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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/perceived-financial-hardship-linked-to-depression-especially-in-the-wealthy/" 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;">Perceived financial hardship linked to depression, especially in the wealthy</a>
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<p><p>New research published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796025100115" target="_blank">Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences</a></em> demonstrates that how people feel about their financial situation significantly affects their risk of developing or worsening depression. Surprisingly, this effect is stronger among high-income households.</p>
<p>It is well-established that depression is influenced by social factors such as income, education, and relationships. Previous studies have found that financial hardship is a strong predictor of depression, sometimes even stronger than unemployment or education. However, most research focused on actual income or used simple measures of depression, leaving out the role of how people subjectively perceive their financial struggles. The COVID-19 pandemic heightened both economic difficulties and mental health challenges globally, providing a critical opportunity to study this relationship more closely.</p>
<p>Led by Gustave Maffre Maviel, the French EpiCov study tracked a nationally representative sample of 14,236 individuals aged 15 and older from 2020 to 2022 through four survey waves. Participants reported their depressive symptoms using the widely accepted PHQ-9 scale, which classifies symptoms into “no or mild,” “moderate,” and “major” categories. The study also asked participants about their perceived financial hardship, grouped into no hardship, moderate hardship, and severe hardship categories.</p>
<p>Using advanced statistical models, the researchers tracked how depression levels changed over time for each participant. This approach is more nuanced than traditional binary measures (depressed vs. not depressed) because it follows symptom progression or improvement in distinct stages.</p>
<p>The results revealed that individuals who felt moderate financial hardship were about 1.4 times more likely to move from having no or mild symptoms to moderate or major symptoms. Those who reported severe hardship were more than twice as likely to develop or worsen their depressive symptoms.</p>
<p>Importantly, these associations were strongest among high-income groups, challenging the typical view that financial strain mainly impacts the mental health of low-income people. For wealthier individuals, sudden or unexpected financial difficulties, such as job loss or debt, may trigger a sharper mental health decline compared to those accustomed to ongoing financial challenges.</p>
<p>Perceived financial hardship was also not linked to an improvement in depressive symptoms, suggesting that feeling financially strained may have a lasting negative impact.</p>
<p>Maviel and colleagues suggested a possible explanation for the findings: “financial hardship in high-income households is linked to short-term economic negative events, such as job loss or debt, which could be associated with depressive symptoms. On the other hand, financial hardship is more structural in low-income households; thus, its link with changes in mental health could be less likely.”</p>
<p>“Secondly, it may be that depression levels among people who experience high levels of financial hardship are so high that they are unlikely to increase further,” the authors added.</p>
<p>The study accounted for many confounding factors, including age, sex, education, health history, and employment status. However, the study has limitations. For instance, notable participant dropout over time may have underestimated the true strength of the association, as individuals with depression are often more likely to leave a study.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796025100115" target="_blank">Experience of financial hardship and depression: a longitudinal population-based multi-state analysis</a>,” was authored by Gustave Maffre Maviel, Alexandra Rouquette, Camille Davisse-Paturet, Arthur Descarpentry, Arnaud Sapin, Nathalie Bajos, Jean-Baptiste Hazo, Anne Pastorello, Josiane Warszawski, M. Melchior, Cecile Vuillermoz, and the EpiCov Study Group.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/hybristophilia-study-links-tiktok-to-womens-sexual-attraction-to-criminals/" 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;">Hybristophilia: Study links TikTok to women’s sexual attraction to criminals</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 6th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study has found a connection between young women’s engagement with certain TikTok content and their sexual attraction to criminals. The research, published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2520587" target="_blank">Deviant Behavior</a></em>, suggests that actively watching or liking videos that romanticize offenders is associated with higher levels of hybristophilia, a term for this specific attraction. The findings also indicate that personality traits like Machiavellianism and psychopathy are strong predictors of these tendencies.</p>
<p>Researchers, led by Emma Virginia Treggiaa of the University of Huddersfield, launched the investigation to address gaps in the understanding of this phenomenon. Previous work on hybristophilia often had a narrow scope, focusing on women already in relationships with convicted offenders and frequently excluding diverse sexualities and backgrounds. The team wanted to explore how this attraction might emerge in younger generations, specifically Generation Z, through their interactions on a widely used digital platform like TikTok.</p>
<p>The research was conducted in two parts. The first study was a content analysis of TikTok, where the team examined 66 videos and 91 comments posted between 2020 and 2024. They selected content that glorified or romanticized criminals, both real and fictional. Material that was educational, critical, or condemning of offenders was intentionally excluded to isolate content that might reflect or contribute to hybristophilic attitudes.</p>
<p>This analysis identified seven major themes in how young women discussed and portrayed offenders. One prominent theme was the halo effect, where an offender’s physical attractiveness appeared to bias users’ perceptions. Comments frequently minimized the severity of crimes committed by individuals who were considered conventionally attractive, sometimes suggesting they were “misunderstood” or even innocent based on their appearance.</p>
<p>A related pattern was identified as actor-offender transference. The study noted that attraction toward actors who portrayed infamous criminals, such as Zac Efron playing Ted Bundy or Evan Peters playing Jeffrey Dahmer, was often transferred to the real-life offenders. This sometimes led to genuine confusion among users, who would express attraction to an actor while believing they were referencing the actual criminal.</p>
<p>Another set of themes related to the emotional and psychological appeal of offenders. The study documented expressions of sympathy and a romanticization of traits associated with antisocial personality disorder. Fictional characters like Joe Goldberg from the show “You” were often described as ideal partners, despite their violent and manipulative behavior. Content also glorified themes of protection and loyalty, where possessive or violent actions were framed as expressions of deep devotion.</p>
<p>The analysis also highlighted a belief that love could reform a lawbreaker, a theme the researchers called “I Can Fix Him.” Users would express confidence that they could change an offender’s behavior, sometimes as a way to downplay the dangers of such a relationship. A different theme, termed Gen Z irony, involved using dark humor and sarcasm to discuss serious crimes. Comments like “Daddy” or “Smash” were used in reference to notorious killers, alongside jokes about their own attraction. Finally, a small number of users expressed what the study called a victim fantasy, revealing fantasies about being victimized by an attractive criminal.</p>
<p>To build on these observations, the second part of the research used a survey to gather direct data. This online survey involved 95 women between the ages of 18 and 27 who were frequent TikTok users. Participants answered questions about their exposure to and engagement with content romanticizing criminals. They also completed assessments to measure their own hybristophilia levels, empathy, and dark personality traits, specifically narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. For this, the team developed a new 20-item Hybristophilia Scale based on existing literature and the themes identified in the first study.</p>
<p>The survey results revealed a key distinction between exposure and engagement. Simply seeing this type of content appear on a user’s feed did not predict higher hybristophilia scores. However, a person’s level of active engagement, such as choosing to watch the videos rather than scrolling past or liking them, was a significant predictor. Higher levels of engagement were associated with higher scores on the hybristophilia scale.</p>
<p>The analysis of personality traits uncovered another strong connection. Higher scores in Machiavellianism, a trait linked to manipulation and a strategic mindset, predicted higher hybristophilia scores. Psychopathy, which involves characteristics like a lack of remorse, thrill-seeking, and impulsivity, also significantly predicted hybristophilia. In fact, psychopathy emerged as an even stronger predictor than Machiavellianism. In contrast, neither empathy nor narcissism showed a significant link to hybristophilic tendencies in the sample.</p>
<p>These findings are consistent with some earlier psychological research. The halo effect observed on TikTok, for example, aligns with studies showing that attractive defendants often receive more lenient treatment in legal settings. The connection between hybristophilia and traits like Machiavellianism is also supported by a 2014 study that identified a manipulative personality type among women in relationships with inmates, suggesting that an attraction to power and control may be a contributing factor. The use of dark humor found in the content analysis is also a well-documented coping mechanism for managing distressing or conflicting thoughts.</p>
<p>The authors acknowledge certain limitations in their work. The survey sample was primarily composed of participants from Western countries and included a small number of transgender women, which may affect how widely the findings can be applied. The content analysis was also limited to a specific number of videos and excluded critical commentary, which offers a one-sided view of the discourse surrounding offenders on the platform.</p>
<p>For future studies, the researchers suggest further validation of the new Hybristophilia Scale they developed, as it could become a useful tool for clinicians. They also recommend expanding research to include more diverse populations to create a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. Additional research could explore the nuanced attitudes toward different types of crime and investigate the factors that might lead an individual from a passive attraction to a more aggressive pursuit of relationships with criminals.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2520587" target="_blank">Gen Z Hybristophilia: The Role of tiktok in Young Women’s Attraction to Deviant Men</a>,” was authored by Emma Virginia Treggia, Maria Ioannou, Calli Tzani, David Lester, Lucas Rogers, Thomas James Vaughan Williams, John Synnott, and Michelle Drouin.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/chants-across-cultures-share-features-that-promote-relaxation/" 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;">Chants across cultures share features that promote relaxation</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 6th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2506480122" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a></em> provides evidence that chants from diverse cultural and religious traditions share a distinct set of acoustic features that may help explain their widespread use in rituals aimed at calming the mind and body. The researchers found that these vocal expressions tend to exhibit flat, low-pitched intonation, minimal variation in pitch, and a preference for mid-central vowel sounds. Listening to these chants appears to enhance relaxation and emotional well-being, suggesting that the structure of chants may have culturally evolved to promote psychological ease.</p>
<p>Chanting is a vocal practice used in many cultures and spiritual traditions, often associated with meditation, prayer, or healing. Despite its global reach, chanting has received limited scientific attention, particularly when compared to other forms of vocal expression like speech or music. </p>
<p>Previous research has shown that certain types of music and vocalizations, such as lullabies, tend to have universal characteristics aligned with their emotional or social functions. However, it remained unclear whether chants shared any consistent acoustic traits across traditions, or whether these traits played a role in influencing how listeners feel.</p>
<p>The researchers sought to investigate whether chants from different parts of the world possess shared acoustic signatures and, if so, whether these features influence how people experience relaxation or emotional shifts. They were particularly interested in whether chanting could be characterized as a vocal form that evolved culturally to support self-regulation and emotional stability.</p>
<p>“I came to chanting first as a person, then as a scientist. Years ago I stumbled into a small community chant and found it helpful; that experience stayed with me through my training in psychology and bioacoustics,” said study author <a href="https://www.chi.ac.uk/people/valentina-canessa-pollard/" target="_blank">Valentina Canessa-Pollard</a>, senior lecturer in psychology and criminology at the University of Chichester. “I kept wondering why such different traditions could feel similarly soothing, and whether there were shared acoustic ‘ingredients’ behind that effect. This study let our team test that hunch by bridging psychoacoustics, affective science, and contemplative practice.”</p>
<p>The study was carried out in four stages. The first part focused on analyzing the acoustic properties of chants collected from seven major cultural and religious traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Paganism, and Indigenous practices. In total, the researchers selected 242 high-quality solo chant recordings, performed by experienced practitioners, and compared them to over 700 recordings of speech and song from a wide range of linguistic and cultural contexts.</p>
<p>The analysis showed that chants consistently differ from both speech and singing in several key ways. Chants typically use a flatter intonation, meaning the pitch changes very little over time. They are also delivered in a comfortable, relatively low vocal range, with minimal vibrato or rapid pitch variation. </p>
<p>In addition, chants tended to feature a narrow range of vowel sounds, focusing on mid-central vowels such as the “schwa” sound, which are produced with minimal effort and muscle tension. These acoustic patterns suggest that chanting may be designed, either intentionally or through cultural evolution, to facilitate a state of calm for both the chanter and the listener.</p>
<p>“We were struck by how much convergence there was across traditions on a small set of acoustic ingredients, even when language and context varied,” Canessa-Pollard told PsyPost.</p>
<p>In the second part of the study, the researchers tested how these chants influenced the emotional states of listeners. Sixty-one participants, all native English speakers with no hearing impairments, listened to short excerpts of chants, songs, and speech recordings and rated how each made them feel on ten different scales, including relaxation, alertness, and emotional intensity. </p>
<p>The results showed that chants received significantly higher ratings for relaxation and lower ratings for alertness than both songs and speech. Participants also reported feeling more emotionally moved by chants than by speech, although not necessarily more than by songs.</p>
<p>To further investigate what specific features made chants relaxing, the third part of the study involved altering certain acoustic properties of a subset of chants. The researchers modified recordings to change pitch, tempo, and pitch variation, and asked a new group of participants to rate them. </p>
<p>The results showed that tempo had the strongest effect. Chants presented at their original pace — typically around 60 beats per minute — were rated as the most relaxing and pleasant. Chants that were either sped up or slowed down too much were perceived as less soothing. Changes in pitch and pitch variation had much weaker effects on how the chants were experienced.</p>
<p>In the final part of the study, the team synthesized entirely new chants from scratch, using only repeated vowel sounds and varying the acoustic features identified earlier. This allowed them to remove any influence of language or cultural familiarity. These synthetic chants confirmed the earlier findings. Again, chants played at a moderate tempo and featuring slight vibrato were rated as most relaxing. Mid-back vowels like “o” and “u” also tended to elicit higher relaxation and pleasantness ratings, while chants with no vibrato or overly exaggerated vibrato were rated as less soothing.</p>
<p>“Despite cultural differences, many chants share simple, repeatable acoustic traits (e.g., steady tempo, relatively flat intonation, narrow pitch range, sustained vowels, and predictable phrasing) that are associated with people feeling more relaxed,” Canessa-Pollard said. “The message for non-specialists is that chants can be a low-cost way to downshift arousal and support calm.”</p>
<p>The study presents compelling evidence for shared acoustic features in chants and their role in promoting relaxation, but there are still some limitations to note. Most participants in the listening experiments were English-speaking individuals from Western countries. This raises the possibility that cultural biases may have influenced their responses, even though familiarity with the chants themselves was ruled out. </p>
<p>The researchers also point out that they did not collect physiological data in this study, relying instead on self-reported feelings of relaxation and emotional response. Including objective measures such as heart rate variability, breathing patterns, or brain activity in future work could help clarify how chants affect the body and brain in real-time. </p>
<p>“Our outcomes are primarily self-reported relaxation rather than clinical endpoints, and the work is cross-sectional,” Canessa-Pollard noted. “Cultural context, personal beliefs, and chanting experience are all likely moderate effects, and our recordings can’t capture every real-world nuance (e.g., live acoustics, ritual setting).”</p>
<p>“Next, we plan experimental work that manipulates acoustic features to test causality and include physiological measures (e.g., heart-rate variability, skin conductance). We’re also exploring how brief chanting protocols could be adapted for wellbeing programmes and compared with other low-intensity practices (e.g., breathwork, humming).</p>
<p>“We’re committed to open science and will <a href="https://osf.io/we2xn/" target="_blank">continue to share materials</a> and summaries in accessible formats,” Canessa-Pollard added.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2506480122" target="_blank">Chants across seven traditions share acoustic traits that enhance subjective relaxation</a>,” was authored by Valentina Canessa-Pollard, Andrey Anikin, and David Reby.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/dictators-look-more-trustworthy-than-monarchs/" 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;">Dictators look more trustworthy than monarchs</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 5th 2025, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>A study by researchers from French universities, asking participants to rate faces of various non-democratic leaders, reported that participants generally find selected dictators to look more trustworthy than monarchs. These categories of leaders did not differ in the attractiveness and competence ratings they received. The research was published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121251341338" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Political Science Review</a>.</em></p>
<p>Previous research on the facial characteristics of leaders has indicated that democratically elected leaders tend to have particular facial characteristics. In general, election winners tend to look more competent and attractive than their challengers. Interestingly, these perceived facial traits have been found to be uncorrelated with a leader’s actual personality or skills. This means that the electoral success of good-looking candidates can be attributed to voters’ preferences, not to the candidates’ abilities.</p>
<p>However, it remains unclear whether people assess non-democratic leaders in the same way. These leaders come to power through various means, but the study draws a key distinction between those who are selected (e.g., elected, appointed, or foreign-imposed) and those who are not (i.e., hereditary monarchs who inherit their position).</p>
<p>An earlier study found that people find non-democratic rulers to look less trustworthy, less likeable, and less attractive than democratically elected leaders. However, it remained unclear why this difference exists. It is possible that authoritarian “selectorates” (the small, politically informed groups who bring non-democratic leaders to power) are less influenced by a potential leader’s appearance compared to voters in democracies. Alternatively, the difference could be driven by leaders who weren’t selected at all, such as monarchs who simply inherited their position.</p>
<p>To investigate this, study author Abel François and his colleagues compared the perceived facial traits of leaders based on their mode of entry into power, distinguishing between those who were selected to rule and those who inherited their role.</p>
<p>The study authors collected 274 pictures of the faces of non-democratic leaders who held office between 1975 and 2010. The sample was restricted to leaders who spent at least one year in office, were male, and were listed as de facto leaders. They were grouped by the way they gained their position.</p>
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<li>Hereditary succession (18 leaders) included all leaders who inherited power from a relative following established succession rules.</li>
<li>Coup or Insurgency (95 leaders) encompassed cases in which the leader gained power via a military coup or a civil war, respectively.</li>
<li>Election (60 leaders) included cases in which the leader was elected either in a previous democratic regime or in authoritarian elections, as long as opposition parties were allowed to participate.</li>
<li>Foreign imposition (13 leaders) referred to cases in which the leader was installed by a foreign power.</li>
<li>Appointment (88 leaders), the most common category, encompassed all cases in which the leader was selected by his predecessor or by a small ruling coalition.</li>
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<p>The study authors had anonymous respondents recruited via Amazon’s MTurk rate the faces of these leaders for trustworthiness, competence, attractiveness, maturity, and masculinity on scales ranging from -7 to 7.</p>
<p>Results showed that participants tended to rate hereditary leaders as less trustworthy than other categories of non-democratic leaders. In other words, selected dictators—those who were either elected, appointed, or foreign-imposed—tended to look more trustworthy than monarchs. Attractiveness and competence were not associated with the mode of gaining power.</p>
<p>“These results suggest that authoritarian selectorates, like voters in democracies, use facial characteristics as cues to choose leaders, but value different qualities in their rulers,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the psychological processes through which political leaders emerge. However, a key limitation is that the study only analyzed leaders who successfully gained power; it did not compare them to their political challengers. Therefore, it remains unknown whether they also looked more trustworthy than their challengers and whether this perceived trait is what helped them gain their leadership position.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121251341338" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The right man for the job? Dictators’ selection mode and their facial characteristics</a>,” was authored by Abel François, Sophie Panel, and Laurent Weill.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-study-across-20-countries-suggests-guilt-not-shame-motivates-generosity/" 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 across 20 countries suggests guilt, not shame, motivates generosity</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 5th 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A new global study published in <em>Nature Human Behaviour</em> provides evidence that people tend to act more generously toward others when they are aware of the negative consequences of their actions. This effect appears to be linked to guilt, rather than to concerns about being judged by others. The findings call into question the common assumption that reputational concerns drive people to do good, at least when dealing with anonymous others. Instead, the results point toward internal feelings of responsibility and the avoidance of guilt.</p>
<p>Social cooperation among strangers helps societies function smoothly. Previous research has shown that people from different countries vary in how much they help others in situations involving strangers, especially when there is no direct reward. But what motivates people to act generously under these conditions remains uncertain.</p>
<p>Two emotional mechanisms are often proposed to encourage this kind of behavior: guilt and shame. Guilt is an internal sense of having done something wrong, felt even when no one else is watching. Shame, on the other hand, is more about how one is seen by others. Different cultures emphasize these emotions to different degrees, and some researchers have suggested that societies may develop distinct moral systems that rely more on one or the other.</p>
<p>Most of the earlier work in this area was conducted in a limited number of countries with similar cultural backgrounds. The authors of the new study wanted to explore whether guilt and shame work differently in a wider range of cultural contexts, and whether people everywhere are more likely to behave prosocially when they either feel guilt or anticipate shame.</p>
<p>“We were inspired by influential theories in psychology, anthropology, and cultural evolution suggesting that prosociality varies across societies, particularly when it comes to generosity toward strangers. Yet, the empirical evidence for this variation is mixed. This led us to wonder whether such differences might just reflect that societies use distinct ways to promote prosociality—emphasizing either guilt or shame,” said study author <a href="https://catherinemolho.github.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catherine Molho</a>, an assistant professor at the Toulouse School of Economics and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse.</p>
<p>To investigate, the researchers carried out a large-scale experiment using a type of economic decision-making task known as a dictator game. In these games, participants are given a sum of money and asked to decide how much to share with an anonymous partner. The partner has no control over the outcome.</p>
<p>The researchers created three variations of the game. In the first version, participants were given full information about the consequences of their decision for the other person. This setup was designed to allow guilt to influence behavior, since participants knew whether their actions would harm or help the recipient. In the second version, participants could choose to remain unaware of how their decision would affect the other person. This allowed them to avoid knowing whether they were causing harm, and was meant to test for what is sometimes called “willful ignorance.” In the third version, participants knew that their decision would be made public to other participants under a pseudonym, introducing the possibility of reputational judgment and activating feelings of shame.</p>
<p>The main question was whether people would act more generously when they had information (guilt condition) or when they were being observed (shame condition), and whether these effects varied by culture or individual personality traits.</p>
<p>Across all 20 countries, people consistently acted more generously when they had full information about the consequences of their choices. On average, 60 percent of participants made the prosocial choice when they had full information, compared to 41 percent when they could avoid knowing the consequences. This finding held true in all countries, even though the overall levels of generosity varied.</p>
<p>The effect of being observed, however, was minimal. Whether participants’ choices were public or private made little difference in how generously they behaved. In some countries, being observed slightly increased generosity; in others, it slightly decreased it. On the whole, the difference was so small that it fell within the range the researchers had defined as negligible.</p>
<p>The researchers also looked at whether people who were more prone to feeling guilt or shame were more affected by the experimental conditions. They used a validated psychological scale to measure individuals’ tendencies to experience guilt or shame. People who scored higher on guilt proneness were more likely to behave generously when given full information. They were also more sensitive to the opportunity to avoid knowing the consequences of their actions. This suggests that guilt plays a meaningful role in shaping generosity, particularly when individuals are aware of how their choices impact others.</p>
<p>“We find that guilt plays a similar role in promoting prosocial behavior across societies. When people are given clear information about how their actions might harm others, they tend to make more generous choices. But if people can avoid this information, they are less likely to act prosocially. Importantly, those who are more sensitive to guilt are especially responsive to learning about the negative consequences of their actions.”</p>
<p>At the same time, there was no evidence that people who were more prone to shame were more responsive to the public nature of their decisions. Similarly, countries where shame was more emphasized as a cultural norm did not show stronger effects of public observability. In other words, being watched by strangers did not appear to motivate generosity, even among people or cultures that tend to be more shame-sensitive.</p>
<p>“We expected that making people’s decisions visible to others would boost prosocial choices, given how much reputational concerns usually matter. But to our surprise, observability had only a negligible effect, and this was consistent across countries and independent of how sensitive people were to shame.”</p>
<p>One limitation of the study is that the observability manipulation involved anonymous strangers and pseudonyms. “Our study is that we only examined how publicizing decisions among anonymous strangers influences generosity. In reality, individuals may be more concerned with observability by meaningful audiences—such as colleagues, neighbors, or other people they interact with regularly.”</p>
<p>Although the study found that guilt was a more consistent motivator than shame in this context, the role of shame may be more prominent in different types of decisions. For example, public behavior in communities where reputation is tightly monitored might be influenced by shame in ways that were not captured by this study. Future research could test whether public exposure in more socially meaningful contexts influences generosity differently.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-longitudinal-study-reveals-how-masturbation-habits-evolve-from-young-adulthood-to-midlife/" 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 longitudinal study reveals how masturbation habits evolve from young adulthood to midlife</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 5th 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2025.2489091" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Journal of Sex Research</a></em> provides a detailed look at how masturbation frequency changes over a significant portion of the human lifespan. The research found that for women, masturbation frequency tends to increase until their early 30s before slightly declining, while for men, the practice remains relatively stable from age 19 to 50. These patterns were largely independent of how often individuals engaged in sex with a partner.</p>
<p>Masturbation is a common and healthy aspect of human sexuality, yet it remains less studied than partnered sexual activity. Most existing research on the topic has been cross-sectional, meaning it captures a snapshot of different people at different ages at a single point in time. Such studies can suggest age-related trends, but they cannot show how an individual’s behavior actually changes as they grow older. This has left a significant gap in understanding the developmental path of this private sexual behavior.</p>
<p>Scientists have also debated the relationship between masturbation and partnered sex. One idea, the compensatory model, suggests people masturbate more when they lack opportunities for partnered sex. An alternative, the complementary model, proposes that masturbation supplements an active sex life. A third perspective views masturbation as an autonomous behavior, largely separate from partnered activities.</p>
<p>The researchers behind this new study sought to provide clarity by using longitudinal data, which follows the same individuals over many years, to map the trajectories of masturbation and examine how they are influenced by life events and personal characteristics.</p>
<p>To conduct their investigation, the researchers drew on data from the Young in Norway study, a long-term project that has tracked a large cohort of Norwegians since their teenage years. For this specific analysis, they focused on a sample of 2,562 individuals. They used survey responses collected at three different times, when the participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 58. This rich dataset allowed the scientists to model the development of masturbation frequency across the key life stages of young adulthood and midlife, up to age 50.</p>
<p>Participants provided information about how often they masturbated, had partnered sex, and experienced sexual fantasies. They also reported on their partnership status, whether they had children, their sexual identity, educational attainment, and religious affiliation. Using a statistical approach known as multilevel growth curve modeling, the researchers were able to create a detailed picture of how masturbation frequency changed over time and how various factors affected this pattern.</p>
<p>The analysis first revealed distinct trajectories for women and men. For women, the frequency of masturbation showed a gradual increase from age 19, reaching a peak around age 31, after which it began a slow decline. For men, the pattern was quite different. Their masturbation frequency remained largely stable across the entire age span from 19 to 50. The study also confirmed previous findings that men, on average, masturbate more frequently than women.</p>
<p>The researchers then explored how these patterns were affected by the frequency of partnered sex. When they statistically accounted for how often individuals had sex with a partner, the developmental trajectories for both women and men did not change in any significant way. This result lends strong support to the idea that masturbation is an autonomous sexual behavior, pursued for its own reasons and not simply as a replacement for or an extension of partnered intimacy.</p>
<p>The picture became more complex when other factors were introduced, particularly for men. While men’s masturbation rate appeared stable at first glance, this changed when the frequency of sexual fantasizing was taken into account. Controlling for sexual fantasy revealed an underlying pattern of declining masturbation from age 19 until about age 36, followed by an increase. A similar shift occurred when accounting for partnership status, which uncovered a trajectory that peaked in the mid-30s. In contrast, women’s masturbation patterns were not substantially altered when accounting for either sexual fantasizing or partnership status.</p>
<p>Life events such as parenthood also played a role. Individuals who did not have children showed a different masturbation trajectory compared to those who became parents. Childless participants experienced a more pronounced increase in masturbation frequency up to about age 30, but this was followed by a steeper decline later on. This suggests that major life transitions connected to family formation are associated with how solitary sexual habits evolve.</p>
<p>Other personal characteristics were linked to masturbation frequency as well. Participants who identified as nonheterosexual reported masturbating more frequently than strictly heterosexual individuals at all ages. The overall shape of their trajectory over time, however, was similar to their heterosexual peers. The study found no significant differences in masturbation patterns based on a person’s level of education. Religious affiliation was associated with a lower initial frequency of masturbation for women at age 19, but it did not affect their long-term trajectory, and it had no observable effect on men’s habits.</p>
<p>The study’s authors note certain limitations to their work. The research relied on self-reported information, which can be affected by imperfect memory or a person’s willingness to report on sensitive topics honestly. The findings are based on a cohort of Norwegians born in the 1970s, and the results might not be the same for people from different cultural backgrounds or generations.</p>
<p>Additionally, some of the categories used in the analysis were broad. For instance, the “nonheterosexual” group included people with a variety of sexual identities, and the study could not examine these groups separately. The research also did not explore the motivations behind masturbation, such as for pleasure, stress relief, or self-exploration. The researchers suggest that future studies could examine the dynamic interplay between partnered and solo sexual activities more closely, including the impact of relationship quality and individual levels of sexual desire.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2025.2489091" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Masturbation Trajectories from Late Adolescence into Mid-Adulthood: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study</a>,” was authored by Anna Ivanova, Sam Fluit, Nantje Fischer, Tilmann von Soest, and Michal Kozák.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/surprising-finding-emerges-from-psychology-study-on-lip-size-and-attractiveness/" 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;">Surprising finding emerges from psychology study on lip size and attractiveness</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 5th 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study has found that a single facial feature, the size of the lips, can alter how attractive a face is perceived to be. But the research shows that these preferences are strongly influenced by both the gender of the face being viewed and the gender of the person making the judgment, and that our standards for attractiveness can be rapidly shifted by what we have recently seen. The findings, published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0202" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a></em>, offer insights into the mechanisms of face perception and have implications for understanding the rise of cosmetic procedures.</p>
<p>The research was conducted to better understand the foundations of facial attractiveness. Judgments about a person’s appearance can influence everything from mate selection to hiring decisions and even outcomes in legal cases. Despite its importance in social interactions, the exact processes our brains use to determine attractiveness are not fully understood. Many scientific models suggest that we perceive faces as a whole, in a “holistic” manner, rather than as a collection of separate parts.</p>
<p>However, in the real world, people often try to enhance their appearance by focusing on individual features, using makeup, cosmetic surgery, or injectable fillers. David Alais and his colleagues at the University of Sydney and the University of Queensland sought to investigate this apparent contradiction. They wanted to know if manipulating just one local feature, the lips, would be enough to change a person’s overall attractiveness rating.</p>
<p>To test this, the researchers conducted a series of experiments. In the first part of the study, 32 participants, half male and half female, were shown a series of 24 different faces. Twelve of the faces were male and twelve were female, all with neutral expressions. For each face, the scientists created seven versions by digitally expanding or contracting the size of the lips in small, linear steps. This resulted in a range from significantly thinner lips to the original lips to significantly plumper lips. Participants viewed each of these 168 unique images for a very brief period and were asked to rate its attractiveness using a slider bar.</p>
<p>The overall results showed a clear pattern based on the gender of the face. On average, female faces received their highest attractiveness ratings when their lips were slightly expanded. In contrast, male faces were rated as most attractive when their lips were slightly contracted. This finding aligns with the idea that certain facial traits are associated with masculinity and femininity, and these traits can influence perceptions of beauty.</p>
<p>The researchers then analyzed the data by separating the ratings from male and female participants. This revealed a more detailed picture. The preference for plumper lips on female faces was driven almost entirely by the female participants. Women in the study gave their highest ratings to female faces with enhanced lips. Male participants, when rating female faces, did not show a preference for plumper lips; their peak attractiveness ratings were for the female faces with their original, unaltered lip size.</p>
<p>A parallel effect was observed for male faces. The preference for thinner lips on male faces was strongest among the male participants. Both male and female observers also tended to give higher and more consistent ratings to faces of their own gender, suggesting a greater certainty or precision when evaluating people from their own social group.</p>
<p>In a second experiment, the team investigated whether exposure to altered lips could change a person’s perception of attractiveness. This part of the study used a technique called visual adaptation, where prolonged viewing of a specific image can temporarily alter how subsequent images are perceived. Participants were first shown a face with either moderately expanded or moderately contracted lips for 15 seconds. Following this exposure, they rated the attractiveness of a series of faces with the full range of seven lip sizes.</p>
<p>The findings demonstrated a powerful adaptation effect. After being exposed to a face with expanded lips, participants’ peak attractiveness ratings shifted, and they now preferred faces with larger lips. Similarly, after viewing a face with contracted lips, their preference shifted towards thinner lips. In essence, their brain’s internal “norm” for what constituted an attractive lip size had been recalibrated by their recent visual experience.</p>
<p>This effect was strongest when the adaptation face and the test face were of the same person, but it still occurred when they were different people. This suggests that the adaptation can generalize across different faces, influencing our perception of attractiveness more broadly.</p>
<p>A final experiment was designed to probe the limits of this effect and to test theories of holistic face processing. The researchers wondered if the lips needed to be seen in the context of a full face to cause the adaptation effect. To find out, they had participants adapt to images of isolated lips, with the rest of the face masked.</p>
<p>They found that even adapting to just the lips was enough to shift subsequent attractiveness ratings of whole faces. This result challenges the idea that faces are processed only as a single unit, indicating that our brains can also encode and process individual features like lips separately, and that this feature-specific information can influence high-level judgments like attractiveness.</p>
<p>These findings align with other research into what makes lips appear attractive, while adding new dimensions. Studies have suggested that from an evolutionary standpoint, full lips in women may signal youth, health, and fertility. One study published in <em>Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery-Global Open</em> found that <a href="https://www.psypost.org/what-makes-womens-lips-attractive-study-points-to-balance-over-volume/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">there is a “sweet spot” for lip fullness</a>, with lips being rated as most attractive when the upper lip height was between 20% and 25% of half the total lip width. Lips that exceeded this range were often seen as unattractive. Another study in <em><a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/full/doi/10.1001/jamafacial.2016.2049" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery</a></em> identified a 1-to-2 ratio of upper-to-lower lip height as being most aesthetically pleasing. The new research builds on this by demonstrating that these baseline preferences are not fixed and can be recalibrated by recent visual experiences.</p>
<p>The study authors point out that the mechanism of visual adaptation, while typically useful for helping our sensory systems adjust to the environment, could have unintended consequences in modern society. “Exposure to distorted lips that have been artificially expanded beyond biological limits could initiate an iterative process whereby only further expansion to even plumper lips will be perceived as attractive to an adapted observer,” the researchers write. “Ultimately, such a process would culminate in lip dysmorphia.”</p>
<p>This process is thought to be similar to mechanisms involved in body dysmorphia, where exposure to unrealistically thin bodies can shift a person’s perception of what is normal and attractive. This study provides evidence that such visual adaptation is not limited to whole bodies but can apply to individual facial features as well. This implies that as people undergo cosmetic procedures, their own perception of attractiveness will likely adapt to their new appearance, potentially motivating further alterations.</p>
<p>The research has some limitations. The participants were university students, and the stimuli were static images viewed in a laboratory setting, which may not fully replicate real-world social perceptions. However, the findings open new avenues for understanding how we perceive faces and beauty. The authors suggest that the strong own-gender biases they observed could be a result of people having greater exposure to faces of their own gender, including their own face in the mirror, leading to a more finely tuned sense of attractiveness for that group.</p>
<p>“Our research highlights the subjective nature of beauty and the powerful influence of social and cultural factors,” Alais explained. “As cosmetic procedures become more accessible, it’s important to understand how these interventions can shape our perceptions and potentially lead to unrealistic beauty standards.” Future research could explore the long-term effects of this adaptation process and its potential contribution to body image disorders.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0202" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Distortions of lip size bias perceived facial attractiveness</a>,” was authored by David Alais, Jacqueline Stephens, and Jessica Taubert.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/children-with-adhd-tend-to-perceive-visual-illusions-differently/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Children with ADHD tend to perceive visual illusions differently</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 5th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>Children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder may see the world in subtly different ways compared to their peers, according to a new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547251369665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Journal of Attention Disorders</a></em>. Researchers found that children with this diagnosis were more likely to be influenced by certain visual illusions and less influenced by others, suggesting that their visual perception processes may develop along a different trajectory.</p>
<p>Visual illusions offer a unique way to study how the brain processes what it sees. Even though the eyes may capture a scene accurately, the brain interprets that information in ways that can be influenced by experience, attention, and developmental factors. Illusions highlight the gap between what we see and what is actually there. Because they rely on how the brain interprets visual information, illusions can serve as a window into deeper cognitive processes.</p>
<p>Previous research has suggested that individuals with psychiatric or developmental conditions, including schizophrenia and autism, may perceive visual illusions differently. This has led scientists to ask whether similar effects might be seen in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Although ADHD is typically associated with difficulties in attention, focus, and impulse control, studies have also noted changes in how visual information is processed in people with this diagnosis.</p>
<p>The current study builds on this idea. The researchers wanted to understand whether children and teens with ADHD differ from typically developing peers in how they perceive various types of illusions. They were particularly interested in whether those differences might reflect changes in how global or top-down visual processing works in this group.</p>
<p>“Visual illusions happen when what we perceive does not correspond to the actual physical world. It has long been known that susceptibility to visual illusions changes throughout development,” said study author <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oxana_Banszegi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oxána Bánszegi</a> of the Institute of Biomedical Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.</p>
<p>“Research has also shown that several neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with perceptual differences, including how visual illusions are experienced. Autism, for example, has been studied extensively from this perspective. In contrast, there are very few studies examining ADHD, even though it is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, affecting roughly one in every ten children.”</p>
<p>The research team tested 224 participants in total, including 112 children and teenagers diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a matched control group of typically developing peers. The children ranged in age from about six to thirteen years, and the teenagers from thirteen to almost seventeen. Participants were recruited from both a psychiatric hospital in Mexico City and nearby public and private schools. All had normal or corrected-to-normal vision, and those with ADHD had a confirmed diagnosis and were not taking medication for at least three months prior to testing.</p>
<p>The participants were shown 103 pairs of images that contained five types of visual illusions. These included the Ebbinghaus illusion, the Müller-Lyer illusion, the Kanizsa Subjective Contour illusion, the Simultaneous Contrast illusion, and the Moving Snake illusion. Each illusion presents a mismatch between how objects actually appear and how they are perceived. For example, in the Ebbinghaus illusion, a central circle appears larger or smaller depending on the size of surrounding circles. The researchers included both “illusory” and “control” trials to determine how much participants were influenced by the illusion and whether they could still make accurate judgments.</p>
<p>Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder showed some clear differences in how they responded to the illusions, though not across all types. Specifically, they were more susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion, in which lines of equal length appear different because of arrow-like ends. In this case, children with the diagnosis were more likely to misjudge the length of the lines compared to their peers.</p>
<p>In contrast, they were less susceptible to the Ebbinghaus illusion. This suggests that the surrounding context had less influence on their perception of the central circle’s size. Importantly, these differences were found only in the younger age group; teenagers with and without ADHD responded in similar ways. This may suggest that the perceptual differences seen in younger children diminish as they grow older.</p>
<p>“We expected to see differences in how children with ADHD perceive visual illusions compared to other children, but we were surprised to find that the differences went in opposite directions depending on the illusion,” Bánszegi told PsyPost. “Even though both are called geometrical illusions, our results suggest the brain may process them in different ways, which means they should be studied separately.”</p>
<p>Children with ADHD also performed slightly worse on the Kanizsa illusion, which presents incomplete shapes that the brain usually “fills in” to create the perception of a full object. Here, the children were less likely to identify the hidden contour compared to the control group, again suggesting that certain types of visual processing might be affected.</p>
<p>For the Simultaneous Contrast and Moving Snake illusions, however, no meaningful differences were observed. Both groups perceived these illusions similarly, which suggests that the altered perception seen in the other illusions is not simply a general deficit in visual processing, but rather tied to specific cognitive mechanisms.</p>
<p>In addition to measuring responses, the researchers also tracked where and how long participants looked at the images using an eye tracker. This allowed the researchers to rule out the possibility that children with ADHD simply spent less time viewing the images. The eye-tracking data showed no difference between groups in how long they focused on the screen, which strengthens the case that the perceptual differences are not due to a lack of attention during the task.</p>
<p>Reaction times were also analyzed. The findings showed that children responded more quickly during illusory trials than control trials, a pattern that held true across groups. This suggests that participants were indeed experiencing the illusions and not simply guessing. However, reaction time differences between children with and without ADHD were minimal, indicating that the observed effects were not due to slower processing or decision-making.</p>
<p>“The main take home message is that children with ADHD can perceive things differently, and this may affect their everyday life,” Bánszegi explained. “For example, when trying to make sense of a complex visual scene, they might overlook some details, or, on the other hand, focus too much on small details and miss the bigger picture. Being more or less sensitive to illusions is not in itself a bad or a good thing, it may just mean different processing styles, a different way to perceive the world around us.”</p>
<p>As with all research, there are some limitations. One is that they did not include measures of symptom severity or intelligence across both groups, which might help explain individual differences in performance. Also, although the same visual tests were administered to all participants, they were conducted in different settings — a hospital for those with ADHD and schools for the control group — which could introduce subtle differences in testing conditions.</p>
<p>The study also only included a limited set of illusions. While these are widely used in vision research, they do not cover all possible aspects of visual processing. The results may not generalize to other types of illusions or visual tasks.</p>
<p>Still, the findings suggest that children with ADHD may perceive certain visual environments differently. This could have real-world implications, such as how they interpret complex visual scenes or how they respond to visual instructions in a classroom setting.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers hope to explore how even younger children — including preschoolers — perceive visual illusions. This may help identify early developmental patterns in perception, especially in children who are not yet diagnosed or whose symptoms are not yet clear.</p>
<p>“These findings raise many questions and point to new possibilities for future research,” Bánszegi said. “One area we want to explore is how even younger children with neurodevelopmental disorders perceive the world. This is not easy, though. At this age, it’s harder to make an accurate diagnosis. Also, preschoolers may not be able to name simple geometric shapes, or they may not find them as interesting, so it won’t hold their attention; therefore, we need to use pictures and scenarios that are more engaging and relatable for them.”</p>
<p>“Visual illusions are an interesting methodology, which is non-invasive, easy to test and holds great variability, given the large number of different illusions out there. Despite being around for centuries, it seems they have a lot to say still.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547251369665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Perception of Visual Illusions in Children and Teenagers With ADHD</a>,” was authored by Valeria Montiel, Vania Navarrete, Ana M. González-Pérez, Carolina Vázquez de Alba, Ricardo Díaz-Sánchez, Péter Szenczi, Marcos Rosetti, Rosa E. Ulloa, and Oxána Bánszegi.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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