Attitudes toward children: Distinguishing affection and stress.

BACKGROUND: Adults' views and behaviors toward children can vary from being supportive to shockingly abusive, and there are significant unanswered questions about the psychological factors underpinning this variability. OBJECTIVE: The present research examined the content of adults' attitudes toward children to address these questions. METHOD: Ten studies (N = 4702) identified the factor structure of adults' descriptions of babies, toddlers, and school-age children and examined how the resulting factors related to a range of external variables. RESULTS: Two factors emerged-affection toward children and stress elicited by them-and this factor structure was invariant across the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa. Affection uniquely captures emotional approach tendencies, concern for others, and broad positivity in evaluations, experiences, motivations, and donation behavior. Stress relates to emotional instability, emotional avoidance, and concern about disruptions to a self-oriented, structured life. The factors also predict distinct experiences in a challenging situation-home-parenting during COVID-19 lockdown-with affection explaining greater enjoyment and stress explaining greater perceived difficulty. Affection further predicts mentally visualizing children as pleasant and confident, whereas stress predicts mentally visualizing children as less innocent. CONCLUSIONS: These findings offer fundamental new insights about social cognitive processes in adults that impact adult-child relationships and children's well-being.

Exploring the roles of human values and self-discrepancies in postnatal depression in first-time mothers.

OBJECTIVES: Postnatal depression is the most prevalent psychopathology experienced within the perinatal period and has been associated with a range of adverse outcomes for both mother and infant. In the present research, we combine two influential theories, Schwartz's theory of human values and Higgins' self-discrepancy theory (SDT), to test new hypotheses about postnatal depression. METHODS: We recruited 80 first-time mothers who had given birth within the last 6 months and who self-reported experiencing low mood or postnatal depression. Participants anonymously completed measures of postnatal depression, value importance, self-discrepancies, and subjective value fulfillment. RESULTS: Contrary to our hypotheses, actual-ought self-discrepancies, but not actual-ideal self-discrepancies, predicted postnatal depression. Interestingly however, self-discrepancies were negatively correlated with value fulfillment. The findings within this study diverge from the relation predicted within SDT and highlight how motherhood may represent a unique circumstance, in which the "ideal self" has evolved to become a self that one feels morally obligated to embody. Further exploratory analyses revealed that depression was predicted by the difference between value fulfillment and value importance in conservation values, but not by differences between value fulfillment and value importance regarding any of the other value types. DISCUSSION: We discuss potential impact on discourses around motherhood, alongside clinical implications for practitioners who work with mothers during the perinatal period.

Value fulfillment and well-being: Clarifying directions over time.

OBJECTIVE: We investigate for the first time in a 9-day diary study whether fulfilling one's values predicts well-being or whether well-being predicts value fulfillment over time. BACKGROUND: The empirical associations between the importance of human values to individuals and their well-being are typically weak and inconsistent. More recently, value fulfillment (i.e., acting in line with one's values) has shown to be more strongly correlated with well-being. METHOD: The present research goes beyond past research by integrating work from clinical, personality, and social psychology to model associations between value fulfillment and positive and negative aspects of well-being over time. RESULTS: Across a nine-day diary study involving 1434 observations (N = 184), we found that people who were able to fulfill their self-direction values reported more positive well-being on the next day, and those who fulfilled their hedonism values reported less negative well-being on the next day. Conversely, people who reported more positive well-being were more able to fulfill their achievement, stimulation, and self-direction values on the next day, and those who reported more negative well-being were less able to fulfill their achievement values. Importantly, these effects were consistent across three countries/regions (EU/UK, India, Türkiye), the importance people attributed to values, period of the week, and their prestudy well-being. CONCLUSION: These results help to understand the fundamental interconnections between values and well-being while also having relevance to clinical practice.

Values in Romantic Relationships.

There are substantive theoretical questions about whether personal values affect romantic relationship functioning. The current research tested the association between personal values and romantic relationship quality while considering potential mediating mechanisms related to pro-relational attitudes, communal strength, intrinsic relationship motivation, and entitlement. Across five studies using different measures of value priorities, we found that the endorsement of self-transcendence values (i.e., benevolence, universalism) was related to higher romantic relationship quality. The findings provided support for the mediating roles of pro-relational attitudes, communal strength, and intrinsic relationship motivation. Finally, a dyadic analysis in our fifth study showed that self-transcendence values mostly influence a person's own relationship quality but not that of their partner. These findings provide the first evidence that personal values are important variables in romantic relationship functioning while helping to map the mechanisms through which this role occurs.

Using self-affirmation to increase intellectual humility in debate.

Intellectual humility, which entails openness to other views and a willingness to listen and engage with them, is crucial for facilitating civil dialogue and progress in debate between opposing sides. In the present research, we tested whether intellectual humility can be reliably detected in discourse and experimentally increased by a prior self-affirmation task. Three hundred and three participants took part in 116 audio- and video-recorded group discussions. Blind to condition, linguists coded participants' discourse to create an intellectual humility score. As expected, the self-affirmation task increased the coded intellectual humility, as well as participants' self-rated prosocial affect (e.g. empathy). Unexpectedly, the effect on prosocial affect did not mediate the link between experimental condition and intellectual humility in debate. Self-reported intellectual humility and other personality variables were uncorrelated with expert-coded intellectual humility. Implications of these findings for understanding the social psychological mechanisms underpinning intellectual humility are considered.

Neural coding of human values is underpinned by brain areas representing the core self in the cortical midline region.

The impact of human values on our choices depends on their nature. Self-Transcendence values motivate us to act for the benefit of others and care for the environment. Self-Enhancement values motivate us to act for our benefit. The present study examines differences in the neural processes underlying these two value domains. Extending our previous research, we used fMRI to explore first of all neural correlates of Self-Transcendence vs Self-Enhancement values, with a particular focus on the putative role of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), which has been linked to a self-transcendent mind-set. Additionally, we investigated the neural basis of Openness to Change vs Conservation values. We asked participants to reflect on and rate values as guiding principles in their lives while undergoing fMRI. Mental processing of Self-Transcendence values was associated with higher brain activity in the dorsomedial (BA9, BA8) and ventromedial (BA10) prefrontal cortices, as compared to Self-Enhancement values. The former involved activation and the latter deactivation of those regions. We did not detect differences in brain activation between Openness to Change vs Conservation values. Self-Transcendence values thus shared brain regions with social processes that have previously been linked to a self-transcendent mind-set, and the "core self" representation.

Well-being as a function of person-country fit in human values.

It is often assumed that incongruence between individuals' values and those of their country is distressing, but the evidence has been mixed. Across 29 countries, the present research investigated whether well-being is higher if people's values match with those of people living in the same country or region. Using representative samples, we find that person-country and person-region value congruence predict six well-being measures (e.g., emotional well-being, relationship support; N = 54,673). Crucially, however, value type moderates whether person-country fit is positively or negatively associated with well-being. People who value self-direction, stimulation, and hedonism more and live in countries and regions where people on average share these values report lower well-being. In contrast, people who value achievement, power, and security more and live in countries and regions where people on average share these values, report higher well-being. Additionally, we find that people who moderately value stimulation report the highest well-being.

The importance of (shared) human values for containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an exceptional challenge for humanity. Because public behaviour is key to curbing the pandemic at an early stage, it is important for social psychological researchers to use their knowledge to promote behaviours that help manage the crisis. Here, we identify human values as particularly important in driving both behavioural compliance to government guidelines and promoting prosocial behaviours to alleviate the strains arising from a prolonged pandemic. Existing evidence demonstrates the importance of human values, and the extent to which they are shared by fellow citizens, for tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Individuals who attach higher importance to self-transcendence (e.g., responsibility) and conservation (e.g., security) values are likely to be more compliant with COVID-19 behavioural guidelines and to help others who are struggling with the crisis. Further, believing that fellow citizens share one's values has been found to elicit a sense of connectedness that may be crucial in promoting collective efforts to contain the pandemic. The abstract nature of values, and cross-cultural agreement on their importance, suggests that they are ideally suited to developing and tailoring effective, global interventions to combat this pandemic.

Correction to: Timing rather than user traits mediates mood sampling on smartphones.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Sense or sensibility? The neuro-functional basis of the structural matching effect in persuasion.

The present study investigates the neural pathways underlying individual susceptibility to affective or cognitive information in persuasive communication, also known as the structural matching effect. Expanding on the presumed involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) in persuasion, we hypothesized that the vMPFC contributes to the evaluation of persuasive information depending on its match with the recipient's affective or cognitive predominance. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 30 participants evaluated 10 consumable products presented with both affective and cognitive persuasive messages. All participants were characterized on a continuum regarding their personal orientation in terms of individual differences in need for affect (NFA) and need for cognition (NFC). The results showed that the vMPFC, posterior cingulate cortex, and cerebellum are more strongly activated when the persuasive message content, either affective or cognitive, matched the recipient's individual affective or cognitive orientation. Interestingly, this effect in the vMPFC was found specifically when participants evaluated the products presented by the persuasive messages, whereas the correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex and cerebellum activity was detected when reading the messages. These results confirm the hypothesis that the vMPFC plays a role in subjectively weighting persuasive message content depending on individual differences in affective and cognitive orientation. Such a structural matching effect might involve the vMPFC particularly during explicit expressions of subjective valuations. These novel findings also further develop the conceptualization of the role of the vMPFC in self-related processing.

Anti-immigrant prejudice: Understanding the roles of (perceived) values and value dissimilarity.

Although human values and value dissimilarity play pivotal roles in the prejudice literature, there remain important gaps in our understanding. To address these gaps, we recruited three British samples (N = 350) and presented Muslim immigrants, refugees, and economic migrants as target groups. Using polynomial regression analyses, we simultaneously tested effects of individuals' own values, their perceptions of immigrant values, and self-immigrant value dissimilarities on prejudice. Results indicated that favorability toward immigrants is higher when individuals hold higher self-transcendence values (e.g., equality) and lower self-enhancement values (e.g., power), and when they perceive immigrants to hold higher self-transcendence values and lower self-enhancement values. In addition, prejudice toward immigrants is higher when individuals who hold higher conservation values (e.g., security) perceive immigrants to value openness (e.g., freedom) more, suggesting a value dissimilarity effect. No value dissimilarity effects emerged when immigrants were perceived to be higher in conservation, self-transcendence, or self-enhancement values. Overall, these results showed that effects of values and value dissimilarity differ depending on which value dimension is considered. Additionally, the results revealed support for a novel mechanism with the motivation to be nonprejudiced underpinning the links between individuals' values and prejudice. Our discussion highlights the multifaceted manner in which values are linked to prejudice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

A new way to look at the data: Similarities between groups of people are large and important.

Most published research focuses on describing differences, while neglecting similarities that are arguably at least as interesting and important. In Study 1, we modified and extended prior procedures for describing similarities and demonstrate the importance of this exercise by examining similarities between groups on 22 social variables (e.g., moral attitudes, human values, and trust) within 6 commonly used social categories: gender, age, education, income, nation of residence, and religious denomination (N = 86,272). On average, the amount of similarity between 2 groups (e.g., high vs. low educated or different countries) was greater than 90%. Even large effect sizes revealed more similarities than differences between groups. Studies 2-5 demonstrated the importance of presenting information about similarity in research reports. Compared with the typical presentation of differences (e.g., barplots with confidence intervals), similarity information led to more accurate lay perceptions and to more positive attitudes toward an outgroup. Barplots with a restricted y-axis led to a gross underestimation of similarities (i.e., a gross overestimation of the differences), and information about similarities was rated as more comprehensible. Overall, the presentation of similarity information achieves more balanced scientific communication and may help address the file drawer problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

An Empirical Comparison of Human Value Models.

Over the past century, various value models have been proposed. To determine which value model best predicts prosocial behavior, mental health, and pro-environmental behavior, we subjected seven value models to a hierarchical regression analysis. A sample of University students (N = 271) completed the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2012), the Basic Value Survey (Gouveia et al., 2008), and the Social Value Orientation scale (Van Lange et al., 1997). Additionally, they completed the Values Survey Module (Hofstede and Minkov, 2013), Inglehart's (1977) materialism-postmaterialism items, the Study of Values, fourth edition (Allport et al., 1960; Kopelman et al., 2003), and the Rokeach (1973) Value Survey. However, because the reliability of the latter measures was low, only the PVQ-RR, the BVS, and the SVO where entered into our analysis. Our results provide empirical evidence that the PVQ-RR is the strongest predictor of all three outcome variables, explaining variance above and beyond the other two instruments in almost all cases. The BVS significantly predicted prosocial and pro-environmental behavior, while the SVO only explained variance in pro-environmental behavior.

The effect of self-focus on personal and social foraging behaviour.

The continuous balancing of the risks and benefits of exploiting known options or exploring new opportunities is essential to human life. We forage for new opportunities when they are deemed to be more attractive than the available option, but this decision to forage also entails costs. People differ in their propensity to exploit or forage, and both the social circumstances and our individual value orientations are likely influences. Here, participants made foraging decisions for themselves and for a charity of their choice in two paradigms: one that features two distinct modes of decision-making (foraging vs classical economic decision-making) and one which is more directly related to the classical animal foraging and ethology literature. Across both paradigms, individuals who possessed a stronger self-focused value orientation obtained more rewards when they were allowed to forage for themselves rather than the charity. Neuroimaging during the tasks revealed that this effect was associated with activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in that more self-focused individuals showed lower activity in dACC for the self-condition relative to the other condition. This evidence reveals a dynamic interplay between foraging outcomes and the higher-order value system of individuals.

Cross-Cultural Differences and Similarities in Human Value Instantiation.

Previous research found that the within-country variability of human values (e.g., equality and helpfulness) clearly outweighs between-country variability. Across three countries (Brazil, India, and the United Kingdom), the present research tested in student samples whether between-nation differences reside more in the behaviors used to concretely instantiate (i.e., exemplify or understand) values than in their importance as abstract ideals. In Study 1 (N = 630), we found several meaningful between-country differences in the behaviors that were used to concretely instantiate values, alongside high within-country variability. In Study 2 (N = 677), we found that participants were able to match instantiations back to the values from which they were derived, even if the behavior instantiations were spontaneously produced only by participants from another country or were created by us. Together, these results support the hypothesis that people in different nations can differ in the behaviors that are seen as typical as instantiations of values, while holding similar ideas about the abstract meaning of the values and their importance.

Questionário de Necessidade de Emoções (NAQ-S): Validade de Construto, Invariância e Fidedignidade / Need for Affect Questionnaire (NAQ-S): Construct Validity, Invariance and Reliability / Cuestionario de Necesidad de Emóciones (NAQ-S): Validez de Constructo, Invariancia y Fiabilidad

Dois estudos (N = 457) examinaram as propriedades psicométricas da versão reduzida do Questionário de Necessidade de Emoções (Need for Affect Questionnaire: NAQ-S) no contexto brasileiro. No primeiro estudo, uma análise de componentes principais indicou uma estrutura bifatorial, com cinco itens cada: aproximação (α = 0,70) e evitação (α = 0,75). Confirmou-se essa estrutura no segundo estudo (GFI = 0,92; CFI = 0,90), mostrando-se invariante quanto ao sexo. Para verificar os correlatos do NAQ-S, utilizou-se, nos dois estudos, medidas que visam avaliar os valores humanos, a solidão e a necessidade de pertença, além dos cinco fatores da personalidade no segundo estudo. Os resultados demonstraram que uma maior necessidade de emoção foi associada com maior extroversão, maiores escores em valores de experimentação e interativos, e escores mais baixos de solidão. Os estudos apresentam suporte de validade do NAQ-S no Brasil, mostrando sua utilidade para fins de pesquisa.(AU)

Two studies (N=457) examined the psychometric properties of the short version of the Need for Affect Questionnaire (NAQS) in the Brazilian context. In the first study, a principal components analysis indicated a two-factor structure, with five items each: approach (α= .70) and avoidance (α= .75). This structure was confirmed in the second study (GFI= .92; CFI= .90), and it was invariant across gender. To verify the correlates of NAQ-S, we used measures to evaluate the human values, loneliness and need to belong in both studies, besides the five personality factors in the second study. The results showed that higher need for affect was associated with higher extraversion, higher scores in excitement and interactive values, and with lower loneliness scores. The studies support the validity of the NAQ-S in Brazil, showing its usefulness for research purposes.(AU)

Dos estudios (N=457) examinaron las propriedades psicométricas de la versión reducida del Cuestionario de Necesidad de Emociones (Need for Affect Questionnaire; NAQ-S) en el contexto brasileño. En el primer estudio, un análisis de componentes principales indicó una estructura bifactorial, con cinco ítems cada una: aproximación (α = .70) y evitación (α = .75). Se confirmo esta estructura en el segundo estudio (GFI=.92; FCI=.90), mostrándose invariable con relación al sexo. Para verificar las correlaciones del NAQ-S, fue utilizado en ambos estudios medidas que tienden a evaluar los valores humanos, la soledad y la necesidad de pertenencia, además de evaluarse en el segundo estudio los cinco factores de personalidad. Los resultados mostraron que una mayor necesidad de emoción, fue asociada con mayor extraversión, con resultados mayores en valores de experimentación e interactivos, y resultados más bajos de soledad. Los estudios presentan apoyo de validez del NAQ-S en Brasil, mostrando su utilidad para fines de investigación.(AU)

Affective and Cognitive Orientations in Intergroup Perception.

Three studies examined the role of need for affect (NFA) and need for cognition (NFC) in intergroup perception. We hypothesized that NFA predicts a preference for stereotypically warm groups over stereotypically cold groups, whereas NFC predicts a preference for stereotypically competent groups over stereotypically incompetent groups. Study 1 supported these hypotheses for attitudes toward stereotypically ambivalent groups, which are stereotyped as high on one of the trait dimensions (e.g., high warmth) and low on the other (e.g., low competence), but not for stereotypically univalent groups, which are seen as high or low on both dimensions. Studies 2 and 3 replicated this pattern for stereotypically ambivalent groups, and yielded provocative evidence regarding several putative mechanisms underlying these associations. Together, these findings help integrate and extend past evidence on attitude-relevant individual differences with research on intergroup perception.

Timing rather than user traits mediates mood sampling on smartphones.

OBJECTIVE: Recent years have seen an increasing number of studies using smartphones to sample participants' mood states. Moods are usually collected by asking participants for their current mood or for a recollection of their mood states over a specific period of time. The current study investigates the reasons to favour collecting mood through current or daily mood surveys and outlines design recommendations for mood sampling using smartphones based on these findings. These recommendations are also relevant to more general smartphone sampling procedures. RESULTS: N=64 participants completed a series of surveys at the beginning and end of the study providing information such as gender, personality, or smartphone addiction score. Through a smartphone application, they reported their current mood 3 times and daily mood once per day for 8 weeks. We found that none of the examined intrinsic individual qualities had an effect on matches of current and daily mood reports. However timing played a significant role: the last followed by the first reported current mood of the day were more likely to match the daily mood. Current mood surveys should be preferred for a higher sampling accuracy, while daily mood surveys are more suitable if compliance is more important.

Effects of Promotion and Compunction Interventions on Real Intergroup Interactions: Promotion Helps but High Compunction Hurts.

HIGHLIGHTS  We show the promotion intervention has positive effects during intergroup contact, but that high levels of compunction can have negative effects. Intergroup contact is probably the longest standing and most comprehensively researched intervention to reduce discrimination. It is also part of ordinary social experience, and a key context in which discrimination is played out. In this paper, we explore two additional interventions which are also designed to reduce discrimination, but which have not yet been applied to real intergroup interactions. The promotion intervention encourages participants to relax and enjoy an interaction, while the compunction intervention motivates participants to avoid discrimination. Across two studies, we tested the separate effects of promotion (Study 1) and then compunction (Study 2) on participants' interactions with a confederate whom they believed to have a history of schizophrenia. In Study 1, participants received either a promotion intervention to "relax and have an enjoyable dialogue" or no intervention (control; n = 67). In Study 2, participants completed a Single-Category Implicit Attitude Test before being told that they were high in prejudice (high compunction condition) or low in prejudice (low compunction condition; n = 62). Results indicated that promotion was associated with broadly positive effects: participants reported more positive experience of the interaction (enjoyment and interest in a future interaction), and more positive evaluations of their contact partner (increased friendliness and reduced stereotyping). There were no effects on participants' reported intergroup anxiety. In contrast, high compunction had broadly negative effects: participants reported more negative experiences of the interaction and more negative evaluations of their contact partner (using the same dependent measures outlined above). In addition, participants in the high compunction condition reported increased intergroup anxiety and increased self-anxiety (anxiety around thinking or doing something that is prejudiced). Participants in the high compunction condition also reported reduced expectancies of self-efficacy (i.e., they were less confident that they would be able to make a good impression).

Does Spontaneous Favorability to Power (vs. Universalism) Values Predict Spontaneous Prejudice and Discrimination?

OBJECTIVE: We conducted five studies testing whether an implicit measure of favorability toward power over universalism values predicts spontaneous prejudice and discrimination. METHOD: Studies 1 (N = 192) and 2 (N = 86) examined correlations between spontaneous favorability toward power (vs. universalism) values, achievement (vs. benevolence) values, and a spontaneous measure of prejudice toward ethnic minorities. Study 3 (N = 159) tested whether conditioning participants to associate power values with positive adjectives and universalism values with negative adjectives (or inversely) affects spontaneous prejudice. Study 4 (N = 95) tested whether decision bias toward female handball players could be predicted by spontaneous attitude toward power (vs. universalism) values. Study 5 (N = 123) examined correlations between spontaneous attitude toward power (vs. universalism) values, spontaneous importance toward power (vs. universalism) values, and spontaneous prejudice toward Black African people. RESULTS: Spontaneous positivity toward power (vs. universalism) values was associated with spontaneous negativity toward minorities and predicted gender bias in a decision task, whereas the explicit measures did not. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the implicit assessment of evaluative responses attached to human values helps to model value-attitude-behavior relations.