fluctuate in sync with problematic social media use, rather than predicting future changes.</p>
<p>“The results of our study showed that almost all forms of narcissism were associated with SNS [social media site] addiction. We also observed some variety across those forms concerning longitudinal relationships. Specifically, we found lagged, longitudinal links for heroism, admiration, and rivalry while for enmity and isolation those were limited to the same measurement. Such a finding corroborates with previous studies showing that self-protection motive is essential in understanding the cooccurrence of narcissism and SNS addiction,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the nature of the temporal links between social media site addiction and narcissism. However, it should be noted that the study results were entirely based on self-reports leaving room for reporting bias to have affected the results.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2024.104566">A longitudinal study on the reciprocal relationship between narcissism and social Networking Sites addiction,</a>” was authored by Julia Maria Balcerowska, Artur Sawicki, and Marcin Zajenkowski.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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