<table style="border:1px solid #adadad; background-color: #F3F1EC; color: #666666; padding:8px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; line-height:16px; margin-bottom:6px;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/autistic-employees-are-less-susceptible-to-the-dunning-kruger-effect/" 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;">Autistic employees are less susceptible to the Dunning-Kruger effect</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 11th 2025, 08:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A study involving participants in Canada and the U.S. found that autistic employees are less susceptible to the Dunning–Kruger effect than their non-autistic peers. After completing a cognitive reflection task, autistic participants estimated their own performance in the task more accurately than non-autistic participants. The research was published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70139">Autism Research</a>.</em></p>
<p>The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability or knowledge in a domain tend to overestimate their competence. This happens because the skills needed to perform well are often the same skills needed to accurately judge one’s performance.</p>
<p>As a result, individuals who lack expertise may also lack the metacognitive insight required to recognize their own mistakes. High-ability individuals, in contrast, may underestimate themselves because they assume tasks that feel easy to them are easy for others.</p>
<p>The effect has been demonstrated in studies where participants with the lowest test scores rated themselves as above average. The bias has been observed in areas such as logical reasoning, grammar, emotional intelligence, and even professional decision-making. It does not mean that all incompetent people are overconfident, but that the tendency to overestimate one’s results is stronger in individuals with lower skill levels.</p>
<p>Study authors Lorne M. Hartman and his colleagues noted that existing evidence indicates that autistic individuals are less susceptible to social influence and cognitive biases than non-autistic individuals. They wanted to explore whether autistic individuals may also be less susceptible to the Dunning–Kruger effect.</p>
<p>These authors conducted a study in which they compared autistic and non-autistic employees’ self-assessments of their performance on a cognitive reflection task. They looked at how much these assessments differed from their objective performance on the task.</p>
<p>Study participants were recruited through autism employment support organizations and social media. In total, the study involved 100 participants. Fifty-three of them were autistic. The average age of autistic participants was 32, and for non-autistic participants, it was 39 years. There were 39 women in the autistic group and 33 women in the non-autistic group.</p>
<p>Participants completed an assessment of autistic traits (the Subthreshold Autistic Trait Questionnaire), allowing study authors to confirm that the autistic group indeed had more pronounced autistic traits than the non-autistic group. They then completed a cognitive reflection test (CRT-Long). This test measures a person’s tendency to override intuitive but incorrect answers and engage in deliberate, analytical reasoning.</p>
<p>After completing this test, participants were asked to estimate how many test questions they answered correctly and to compare their ability to answer those questions to the ability of other people, giving estimates from “I am at the very bottom” to “I am at the very top.”</p>
<p>Results showed that participants who were the least successful in the tasks tended to overestimate their achievement, while those who were the most successful tended to underestimate it. However, the lowest-performing autistic participants overestimated their results significantly less than the lowest-performing non-autistic participants.</p>
<p>When looking at the average (middle) performers, non-autistic participants continued to exhibit greater overestimation of their performance than autistic participants.</p>
<p>Finally, among high-performing participants, autistic individuals underestimated their abilities more than non-autistic participants. While non-autistic high performers slightly underestimated themselves, the autistic high performers demonstrated a stronger tendency to underestimate both their raw scores and their percentile ranking relative to peers.</p>
<p>Overall, the difference between actual and estimated performance was significantly lower for autistic than non-autistic employees.</p>
<p>“Results indicated better calibration of actual versus estimated CRT [cognitive reflection task] performance in autistic employees… Reduced susceptibility to the DKE [Dunning–Kruger effect] highlights potential benefits of autistic employees in the workplace,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the cognitive specificities of autistic individuals. However, the authors noted limitations, including a significant age difference between the groups and the fact that the sample consisted almost entirely of employed individuals, meaning the results may not generalize to unemployed autistic adults. Additionally, the study focused on analytical thinking; results may differ in tasks requiring social or emotional intelligence.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70139">Reduced Susceptibility to the Dunning–Kruger Effect in Autistic Employees,</a>” was authored by Lorne M. Hartman, Harley Glassman, and Braxton L. Hartman.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-just-uncovered-a-major-limitation-in-how-ai-models-understand-truth-and-belief/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists just uncovered a major limitation in how AI models understand truth and belief</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 11th 2025, 06:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new evaluation of artificial intelligence systems suggests that while modern language models are becoming more capable at logical reasoning, they struggle significantly to distinguish between objective facts and subjective beliefs. The research indicates that even advanced models often fail to acknowledge that a person can hold a belief that is factually incorrect, which poses risks for their use in fields like healthcare and law. These findings were published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-025-01113-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature Machine Intelligence</a></em>.</p>
<p>Human communication relies heavily on the nuance between stating a fact and expressing an opinion. When a person says they know something, it implies certainty, whereas saying they believe something allows for the possibility of error. As artificial intelligence integrates into high-stakes areas like medicine or law, the ability to process these distinctions becomes essential for safety.</p>
<p>Large language models (LLMs) are artificial intelligence systems designed to understand and generate human language. These programs are trained on vast amounts of text data, learning to predict the next word in a sequence to create coherent responses. Popular examples of this technology include OpenAI’s GPT series, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and Meta’s Llama.</p>
<p>Previous evaluations of these systems often focused on broad reasoning capabilities but lacked specific testing of how models handle linguistic markers of belief versus knowledge. The authors aimed to fill this gap by systematically testing how models react when facts and beliefs collide. They sought to determine if these systems truly comprehend the difference between believing and knowing or if they merely mimic patterns found in their training data.</p>
<p>“Large language models are increasingly used for tutoring, counseling, medical/legal advice, and even companionship,” said <a href="https://www.james-zou.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Zou</a> of Stanford University, the senior author of the new paper. “In these settings, it is really important for the LLM to understand not only the facts but also the user’s beliefs. For example, a student may have some confusion about math, and the tutor AI needs to acknowledge what the confusion is in order to effectively help the student. This motivated us to systematically analyze how well LLMs can distinguish user’s beliefs from facts.”</p>
<p>The scientific team developed a new testing suite called the Knowledge and Belief Language Evaluation, or KaBLE. This dataset consists of 13,000 specific questions divided across thirteen distinct tasks.</p>
<p>To build this, they started with 1,000 sentences covering ten different subject areas, such as history, literature, mathematics, and medicine. Half of these sentences were factual statements verified by reputable sources like Britannica and NASA. The other half were falsified versions of those statements, created by altering key details to ensure they were untrue.</p>
<p>The researchers evaluated twenty-four different LLMs using this dataset. The sample included older general-purpose models like GPT-4 and Llama-3, as well as newer “reasoning-oriented” models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek R1. The team used a standardized prompting method to get clear answers, asking the models to verify statements or confirm the mental states of speakers. They measured accuracy by checking if the models could correctly verify facts, confirm the existence of beliefs, and navigate complex sentences involving multiple layers of knowledge.</p>
<p>The assessment revealed that models have a difficult time acknowledging that a speaker holds a false belief. When a user stated, “I believe that [false statement],” the models frequently tried to correct the fact rather than simply confirming the user’s belief.</p>
<p>For instance, the accuracy of GPT-4o dropped from 98.2 percent when handling true beliefs to 64.4 percent for false beliefs. The drop was even more severe for DeepSeek R1, which fell from over 90 percent accuracy to just 14.4 percent. This suggests the models prioritize factual correctness over the linguistic task of attributing a specific thought to a speaker.</p>
<p>“We found that across 24 LLMs, models consistently fail to distinguish user’s belief from facts. For example, suppose I tell the LLM “I believe that humans only use 10% of our brain” (which is not factually correct, but many people hold this belief). The LLM would refuse to acknowledge this belief; it may say something like, “you don’t really believe that humans use 10% of the brain”. This suggests that LLMs do not have a good mental model of the users. The implication of our finding is that we should be very careful when using LLMs in these more subjective and personal settings.”</p>
<p>The researchers also found a disparity in how models treat different speakers. The systems were much more capable of attributing false beliefs to third parties, such as “James” or “Mary,” than to the first-person “I.” On average, newer models correctly identified third-person false beliefs 95 percent of the time. However, their accuracy for first-person false beliefs was only 62.6 percent. This gap implies that the models have developed different processing strategies depending on who is speaking.</p>
<p>The study also highlighted inconsistencies in how models verify basic facts. Older models tended to be much better at identifying true statements than identifying false ones. For example, GPT-3.5 correctly identified truths nearly 90 percent of the time but identified falsehoods less than 50 percent of the time. Conversely, some newer reasoning models showed the opposite pattern, performing better when verifying false statements than true ones. The o1 model achieved 98.2 percent accuracy on false statements compared to 94.4 percent on true ones.</p>
<p>This counterintuitive pattern suggests that recent changes in how models are trained have influenced their verification strategies. It appears that efforts to reduce hallucinations or enforce strict factual adherence may have overcorrected in certain areas. The models display unstable decision boundaries, often hesitating when confronted with potential misinformation. This hesitation leads to errors when the task is simply to identify that a statement is false.</p>
<p>In addition, the researchers observed that minor changes in wording caused significant performance drops. When the question asked “Do I really believe” something, instead of just “Do I believe,” accuracy plummeted across the board. For the Llama 3.3 70B model, adding the word “really” caused accuracy to drop from 94.2 percent to 63.6 percent for false beliefs. This indicates the models may be relying on superficial pattern matching rather than a deep understanding of the concepts.</p>
<p>Another area of difficulty involved recursive knowledge, which refers to nested layers of awareness, such as “James knows that Mary knows X.” While some top-tier models like Gemini 2 Flash handled these tasks well, others struggled significantly. Even when models provided the correct answer, their reasoning was often inconsistent. Sometimes they relied on the fact that knowledge implies truth, while other times they dismissed the relevance of the agents’ knowledge entirely.</p>
<p>Most models lacked a robust understanding of the factive nature of knowledge. In linguistics, “to know” is a factive verb, meaning one cannot “know” something that is false; one can only believe it. The models frequently failed to recognize this distinction. When presented with false knowledge claims, they rarely identified the logical contradiction, instead attempting to verify the false statement or rejecting it without acknowledging the linguistic error.</p>
<p>These limitations have significant implications for the deployment of AI in high-stakes environments. In legal proceedings, the distinction between a witness’s belief and established knowledge is central to judicial decisions. A model that conflates the two could misinterpret testimony or provide flawed legal research. Similarly, in mental health settings, acknowledging a patient’s beliefs is vital for empathy, regardless of whether those beliefs are factually accurate.</p>
<p>The researchers note that these failures likely stem from training data that prioritizes factual accuracy and helpfulness above all else. The models appear to have a “corrective” bias that prevents them from accepting incorrect premises from a user, even when the prompt explicitly frames them as subjective beliefs. This behavior acts as a barrier to effective communication in scenarios where subjective perspectives are the focus.</p>
<p>Future research needs to focus on helping models disentangle the concept of truth from the concept of belief. The research team suggests that improvements are necessary before these systems are fully deployed in domains where understanding a user’s subjective state is as important as knowing the objective facts. Addressing these epistemological blind spots is a requirement for responsible AI development.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-025-01113-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Language models cannot reliably distinguish belief from knowledge and fact</a>,” was authored by Mirac Suzgun, Tayfun Gur, Federico Bianchi, Daniel E. Ho, Thomas Icard, Dan Jurafsky, and James Zou.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/humans-have-an-internal-lunar-clock-but-we-are-accidentally-destroying-it/" 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;">Humans have an internal lunar clock, but we are accidentally destroying it</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 10th 2025, 18:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>Most animals, including humans, carry an internal lunar clock, tuned to the 29.5-day rhythm of the Moon. It guides sleep, reproduction and migration of many species. But in the age of artificial light, that ancient signal is fading – washed out by the glow of cities, screens and satellites.</p>
<p>Just as the circadian rhythm keeps time with the 24-hour rotation of the Earth, many organisms also track the slower rhythm of the Moon. Both systems rely on light cues, and a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw4096">recent study analysing women’s menstrual cycles</a> shows that as the planet brightens from artificial light, the natural contrasts that once structured biological time are being blurred.</p>
<p>Plenty of research suggests the lunar cycle still influences human sleep. A <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe0465">2021 study found</a> that in Toba (also known as <a href="https://icmagazine.org/indigenous-peoples/toba-qom/">Qom</a>) Indigenous communities in Argentina, people went to bed 30-80 minutes later and slept 20-90 minutes less in the three-to-five nights before the full Moon.</p>
<p>Similar, though weaker, patterns appeared among more than 400 Seattle students in the same study, even amid the city’s heavy light pollution. This suggests that electric light may dampen but not erase this lunar effect.</p>
<p>The researchers found that sleep patterns varied not only with the full-Moon phase but also with the new- and half-Moon phases. This 15-day rhythm may reflect the influence of the Moon’s changing gravitational pull, which peaks <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7322537/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">twice per lunar month</a>, during both the full and new Moons, when the Sun, Earth and Moon align. Such gravitational cycles could <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09291016.2013.830508">subtly affect</a> biological rhythms alongside light-related cues.</p>
<p>Laboratory studies have supported these findings. In <a href="https://gwern.net/doc/zeo/2013-cajochen.pdf">a 2013 experiment</a>, during the full Moon phase participants took about five minutes longer to fall asleep, slept 20 minutes less, and secreted less melatonin (a hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle). They also showed a 30% reduction in EEG slow-wave brain activity – an indicator of deep sleep.</p>
<p>Their sleep was monitored over several weeks covering a lunar cycle. The participants also reported poorer sleep quality around the full Moon, despite being unaware that their data was being analysed against lunar phases.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most striking evidence of a lunar rhythm in humans comes from the recent study analysing long-term menstrual records of 176 women across Europe and the US.</p>
<p>Before around 2010 – when LED lighting and smartphone use <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw4096">became widespread</a> – many women’s menstrual cycles tended to begin around the full Moon or new Moon phases. Afterwards, that synchrony largely vanished, persisting only in January, when the Moon-Sun-Earth gravitational effects <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09291016.2013.830508">are strongest</a>.</p>
<p>The researchers propose that humans may still have an internal Moon clock, but that its coupling to lunar phases has been weakened by artificial lighting.</p>
<h2>A metronome for other species</h2>
<p>The Moon acts as a metronome for other species. For example, coral reefs coordinate <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-breakdown-in-iconic-spawning-puts-species-at-risk-of-extinction-new-research-123045">mass spawning events</a> with precision, releasing eggs and sperm under specific phases of Moonlight.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/BBLv230n2p130">2016 laboratory study</a>, researchers working with reef-building corals (for example <em>A. millepora</em>) replaced the natural night light cycle with regimes of constant light or constant darkness. They found that the normal cycling of clock-genes (such as the cryptochromes) was flattened or lost, and the release of sperm and eggs fell out of sync. These findings suggest lunar light cues are integral to the genetic and physiological rhythms that underlie synchronised reproduction.</p>
<p>Other species, such as the marine midge <em>Clunio marinus</em>, use an internal “coincidence detector” that integrates circadian and lunar signals to time their reproduction precisely with low tides. <a href="https://www.reabic.net/journals/mbi/2024/2/MBI_2024_Martinez-Peralta_etal.pdf">Genetic studies</a> have shown this lunar timing is linked to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364536771_Genetic_analysis_of_a_phenotypic_loss_in_the_mechanosensory_entrainment_of_a_circalunar_clock">several clock-related genes</a> – suggesting that the influence of lunar cycles extends down to the molecular level.</p>
<p>However, a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax0110">2019 study</a> found that the synchrony of wild coral spawning is breaking down. Scientists think this may be due to pollutants and rising sea temperatures as <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-breakdown-in-iconic-spawning-puts-species-at-risk-of-extinction-new-research-123045">well as light pollution</a>. But we know that light pollution is <a href="https://britastro.org/section_information_/dark-skies-overview/environment/wildlife-and-light-pollution">causing disruption</a> for many wildlife species that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-moon-and-stars-are-a-compass-for-nocturnal-animals-but-light-pollution-is-leading-them-astray-142301">use the Moon</a> to navigate or time their movements.</p>
<h2>Near-permanent brightness</h2>
<p>For <a href="https://theconversation.com/light-pollution-has-cut-humanitys-ancient-connection-with-the-stars-but-we-can-restore-it-198035">most of human history</a>, moonlight was the brightest light of night. Today, it competes with an artificial glow visible from space. According to the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1600377">more than 80%</a> of the global population – and nearly everyone in Europe and the US – live under a light-polluted sky (one that is bright enough to hide the Milky Way).</p>
<p>In some countries such as Singapore or Kuwait, there is literally nowhere without significant light pollution. Constant sky-glow from dense urban lighting keeps the sky so bright that night never becomes truly dark.</p>
<p>This near-permanent brightness is a by-product of these countries’ high population density, extensive outdoor illumination, and the reflection of light off buildings and the atmosphere. Even in remote national parks far from cities, the glow of distant lights can still be <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1600377">detected hundreds of kilometres away</a>.</p>
<p>In cognitive neuroscience, time perception is often described by <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4898886/">pacemaker–accumulator models</a>, in which an internal “pacemaker” emits regular pulses that the brain counts to estimate duration. The stability of this system depends on rhythmic environmental cues – daylight, temperature, social routines – that help tune the rate of those pulses.</p>
<p>Losing the slow, monthly cue of moonlight may mean that our internal clocks now run in a flatter temporal landscape, with fewer natural fluctuations to anchor them. Previous psychological research has found <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-nature-can-alter-our-sense-of-time-225316">disconnection from nature</a> can warp our sense of time.</p>
<p>The lunar clock still ticks within us – faint but measurable. It shapes tides, sleep and the rhythms of countless species. Yet as the night sky brightens, we risk losing not only the stars, but the quiet cadence that once linked life on Earth to the turning of the Moon.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/266717/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-have-an-internal-lunar-clock-but-light-pollution-is-disrupting-it-266717">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/people-who-show-off-luxury-vacations-are-viewed-as-warmer-than-those-who-show-off-luxury-goods/" 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;">People who show off luxury vacations are viewed as warmer than those who show off luxury goods</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 10th 2025, 16:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>New research in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251331658"><em>Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin</em></a> suggests that individuals who flaunt expensive experiences, such as luxury vacations or exclusive concert tickets, reap distinct social benefits compared to those who show off material possessions. While both types of conspicuous consumption effectively signal that a person has high status and wealth, displaying experiences also leads observers to perceive the spender as warmer and more relatable.</p>
<p>Humans have a long history of displaying resources to establish social standing. In the modern era, this behavior is known as conspicuous consumption. Psychologists and economists have dedicated significant effort to understanding how the display of expensive material objects, such as designer handbags or high-end automobiles, communicates status.</p>
<p>The general consensus from past literature indicates that while these items effectively signal wealth, they often come at an interpersonal cost. Individuals who flash material goods are frequently viewed as less warm, less friendly, and more manipulative.</p>
<p>Despite this well-established understanding of material displays, less is known about the social consequences of showing off experiences. The market for experiential spending is growing rapidly, with a global value estimated in the trillions. Social media platforms are saturated with images of travelers enjoying scenic views or foodies dining at exclusive restaurants.</p>
<p>“Discussions about conspicuous consumption in the academic literature have often been restricted to material goods like designer jewelry and expensive cars,” said study author <a href="https://www.wilsonmerrell.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wilson Merrell</a>, a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University and guest researcher at the University of Oslo.</p>
<p>“But with the proliferation of social media it has become easier than ever to conspicuously consume other kinds of purchases like all-inclusive vacation and visits to Michelin-starred restaurants — time-constrained experiences that someone personally lives through. Given a rich literature on the psychological benefits of material vs. experiential consumption more broadly, we wanted to better understand how these different kinds of purchases communicated status and other traits to perceivers.”</p>
<p>The researchers conducted a series of four experiments. The first study involved 421 adult participants recruited online. The research team designed a controlled experiment to isolate the effects of the purchase type from the product itself. They presented all participants with the same product: a high-end Bose home theater sound system.</p>
<p>For half of the participants, the system was described using a material framing. This description highlighted physical properties and the quality of the components. The other half read a description that used an experiential framing. This text emphasized the immersive listening experience and the feelings the product produced. After reading the descriptions, participants evaluated the hypothetical owner of the sound system on various personality traits.</p>
<p>The results offered a clear distinction between status and warmth. Framing the purchase as an experience did not change perceptions of status. Both the material and experiential owners were seen as equally wealthy and upper-class. However, the owner of the experientially framed system was rated as warmer and more communal. This finding suggests that simply shifting the focus of a purchase from ownership to usage can mitigate the negative social judgments usually associated with showing off wealth.</p>
<p>The second study aimed to replicate these results using real-world stimuli and more practical outcomes. The researchers scraped images from Instagram using hashtags related to luxury travel and luxury goods. A new group of 120 participants viewed these posts and evaluated the person who posted them. Instead of just rating traits, the participants judged how suitable the posters would be for specific occupations.</p>
<p>The researchers selected jobs that were stereotypically high-status but low-warmth, such as a corporate lawyer or businessperson. They also selected jobs that were high-warmth, such as a social worker or childcare provider.</p>
<p>The data revealed that people who posted conspicuous experiences were viewed as qualified for both types of roles. They appeared competent enough for the high-status jobs and kind enough for the communal jobs. In contrast, those who posted material goods were seen as suitable for the high-status roles but poor fits for the communal ones. This supports the idea that experiential displays provide a broader social advantage, allowing the consumer to signal status without sacrificing their image as a likable person.</p>
<p>A third experiment investigated the psychological mechanism behind this difference. The authors hypothesized that observers assume experiential buyers are motivated by genuine internal interest rather than a desire to impress others.</p>
<p>To test this, they recruited 475 participants to view social media profiles featuring either material or experiential purchases. The profiles included text explaining why the person made the purchase. The text indicated either an intrinsic motivation, such as personal enjoyment, or an extrinsic motivation, such as wanting to be admired by peers.</p>
<p>When no reason was given, the pattern from previous studies held true. Observers naturally assumed the experiential buyers were more intrinsically motivated. However, when an experiential buyer explicitly admitted to purchasing a trip just to impress others, the warmth advantage disappeared.</p>
<p>In fact, the ratings reversed. An experiential consumer who was motivated by external validation was seen as less warm than a material consumer motivated by genuine passion. This suggests that the social benefit of experiences relies heavily on the assumption that the person is spending money for the sake of the memory, not the applause.</p>
<p>The final study examined the role of social context in these perceptions. Experiences are often shared with others, whereas material goods are frequently used alone. The researchers recruited 334 undergraduate students to read about a target who spent money on conspicuous experiences.</p>
<p>The researchers manipulated two factors: whether the purchase was motivated by enjoyment or prestige, and whether the experience was solitary or social. Participants rated the target’s warmth and indicated if they would want to be friends with them. They also played a game to measure how generous they thought the target would be.</p>
<p>The results provided a nuanced picture of the phenomenon. The communal advantage was only present when the experience was both intrinsically motivated and consumed socially. A person who went on a luxury trip alone was not viewed as warmly as someone who went with friends, even if they claimed to love travel.</p>
<p>This indicates that the presence of others is a necessary component of the positive signal sent by experiential spending. When consumption is solitary, it fails to trigger the associations of warmth and connection that usually accompany experiences.</p>
<p>“There are many avenues through which to signal status,” Merrell told PsyPost. “Expensive material goods communicate high levels of status and low levels of warmth, while expensive experiential purchases can communicate both high status and relatively high warmth—a ‘best of both worlds’ strategy. In our work, this difference is largely driven by whether the purchases were made for intrinsic reasons (passion pursuits close to one’s identity) or extrinsic reasons (just to show off to others), and whether the purchases involve others (social) or not (solitary).”</p>
<p>While the study provides strong evidence for the social benefits of experiential spending, there are limitations to the generalizability of the findings. The samples were drawn entirely from the United States, meaning the results reflect specific Western cultural norms regarding wealth and display. It is possible that in cultures with different values regarding community or modesty, these effects would not appear or might present differently.</p>
<p>Additionally, the ease of displaying experiences depends heavily on technology. The transient nature of a meal or a trip means it requires active documentation to be conspicuous, unlike a watch that is always visible.</p>
<p>The researchers also note that signaling warmth is not always the primary goal for every individual. “One reading of our paper is that luxury experiences are ‘better’ signals than luxury materials goods,” Merrell explained. “However, there are very reasonable situations where someone may want to signal high levels of status and lower levels of warmth.”</p>
<p>“For instance, in the case of a dominant political leader. In this case, a luxury material good may be a more appropriate signal than a luxury experience. So it’s not that one type of consumption is better than the other, but that we should consider how different types of consumption are perceived when we seek status signaling goals.”</p>
<p>In future work, the researchers plan to better understand how these consumption types relate to different forms of social rank, distinguishing between status gained through dominance versus status gained through prestige.</p>
<p>“Prominent theories of status striving advocate for two main paths to achieve social rank: dominance (associated with inflicting costs and punishments to others) and prestige (associated with garnering respect and being well-regarded by others),” Merrell said. “In an on-going project I examine whether conspicuous material vs. experiential consumption is associated with these distinct status pursuits. Early results suggest that experiential conspicuous consumption is more associated with prestige, while material conspicuous consumption is more associated with dominance.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251331658">Flaunting Porsches or Paris? Comparing the Social Signaling Value of Experiential and Material Conspicuous Consumption</a>,” was authored by Wilson N. Merrell and Joshua M. Ackerman.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/researchers-found-a-specific-glitch-in-how-anxious-people-weigh-the-future/" 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;">Researchers found a specific glitch in how anxious people weigh the future</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 10th 2025, 14:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>Decisions that balance immediate comfort against long-term benefits are a fundamental part of daily life. Whether choosing to exercise, study for an exam, or have a difficult conversation, individuals constantly weigh the present against the future. A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personality and Individual Differences</a></em> suggests that anxiety often short-circuits this process. The researchers found that while information about future outcomes helps most people make better choices, those with high levels of anxiety struggle to look past their immediate emotional discomfort.</p>
<p>Psychologists refer to the ability to guide behavior based on anticipated outcomes as sensitivity to future consequences. This mental calculation allows a person to endure temporary unpleasantness to achieve a valued goal. When this system functions well, it acts as a compass for personal success and well-being. When it fails, individuals may fall into patterns of avoidance. They might choose short-term relief that ultimately worsens their problems or prevents them from moving forward in life.</p>
<p>The researchers, Xinyao Ma and John E. Roberts of the University at Buffalo, initiated this investigation to address a gap in existing psychological literature. Past research on this topic largely relied on artificial assessments involving money. Tests like the Iowa Gambling Task measure how well people learn to avoid financial losses over time. These monetary tasks are effective for studying conditions characterized by impulsivity, such as substance abuse or conduct disorders.</p>
<p>Ma and Roberts argued that financial games fail to capture the reality of internalizing disorders like depression and anxiety. For someone suffering from anxiety, the primary motivator is often not the acquisition of a reward but the reduction of distress. The researchers posited that existing tools lacked ecological validity, meaning they did not resemble the real-world emotional dilemmas people face. They sought to understand if the tendency to prioritize immediate emotional relief over long-term stability is a defining feature of these mental health conditions.</p>
<p>To test this, the authors developed a novel assessment called the Scenario Task. They recruited 504 adults through an online research platform to participate in the experiment. The study utilized a between-subjects design, meaning participants were randomly assigned to one of two different groups.</p>
<p>The researchers presented both groups with fourteen hypothetical scenarios that required a decision. These scenarios involved everyday situations across various domains, such as work, relationships, and household chores. Each situation presented an “approach-avoidance” conflict. The participant had to decide whether to engage in a behavior that might be difficult or boring in the moment but beneficial later, or to avoid the behavior.</p>
<p>The experimental manipulation was subtle but central to the study’s design. The first group read scenarios that included specific information about the potential long-term consequences of the decision. The second group, serving as the control, read the same scenarios but without the future-oriented information. Instead, they received irrelevant background details. The researchers then asked participants to rate the likelihood that they would engage in the approach behavior.</p>
<p>The overall results showed that the manipulation worked as intended. Participants who received information about long-term consequences were generally more likely to choose the beneficial approach behavior than those in the control group. This confirms that for the average person, clearly understanding what is at stake in the future helps motivate action in the present.</p>
<p>The team then used linear regression analyses to determine how specific mental health symptoms and personality traits influenced this decision-making process. This is where the distinctions between anxiety and depression became apparent.</p>
<p>Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder proved to be a strong moderator of decision-making. Individuals with low levels of anxiety responded strongly to the information about future consequences. When they learned that an action would help them in the long run, they were much more likely to do it. However, this effect diminished significantly for individuals with high levels of anxiety.</p>
<p>The data indicated that highly anxious participants were relatively insensitive to future consequences. Even when the study explicitly presented the long-term benefits of an action, these individuals remained fixated on the immediate difficulty. This aligns with clinical theories suggesting that anxiety functions through negative reinforcement. Anxious individuals learn to avoid situations that trigger distress, which provides immediate relief but prevents them from experiencing positive future outcomes.</p>
<p>The study found similar patterns regarding social anxiety. People who fear social scrutiny also showed a reduced sensitivity to future benefits. They appeared to prioritize the avoidance of immediate social discomfort over the potential for building relationships or resolving conflicts.</p>
<p>The researchers also examined a trait known as behavioral activation. This concept refers to a person’s tendency to remain engaged in goal-directed behavior despite obstacles. The findings indicated that people with high behavioral activation were very responsive to future consequences. They utilized the information to guide their choices effectively. Conversely, those with low behavioral activation struggled to use the future as a guide, appearing stuck in their current emotional state.</p>
<p>A similar trend appeared for the trait of perseverance. Individuals who described themselves as able to persist through boring or difficult tasks showed greater sensitivity to future outcomes. Those who identified as “non-perseverant” were less influenced by the long-term view. This suggests that the inability to stick with a task is linked to a failure to keep the end goal in mind.</p>
<p>The results regarding depression were more nuanced than the researchers expected. The team hypothesized that depression would universally blunt sensitivity to the future. However, the total score on the depression screening tool did not exhibit a statistically significant interaction with the experimental condition. This means that depression, as a broad category, did not predict how people used the consequence information.</p>
<p>However, when the researchers broke depression down into specific symptoms, they found clear associations. Symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, feelings of failure, and a lack of interest were significant moderators. Individuals suffering from these specific cognitive and motivational aspects of depression were less able to use future consequences to guide their actions. This suggests that the “brain fog” and low self-worth associated with depression may be the specific drivers of poor decision-making, rather than the low mood itself.</p>
<p>The study yielded null results for two other personality traits: anhedonia and non-planfulness. Anhedonia is the inability to feel pleasure. The researchers expected that people who cannot enjoy things would not care about future rewards. The data did not support this. The authors speculate that the measure they used assessed anhedonia as a permanent trait, whereas a person’s current state of mind might matter more in the moment of decision.</p>
<p>Similarly, “non-planfulness,” or the tendency to act impulsively, did not affect the results. This was surprising, as impulsivity is defined by a lack of future planning. The authors suggest that impulsive individuals might lack the self-awareness to report accurately on how they make decisions.</p>
<p>Ma and Roberts noted some limitations to their work. The sample population was drawn from a research volunteer registry that is disproportionately white, female, and older. A significant portion of the participants were retired. Older adults may view future consequences differently than younger adults who are still building their lives. This demographic skew limits how well the findings might apply to the general population.</p>
<p>Additionally, the study relied on self-reported intentions in hypothetical scenarios. While the Scenario Task is designed to be realistic, it is not the same as observing real behavior. It is easier for a participant to say they would have a difficult conversation than to actually have it.</p>
<p>Despite these caveats, the findings offer directions for future research and treatment. The study highlights that insensitivity to future consequences is not just a trait of “impulsive” disorders but is central to anxiety as well. This suggests that anxiety treatments should focus not only on reducing fear but also on training individuals to consciously weigh long-term outcomes.</p>
<p>The researchers propose that interventions could use variants of the Scenario Task to help patients practice this skill. By repeatedly exposing individuals to the link between present actions and future rewards, therapists might help them break the cycle of avoidance. Future studies will need to determine if these laboratory findings translate to clinical settings and if improving this sensitivity leads to symptom reduction.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An experimental investigation of individual differences in sensitivity to future consequences: Depression, anxiety, and personality</a>,” was authored by Xinyao Ma and John E. Roberts.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/people-prone-to-boredom-tend-to-adopt-faster-life-history-strategies/" 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;">People prone to boredom tend to adopt faster life history strategies</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 10th 2025, 12:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A set of studies found that individuals prone to boredom tend to choose faster life history strategies. Similarly, countries with higher boredom proneness scores showed more indicators of faster life history strategies. The research was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049241310772"><em>Evolutionary Psychology</em></a>.</p>
<p>Life history refers to the set of biological and behavioral strategies organisms use to allocate time and energy toward growth, reproduction, parenting, and survival across the lifespan. These strategies include when to mature, how many offspring to have, how much to invest in each offspring, and how long to live.</p>
<p>Life history speed describes where an individual or species falls on a continuum from “fast” to “slow” life strategies. A fast life history involves earlier reproduction, higher risk-taking, shorter planning horizons, and prioritizing immediate rewards. A slow life history involves later reproduction, greater parental investment, long-term planning, and stronger self-regulation.</p>
<p>Humans vary in life history speed depending on ecological conditions, stress, stability, and early-life environments. Unpredictable or harsh conditions tend to push individuals toward faster strategies, favoring earlier and more frequent reproduction. Stable and resource-rich environments tend to promote slower strategies characterized by delayed reproduction and long-term investment.</p>
<p>Study authors Garam Kim and Eunsoo Choi wanted to explore the relationship between boredom and life history strategies (life history speed) at both individual and country levels. They conducted three studies – a pilot study and two additional studies.</p>
<p>The pilot study examined the relationship between boredom proneness and life history strategies among undergraduate students. 97 students participated. 66 of them were women. Their average age was 21.4 years. 79% of them were Koreans.</p>
<p>Participating students completed assessments of boredom proneness (the Boredom Proneness Scale), life history strategies (the Mini-K and the High K Strategy Scale), and impulsive sensation seeking (the Impulsive Sensation-Seeking Scale). Students also reported their monthly household income and rated their perceived family resources.</p>
<p>Study 1 aimed to replicate the results of the pilot study. It was conducted on 298 adults (recruited from an initial pool of 592) through an online panel survey service. Participants completed a survey containing the same assessments of boredom proneness and life history strategies as the pilot study, but also assessments of risk-taking (the Risk-Taking Questionnaire) and future anxiety (the Future Anxiety Scale – Short Form). Future anxiety is the tendency to anticipate future disasters and view the future with dread and uncertainty.</p>
<p>Finally, Study 2 was an analysis of published data aiming to look into associations between boredom proneness and life history strategies on the country level. The study authors hypothesized that people living in boredom-prone countries will be more likely to adopt faster life history strategies.</p>
<p>More specifically, they hypothesized those people would be more open towards casual sex (greater sociosexual unrestrictedness), have shorter lifespans, have more children, give birth earlier in life, and invest less in their children.</p>
<p>Study authors created estimates of boredom proneness, life history strategies, and sexual restrictedness in different countries from published results in various scientific papers. Life expectancy and fertility data came from the UN World Population Prospects 2019. Adolescent birth rates and preprimary school gross enrollment (an indicator of parental investment in children) came from World Bank data and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, respectively.</p>
<p>Results of the pilot study confirmed that boredom proneness is associated with a faster life history strategy. Further analysis showed that faster life history strategies mediated the relationship between childhood resources and boredom. In other words, individuals with greater resources as children (whose parents invested more in them) were likely to adopt a slower life history strategy, which in turn made them less prone to boredom.</p>
<p>Results of Study 1 confirmed these results. Boredom proneness was again associated with faster life history strategy. Additionally, individuals with higher boredom proneness were more likely to experience higher future anxiety. Better family resources and socioeconomic status in childhood were associated with lower boredom proneness and slower life history strategies.</p>
<p>The study authors tested a statistical model proposing that worse socioeconomic status in childhood leads to faster life history strategy, which leads to more boredom proneness in adulthood. Results indicated that this chain of relationships is possible.</p>
<p>Finally, on the country level, countries with higher levels of boredom proneness tended to have people more prone to faster life history strategies, specifically regarding shorter lifespans, higher fertility rates, and earlier adolescent birth rates.</p>
<p>“These results suggest that trait boredom may be a functional characteristic of fast life history strategists. This study is the first empirical investigation of trait boredom within a life history framework, highlighting trait boredom’s functional role from evolutionary and ecological perspectives,” study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the links between boredom proneness and life history strategy. However, it should be noted that the study relied on significant data from self-report questionnaires, leaving room for reporting bias to affect those results. Also, childhood socioeconomic status assessment was based on participants’ recall, introducing the possibility of recall bias.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049241310772">Pace of Life Is Faster for a Bored Person: Exploring the Relationship Between Trait Boredom and Fast Life History Strategy,</a>” was authored by Garam Kim and Eunsoo Choi.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/exercise-might-act-as-a-double-edged-sword-for-problematic-pornography-use/" 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;">Exercise might act as a double-edged sword for problematic pornography use</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Dec 10th 2025, 10:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>New research published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2025.2536094" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy</a></em> sheds light on a complicated relationship between physical fitness and compulsive sexual behaviors. The study suggests that while regular exercise generally reduces the likelihood of problematic pornography use, it may simultaneously intensify the risks for a specific subset of users. These findings offer a nuanced view of how healthy lifestyle habits interact with psychological coping mechanisms.</p>
<p>To understand why people develop compulsive behaviors, psychologists often look to Self-Determination Theory. This framework posits that all humans share three basic psychological needs. We require autonomy, or the feeling that we are in control of our own actions. We need competence, which is the sense of mastery and effectiveness in our tasks. Finally, we need relatedness, or the experience of meaningful connection with others.</p>
<p>When these needs are blocked or frustrated, individuals experience a decline in mental well-being. This state is known as basic psychological need frustration. People often react to this frustration by seeking external comforts or escapes. For some, this manifests as the consumption of pornography to manage negative emotions.</p>
<p>Researchers have previously identified that using pornography as a coping mechanism is a strong predictor of problematic use. This goes beyond casual viewing. Problematic pornography use involves a loss of control and continued consumption despite negative consequences. It shares similarities with other behavioral addictions.</p>
<p>The question remains regarding how positive lifestyle factors influence this dynamic. Physical exercise is widely regarded as a beneficial intervention for various addictions. It typically boosts mood and reduces stress. However, its specific interaction with the psychological drivers of pornography use has remained unclear.</p>
<p>A team of researchers sought to map these pathways. The group included Ying Zhang, Xiaoliu Jiang, Yuexin Jin, and Lijun Chen from Fuzhou University and Nankai University in China. They collaborated with Zhihua Huang from Fuzhou University and Beáta Bőthe from the University of Montreal in Canada. They hypothesized that exercise would act as a moderator. They believed it might change how frustrated psychological needs translate into compulsive behaviors.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited 600 Chinese adults for the study. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 68. The sample consisted of 39.83% women. All participants had viewed pornography within the past six months.</p>
<p>The study defined pornography for participants as “content inducing sexual thoughts with explicit depictions of genital-involved sexual activities.” The researchers administered a series of standardized questionnaires. These measures assessed the participants’ levels of basic psychological need frustration. They also measured motivations for using pornography, such as boredom avoidance or stress reduction.</p>
<p>To assess the severity of the behavior, the team used the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale. This tool evaluates symptoms like withdrawal, relapse, and conflict with daily life. Participants also reported their physical exercise habits. The researchers defined regular exercise based on national health guidelines. This required moderate-intensity activity more than three times a week for at least 30 minutes per session.</p>
<p>The team employed statistical models to analyze the data. They looked for mediation effects, which explain how one variable influences another. They also looked for moderation effects, which explain when or for whom an effect occurs. Additionally, they utilized a technique called network analysis. This method visualizes the complex web of relationships between different psychological variables. It treats variables as “nodes” and the connections between them as “edges.”</p>
<p>The study confirmed that frustrated psychological needs are a significant driver of problematic use. When individuals feel their needs for autonomy, competence, or relatedness are thwarted, they are more likely to use pornography to cope. This coping motivation then acts as a bridge leading to problematic behavior.</p>
<p>The most distinct findings appeared when the researchers added exercise into the equation. They discovered two divergent pathways. The first pathway highlighted the protective nature of physical activity.</p>
<p>For individuals who did not exercise regularly, frustration with “relatedness”—feeling lonely or excluded—was strongly linked to using pornography to avoid boredom. This suggests that lonely individuals often turn to pornography to fill a social void or pass time. However, for regular exercisers, this link was much weaker.</p>
<p>The network analysis revealed that exercise disrupted the connection between loneliness and boredom avoidance. The researchers interpret this as a compensatory effect. Exercise environments often provide social interactions. Team sports or fitness classes foster connections. Even solo exercise can reduce boredom proneness. Consequently, exercisers were less likely to soothe their loneliness with pornography.</p>
<p>The second pathway revealed a counterintuitive and potential risk factor. The researchers examined the link between using pornography for stress reduction and the development of problematic use. For those who exercised regularly, this specific connection was stronger than for non-exercisers.</p>
<p>This means that if a regular exerciser chooses to use pornography specifically to relieve stress, they are more susceptible to developing problematic habits. The researchers offer a physiological explanation for this unexpected result. Exercise releases endorphins and dopamine, creating a sense of pleasure and stress relief. Pornography consumption triggers similar neurochemical rewards.</p>
<p>The authors suggest a mechanism of cross-sensitization. Individuals who exercise regularly may have a heightened sensitivity to these reward pathways. They might overestimate the stress-relieving benefits of pornography because their brains are primed for that type of release. When they use pornography for stress relief, the reinforcement is intense. This accelerates the cycle toward compulsive use.</p>
<p>These results paint a complex picture of healthy behaviors. Exercise serves as a buffer against boredom-driven usage. It helps satisfy social needs that might otherwise be displaced onto digital sexual consumption. In this sense, it acts as a protective shield for mental health.</p>
<p>Yet, the study indicates that exercise is not a universal panacea. It alters the reward sensitivity of the individual. For exercisers, the danger lies specifically in stress management. If they come to rely on pornography as a quick fix for high stress, the behavior can become rigid and problematic more quickly than it might for others.</p>
<p>The authors note that these insights could refine therapeutic interventions. Mental health practitioners often recommend exercise to clients struggling with compulsive behaviors. This advice remains valid but requires nuance.</p>
<p>Clinicians might need to help clients distinguish between healthy stress relief and maladaptive coping. For clients who exercise heavily, it may be important to monitor their motivations for pornography use closely. They should be aware that their brain’s reward system acts efficiently, which can be a double-edged sword.</p>
<p>The study does have some limitations. The research used a cross-sectional design. This means it captured a snapshot of data at a single point in time. While the statistical models suggest directions of influence, they cannot definitively prove cause and effect. It is possible that people with problematic pornography use are simply less likely to exercise.</p>
<p>The data relied on self-reports. Participants answered questions about their own behaviors and feelings. This introduces the potential for bias, as people may not always assess themselves accurately. Additionally, the sample was recruited online and was predominantly young and well-educated. This demographic profile may not represent the general population perfectly.</p>
<p>The researchers emphasize the need for longitudinal studies. Tracking individuals over time would clarify whether exercise directly causes changes in how people cope with frustration. Future research could also explore the physiological mechanisms more directly. Measuring dopamine responses in exercisers versus non-exercisers could validate the cross-sensitization theory.</p>
<p>Despite these caveats, the research provides a detailed map of how lifestyle and psychology intersect. It challenges the assumption that positive habits always work in isolation. Instead, it shows that physical activity changes the internal landscape. It closes some doors to unhealthy behavior while potentially opening others, depending on the individual’s motivation.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2025.2536094" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Moderating Role of Regular Exercise on the Relationship Between Basic Psychological Need Frustration and Problematic Pornography Use: Two Pathways Corroborated by Two Complementary Methods</a>,” was authored by Ying Zhang, Xiaoliu Jiang, Yuexin Jin, Beáta Bőthe, Zhihua Huang, and Lijun Chen.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
<p><strong>This information is taken from free public RSS feeds published by each organization for the purpose of public distribution. Readers are linked back to the article content on each organization's website. This email is an unaffiliated unofficial redistribution of this freely provided content from the publishers. </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><s><small><a href="#" style="color:#ffffff;"><a href='https://blogtrottr.com/unsubscribe/565/DY9DKf'>unsubscribe from this feed</a></a></small></s></p>