'Yeah, this is my donation': An application of psychological ownership in blood donation.

To meet the priority healthcare needs of any population there must be a consistently available blood supply donated by willing donors. Due to this universal need for blood, retaining blood donors remains an ongoing challenge for blood services internationally. Encouraging psychological ownership, or the feeling of ownership one experiences over a possession, provides a potential novel solution to donor retention. This study, based on semi-structured interviews with blood donors, investigates how donors perceive and develop psychological ownership in the context of blood donation. Interviews were conducted in Australia with 20 current blood donors (10 men, 10 women; Mage = 41.95). Through thematic analysis, six themes were identified based primarily on the theoretical framework of psychological ownership. This research offers a novel perspective on donor retention, suggesting that donors' ownership over their individual donation practices, and not the blood service, may contribute to maintaining a stable blood supply.

The vaccination divide: Exploring moral reasoning associated with intergroup antipathy between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

OBJECTIVES: There is growing evidence of intergroup hostility between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, a process of polarization that threatens to derail population health efforts. This study explores the moral underpinnings of intergroup antipathy between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design was employed to investigate the associations between the view of vaccination as a social contract or individual choice, perceived vulnerability to disease, perceptions of outgroup morality, feelings of warmth, and experiences of schadenfreude. METHODS: Data were extracted from an online, quantitative survey of 233 vaccinated and 237 unvaccinated participants collected between June and July 2022. RESULTS: Results revealed that vaccinated people had stronger negative attitudes towards unvaccinated people than vice versa. In line with hypotheses, the extent to which vaccinated people saw vaccination as a social contract was significantly associated with perceiving unvaccinated people as immoral. For unvaccinated people, seeing vaccination as an individual choice (the opposite of a social contract) was significantly associated with perceiving vaccinated people as immoral. Among both groups, viewing the other as immoral was associated with feeling significantly less warmth towards the opposing vaccination group, and more schadenfreude in the face of an outgroup member's suffering. Participants' perceived vulnerability to disease played a relatively small role in explaining polarization between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. CONCLUSIONS: This research builds on previous studies by identifying moral mechanisms associated with intergroup antipathy in the vaccine debate.

A 30-nation investigation of lay heritability beliefs.

Lay beliefs about human trait heritability are consequential for cooperation and social cohesion, yet there has been no global characterisation of these beliefs. Participants from 30 countries (N = 6128) reported heritability beliefs for intelligence, personality, body weight and criminality, and transnational factors that could influence these beliefs were explored using public nation-level data. Globally, mean lay beliefs differ from published heritability (h2) estimated by twin studies, with a worldwide majority overestimating the heritability of personality and intelligence, and underestimating body weight and criminality. Criminality was seen as substantially less attributable to genes than other traits. People from countries with high infant mortality tended to ascribe greater heritability for most traits, relative to people from low infant mortality countries. This study provides the first systematic foray into worldwide lay heritability beliefs. Future research must incorporate diverse global perspectives to further contextualise and extend upon these findings.

Scientific clickbait: Examining media coverage and readability in genome-wide association research.

In the present study, we analyzed a large corpus of English-language online media articles covering genome-wide association studies (GWAS), exemplifying the use of computational methods to study science communication in biological sciences. We analyzed trends in media coverage, readability, themes, and mentions of ethical and social issues, in over 5,000 websites published from 2005 to 2018 from 3,555 GWAS publications on 1,943 different traits, identified via GWAS Catalog using a text-mining approach to inform the discussion about genetic literacy and media coverage. We found that 22.9% of GWAS papers received media attention but most were described in language too complex to be understood by the public. Ethical issues are rarely mentioned and mentions of translation are increasing over time. We predicted media attention based on year of publication, number of genetic associations identified, study sample size, and journal impact factor, using a regression model (r2 = 38.7%). We found that chronotype, educational attainment, alcohol and coffee consumption, sexual orientation, tanning, and hair color received substantially more attention than predicted by the regression model. We also evaluated the prevalence of the clickbait "one gene, one disease" headlines (e.g., "Scientists Say They've Found Gene That Causes Breast Cancer") and found that it is declining. In sum, online media coverage of GWAS should be more accessible, introduce more modern genetics terms, and when appropriate, ELSI should be mentioned. Science communication research can benefit from big data and text-mining techniques which allow us to study trends and changes in coverage trends across thousands of media outlets. Results can be explored interactively in a website we have built for this manuscript: https://jjmorosoli.shinyapps.io/newas/.

Fixed or Fluid? Sexual Identity Fluidity in a Large National Panel Study of New Zealand Adults.

Sexual orientation has been defined as an enduring aspect of the self, but emerging evidence reveals that people's sexual attractions, behaviors, and identities can shift over time. To examine this possibility, we present a large longitudinal analysis of sexual orientation identity fluidity among New Zealand adults (Ntotal = 45,856; age = 18-99; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority (LGB+) ns = 746-3,387). Over seven years, 5.7% of participants changed sexual identities at least once. Change was bi-directional (i.e. toward and away from LGB+ identities) and most common in people who initially reported a plurisexual identity. Although women reported higher rates of plurisexuality than men, they were not more fluid in their identities, contradicting the notion of male fixedness and female plasticity in sexuality. Moreover, openness to experience was associated with increased odds of changing from a heterosexual to a plurisexual identity, while political liberalism and lower conscientiousness were associated with increased odds of changing from a heterosexual to a plurisexual identity and more identity changes over time. Overall, our study shows that sexual identity can be fluid into adulthood and has implications for how we understand contemporary human sexuality.

Empathic Conservatives and Moralizing Liberals: Political Intergroup Empathy Varies by Political Ideology and Is Explained by Moral Judgment.

Empathy has the potential to bridge political divides. Here, we examine barriers to cross-party empathy and explore when and why these differ for liberals and conservatives. In four studies, U.S. and U.K. participants (total N = 4,737) read hypothetical scenarios and extended less empathy to suffering political opponents than allies or neutral targets. These effects were strongly shown by liberals but were weaker among conservatives, such that conservatives consistently showed more empathy to liberals than liberals showed to conservatives. This asymmetry was partly explained by liberals' harsher moral judgments of outgroup members (Studies 1-4) and the fact that liberals saw conservatives as more harmful than conservatives saw liberals (Studies 3 and 4). The asymmetry persisted across changes in the U.S. government and was not explained by perceptions of political power (Studies 3 and 4). Implications and future directions are discussed.

Does intergroup contact foster solidarity with the disadvantaged? A longitudinal analysis across 7 years.

Contact theory is a well-established paradigm for improving intergroup relations-positive contact between groups promotes social harmony by increasing intergroup warmth. A longstanding critique of this paradigm is that contact does not necessarily promote social equality. Recent research has blunted this critique by showing that contact correlates positively with political solidarity expressed by dominant groups toward subordinate groups, thus furthering the goal of equality. However, this research precludes causal inferences because it conflates within-person change (people with higher contact subsequently expressing higher solidarity) and between-person stability (people with chronically high contact simultaneously expressing chronically high solidarity, and vice versa). We addressed this problem in a highly powered, seven-wave study using two different measures of contact and three different measures of political solidarity (N = 22,646). Results showed no within-person change over a 1-year period (inconsistent with a causal effect), but significant between-person stability (consistent with third-variable explanations). This reinforces doubts about contact as a strategy for promoting equality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Benevolent Sexism and the Traditional Sexual Script as Predictors of Sexual Dissatisfaction in Heterosexual Women from the U.S.

Women report lower sexual satisfaction than men. Given that sexual dissatisfaction adversely impacts health and well-being, it is imperative that we investigate why women are sexually dissatisfied. In the present study, we explored whether women's benevolently sexist attitudes might predict their sexual dissatisfaction. In a sample of 308 (Mage = 38.09) heterosexual American women who had previously had sex with a man, we hypothesized that women's benevolent sexism would be associated with an increased adoption of the traditional sexual script (i.e., an increased propensity for submissiveness and passivity during sex) and that this, in turn, would be associated with increased sexual dissatisfaction. We also hypothesized that the relationship between the adoption of the traditional sexual script and sexual dissatisfaction would be moderated by the degree to which participants enjoy submissiveness. Overall, we did not find support for our model: benevolent sexism did not predict sexual dissatisfaction. However, we did find that adopting the traditional sexual script was predictive of sexual dissatisfaction for women who do not enjoy submissiveness. These findings contribute to an emerging literature pertaining to women's sexual health. Specifically, results suggest that benevolent sexism does not contribute to women's experiences of sexual dissatisfaction. Instead, they suggest that sexual dissatisfaction in women may (in part) be driven by their engagement in sexual roles that do not align with their sexual preferences. Theoretical and clinical implications for these findings are discussed.

Surgical satisfaction and quality of life outcomes reported by transgender men and women at least one year post gender-affirming surgery: A systematic literature review.

Background: Many transgender women and men undergo gender-affirming surgeries. Existing work shows that early surgery outcomes are generally positive, suggesting high surgical satisfaction and positive quality of life outcomes. Less work, however, examines these outcomes in the longer-term. Aims: To conduct a systematic literature review into the longer-term (i.e., ≥ 1 year) surgical satisfaction and quality of outcomes following various forms of gender-affirming surgery in transgender populations. Specifically, we aim to examine research on such outcomes at least one-year post gender-affirming chest, genital, facial, vocal cord, and Adam's apple removal surgeries. Methods: Studies were identified through Google Scholar, PsycINFO, Scopus, and PubMed databases, as well as through Google Scholar search alerts. We considered all studies published until October 2021. Two reviewers extracted data from suitable studies using Covidence. Both reviewers also independently assessed the identified studies' risk of bias and strength of evidence. Results: Seventy-nine low quality (e.g., small sample sizes, lack of control/comparison groups) studies suggest that most transgender patients are satisfied with surgical outcomes when assessed at least one-year post-surgery. Low quality research also indicates that transgender women and men typically report positive psychological and sexual wellbeing post-surgery, and similar wellbeing outcomes as those who have not had surgery. Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, this literature review is the first to critically summarize and evaluate all published studies on the longer-term quality of life outcomes following chest, genital, facial, voice and Adam's apple removal surgeries for transgender women and men. While the results suggest promising surgical satisfaction and quality of life outcomes following surgery, many studies only draw on small samples, and most studies do not allow for causal conclusions. Further, few studies have compared surgical outcomes between transgender women and men. We conclude by offering concrete suggestions for future research.

Performer Roles and Behaviors in Dyadic Sexually Explicit Media Featuring Men Who Have Sex with Men.

Heterosexual gender roles are not directly relevant to gay romantic relationships, but gay men often take on different relationship roles depending on their sexual roles. In the present paper, we argue that gay men might draw on sexually explicit media (SEM) featuring men who have sex with men (MSM) to get information about how insertive sexual partners ("tops") and receptive sexual partners ("bottoms") typically behave. For this to be the case, however, we would have to reliably observe different behavior in SEM performers acting as tops vs. bottoms. We examined 220 of the most viewed online dyadic MSM SEM videos to determine whether performed verbal and physical intimacy, victimization, and sexual behaviors depended on the sexual role taken. We found that tops and bottoms engaged in similar amounts of intimacy behaviors, but that bottoms were depicted as initiating sexual activity more than tops. Tops enacted physical and psychological victimization more than bottoms, although these behaviors were rare. Tops were shown taking the insertive role across all sexual acts and versatile performers (i.e., those taking both insertive and receptive roles) were rarely depicted. The present study adds to the literature about the complexity of sexual-self-labels, and suggests that MSM SEM depictions of intimacy and sexual decision-making depend on the sexual role taken.

An Investigation of the Relationship Between Cross-Race Friendships and Attraction.

Four studies investigated the link between cross-race friendships and attraction. In Study 1, White Australian participants (N = 240) who reported friendships with racial outgroup members were more likely to report attraction to the members of the racial group their friends belonged to. Studies 2a (N = 300 White American participants) and 2b (N = 303 White British participants) showed that experiences of cross-race non-verbal intimacy, perceived cross-race reciprocity in attraction, positive perceived ingroup norms about dating cross-racially, and warmth toward the racial outgroup were particularly important in explaining the friendship-attraction link in majority samples. Study 3 (N = 292 Black British participants) showed that in addition to the mediators above, self-disclosure was key to explaining the friendship-attraction link for racial minority group members. These findings extend the contact literature by exploring the specificity and mediators of the link between contact and attraction in the context of race relations.

Political attitude change over time following COVID-19 lockdown: Rallying effects and differences between left and right voters.

Restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 have required widespread compliance over long periods, but citizens' attitudes to these often change over time. Here, we examine the time course of political attitudes in New Zealand over the months before and after the announcement of the country's first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 using a large-scale national survey (Ns = 41,831-42,663). Government satisfaction increased immediately following the lockdown announcement and remained elevated 5 months later. Trust in institutions and political efficacy also increased gradually over the same period. However, these trends varied by political party vote: Compared to center-left voters who supported the largest governing party, center-right voters who supported the opposition party returned to baseline levels of government satisfaction quicker and showed more pronounced dips in their satisfaction with the economy. These same attitudes also predicted compliance with COVID-19 guidelines. Results illustrate a rally-around-the-flag effect during the pandemic and suggest that support wanes faster among center-right (opposition party) voters.

Asexual Identity, Personality, and Social Motivations in a New Zealand National Sample.

Growing research interest in asexuality has led to several notable findings around the differences between asexual people and those with other sexual orientations. These findings have recently extended to personality, but questions remain around differences in personality between asexual people and others. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative research disagrees about whether asexual people are less interested in close relationships than others. This paper used data from a nationally representative sample of self-identified asexual participants (Analysis 1: nwomen = 216, nmen = 54, ngender diverse = 13; Analysis 2: nwomen = 53, nmen = 19, ngender diverse = 3) and matched samples of heterosexual and lesbian, gay, and bisexual/plurisexual (LGB) participants (N's = 75-283) drawn from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (Ns = 19,396-54,183) to explore personality (Analysis 1) and approach and avoidance social motivations (Analysis 2). Compared to heterosexuals, asexual participants reported significantly lower extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and higher emotionality, openness, and honesty-humility. Compared to those who identified as LGB, asexual participants reported significantly lower extraversion and agreeableness and higher honesty-humility. In addition, asexual participants scored significantly lower on approach (but not avoidance) social motivation than both heterosexual and LGB participants, indicating that they are less motivated to enhance positive experiences and behavior in their social relationships. These results help to clarify how personality and social motivations covary with sexual identity.

Investigating perceived heritability of mental health disorders and attitudes toward genetic testing in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Our beliefs about the heritability of psychiatric traits may influence how we respond to the use of genetic information in this area. In the present study, we aim to inform future education campaigns as well as genetic counseling interventions by exploring common fears and misunderstandings associated with learning about genetic predispositions for mental health disorders. We surveyed 3,646 genetic research participants from Australia, and 960 members of the public from the United Kingdom, and the United States, and evaluated attitudes toward psychiatric genetic testing. Participants were asked hypothetical questions about their interest in psychiatric genetic testing, perceived usefulness of psychiatric genetic testing, and beliefs about malleability of behavior, among others. We also asked them to estimate the heritability of alcohol dependence, schizophrenia, and major depression. We found a high interest in psychiatric genetic testing. In most cases, more than a third of the participants showed serious concerns related to learning about personal genetic predisposition, such as not wanting to have children if they knew they had a high genetic predisposition, or not wanting to choose a partner with a high genetic predisposition for a mental health problem. Finally, we found a significant association between most participants' attitudes and their lay estimates of heritability, which highlights the complexity of educating the public about genetics.

Weight stigma and obesity-related policies: A systematic review of the state of the literature.

Weight stigma is an important issue colliding with obesity-related policies; both have population health and social impacts. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature that combined the concepts of stigma, obesity, and policy. We searched PsycINFO, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar for peer-reviewed articles amalgamating terms relevant to stigma, obesity, and policy. Of 3219 records identified, 47 were included in the narrative synthesis. Two key types of studies emerged: studies investigating factors associated with support for obesity-related policies and those exploring policy implementation and evaluation. We found that support for nonstigmatizing obesity-related policies was higher when obesity was attributed as an environmental rather than individual problem. An undercurrent theme suggested that views that blame individuals for their obesity were associated with support for punitive policies for people living in larger bodies. Real-world policies often implicitly condoned stigma through poor language choice and conflicting discourse. Our findings inform recommendations for policy makers that broader socioecological stigma-reduction approaches are needed to fully address the issue of weight stigma in obesity-related policies. Efforts are needed in the research and policy sectors to understand how to improve the design and support of nonstigmatizing obesity-related policies.

Body dissatisfaction in midlife women: The applicability of the tripartite influence model.

Body image issues and disordered eating are relatively under-researched areas within midlife populations. Accordingly, this study investigated the applicability of the Tripartite Influence Model (TIM) to midlife women. In an online survey, predominately Australian female participants (N = 206) aged 40-55 years (M = 46.75, SD = 4.54) completed measures related to sociocultural pressures, thin-ideal internalisation, appearance comparison, body dissatisfaction, bulimic symptoms, restrained eating, and psychological distress. Path analysis was used to evaluate the model. Greater peer and media pressure were associated with greater appearance comparison, which in turn was associated with greater thin-ideal internalisation, and through this greater body dissatisfaction. Similarly, greater body dissatisfaction was associated with greater restrained eating and bulimic symptoms, which in turn were associated with greater psychological distress. Unexpectedly, family pressure also emerged as an important direct predictor of outcomes, while sociocultural influences were not associated with thin-ideal internalisation, nor was family pressure associated with appearance comparison. Furthermore, appearance comparison was not associated with body dissatisfaction. Overall, the findings provide partial support for applicability of the TIM for midlife women and suggest practical implications such as targeted interventions that may assist body image disturbance and associated outcomes for midlife women.

Body image across the adult lifespan: A longitudinal investigation of developmental and cohort effects.

The current study examined patterns of normative change and cohort effects in body image across the male and female adult lifespan. Body satisfaction was assessed in longitudinal data spanning six years, from 2010 to 2015. Cohort sequential latent growth curve modelling was utilized to assess patterns of mean-level change due to both aging and cohort effects in 15,264 participants (62.9 % women) aged between 18-94 years (M = 46.55, SD = 14.24). Results demonstrated a very slight increase in body satisfaction across the lifespan for both men and women. Cohort effects demonstrated that for women aged 54 years and below, all but two cohorts (24-29 and 34-39 years) displayed an upward trajectory in their body satisfaction over the 5-year period of assessment. No consistent cohort effects were evident for men. Finally, men, relative to women, consistently displayed higher levels of body satisfaction across the lifespan. This study provides insights into the trajectory of body image across the lifespan for men and women. The findings also suggest recent (cohort) improvements in body image for women, and potential explanations for this unexpected shift are discussed.

The cosmetic surgery paradox: Toward a contemporary understanding of cosmetic surgery popularisation and attitudes.

Modern women feel compelled to meet near-impossible standards of beauty. For many, this pursuit ultimately culminates in cosmetic surgery - a radical form of beautification that is rapidly becoming popular worldwide. Paradoxically, while prevalent, artificial beauty remains widely unaccepted in contemporary society. This narrative review synthesizes feminist dialogue, recent research, and real-world case studies to argue that female beauty standards account for both the growing popularity of cosmetic surgery and its lack of mainstream acceptance. First, we implicate unrealistic beauty standards and the medicalization of appearance in popularizing cosmetic surgery. Second, we analyze how negative attitudes toward cosmetic surgery are also motivated by unrealistic beauty standards. Finally, we generate a synthesized model of the processes outlined in this review and provide testable predictions for future studies based on this model. Our review is the first to integrate theoretical and empirical evidence into a cohesive narrative that explains the cosmetic surgery paradox; that is, how cosmetic surgery remains secretive, stigmatized, and moralized despite its surging popularity.

Resolving the small-pockets problem helps clarify the role of education and political ideology in shaping vaccine scepticism.

Understanding the factors associated with vaccine scepticism is challenging because of the 'small-pockets' problem: The number of highly vaccine-sceptical people is low, and small subsamples such as these can be missed using traditional regression approaches. To overcome this problem, the current study (N = 5,200) used latent profile analysis to uncover six profiles, including two micro-communities of vaccine-sceptical people who have the potential to jeopardize vaccine-led herd immunity. The most vaccine-sceptical group (1.14%) was highly educated and expressed strong liberal tendencies. This group was also the most sceptical about genetically modified crops and nuclear energy, and most likely to receive news about science from the Internet. The second-most vaccine-sceptical group (3.4%) was young, poorly educated, and politically extreme (both left and right). In resolving the small-pockets problem, the current analyses also help reconcile competing theoretical perspectives about the role of education and political ideology in shaping anti-vaccination views.

The relationship between ingroup identity and Paranoid ideation among people from African and African Caribbean backgrounds.

OBJECTIVES: People from ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of paranoid delusions compared with people from ethnic majority groups. Identifying with social groups has been shown to protect against mental health symptoms; however, no studies have investigated the relationship between social identification and paranoia in ethnic minority populations. Here, we investigated the association between British identification and paranoia in a sample of people from African and African Caribbean backgrounds living in the United Kingdom. We also assessed the role of potential mediating (self-esteem and locus of control) and moderating (contact with White British people) factors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional quantitative survey design. METHODS: We recruited 335 people from African and African Caribbean backgrounds who completed online self-report measures of identification with Great Britain, self-esteem, locus of control, positive and negative contact with White British people, and paranoia. RESULTS: A parallel moderated mediation model indicated that British identification was associated with lower paranoia when participants experienced primarily positive contact with White British people. British identification was associated with higher paranoia when participants had primarily negative contact with White British people. Both effects were mediated by changes in locus of control, but self-esteem was not implicated in either pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Identification with the majority culture is associated both positively and negatively with paranoid beliefs depending on the types of social interactions people experience. The findings have implications for preventative social prescribing initiatives and for understanding the causes of the high rates of psychosis in ethnic minority populations. PRACTITIONER POINTS: People from African and African Caribbean backgrounds experience high rates of paranoia, which may stem from social causes such as lack of belonging and negative social experiences. Among people from African backgrounds living in the UK, British identification is associated with lower paranoia when people's social experiences with White British people are positive and higher paranoia when their social experiences with White British people are negative. It is recommended that social interventions designed to reduce paranoia in vulnerable groups foster positive social contact and community belonging, which should enhance feelings of personal control. Understanding the complex interplay between social identity and social contact in the development of paranoia may help therapists and researchers better understand the phenomenology and risk factors of paranoid symptomology.