Close encounters
Matchmaking Promotes Happiness
Lalin Anik & Michael Norton
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Four studies document and explore the psychology underlying people's proclivity to connect people to each other - to play "matchmaker." First, Study 1 shows that chronic matchmaking is associated with higher well-being. Studies 2 and 3 show that matching others on how well they will get along increases happiness and is more intrinsically rewarding than other tasks (e.g., deciding which people would not get along). Study 4 investigates a moderator of the rewarding nature of matchmaking: the type of connection. We show that bridging ties are relatively more attractive than bonding ties: The more unlikely the match, the more rewarding it is. Taken together, these studies provide correlational and causal evidence for the role of matchmaking in promoting happiness.
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Predicting Individual Behavior with Social Networks
Sharad Goel & Daniel Goldstein
Marketing Science, January-February 2014, Pages 82-93
Abstract:
With the availability of social network data, it has become possible to relate the behavior of individuals to that of their acquaintances on a large scale. Although the similarity of connected individuals is well established, it is unclear whether behavioral predictions based on social data are more accurate than those arising from current marketing practices. We employ a communications network of over 100 million people to forecast highly diverse behaviors, from patronizing an off-line department store to responding to advertising to joining a recreational league. Across all domains, we find that social data are informative in identifying individuals who are most likely to undertake various actions, and moreover, such data improve on both demographic and behavioral models. There are, however, limits to the utility of social data. In particular, when rich transactional data were available, social data did little to improve prediction.
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Natural gaze signaling in a social context
David Wu, Walter Bischof & Alan Kingstone
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Evolutionary theory, augmented by a vast literature on gaze cuing and gaze following, suggests that the unique high-contrast morphology of the human eye evolved for rapid and silent communication between conspecifics. While this theory rests on the fundamental idea that humans use their eyes to signal information, empirical studies have focused exclusively on the effects of gaze cues on human receivers. In a series of three experiments we examined the other side of the communication dynamic by investigating if, and when, humans signal gaze information to other humans in a natural, but controlled, situation involving food consumption. First, we established that there is a normative behavior to look away when someone begins to bite. Second, we found that participants were significantly more likely to look down at their food before taking a bite when they were eating with another person versus alone. Lastly, we found that in pairs where a social connection has been established, when one person looks down signaling that a bite is forthcoming, the other person tends to look away. These results demonstrate that natural gaze signaling occurs in the context of eating, and it can, dependent on the relationship between the pair, trigger a gaze response that is different from gaze following. Our study shows that natural social attention between individuals is a two-way street, where each person can signal and read gaze information, consistent with the idea that human eye morphology evolved to facilitate communication between conspecifics.
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Ursa Nagler et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Potential "darker sides" of socio-emotional intelligence (SEI) have been repeatedly noted. We examine whether SEI is associated with emotional manipulation of others when used by dark personalities (Dark Triad: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy). In N = 594 participants, narcissism was positively, Machiavellianism negatively, and psychopathy positively and negatively associated with SEI. Moreover, narcissism and psychopathy moderated links between facets of emotional intelligence and emotional manipulation. Findings are discussed in context of a "dark intelligence" used for malicious intents.
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Interoceptive sensitivity predicts sensitivity to the emotions of others
Yuri Terasawa et al.
Cognition & Emotion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Some theories of emotion emphasise a close relationship between interoception and subjective experiences of emotion. In this study, we used facial expressions to examine whether interoceptive sensibility modulated emotional experience in a social context. Interoceptive sensibility was measured using the heartbeat detection task. To estimate individual emotional sensitivity, we made morphed photos that ranged between a neutral and an emotional facial expression (i.e., anger, sadness, disgust and happy). Recognition rates of particular emotions from these photos were calculated and considered as emotional sensitivity thresholds. Our results indicate that participants with accurate interoceptive awareness are sensitive to the emotions of others, especially for expressions of sadness and happy. We also found that false responses to sad faces were closely related with an individual's degree of social anxiety. These results suggest that interoceptive awareness modulates the intensity of the subjective experience of emotion and affects individual traits related to emotion processing.
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It's the Attention That Counts: Interpersonal Attention Fosters Intimacy and Social Exchange
Yohsuke Ohtsubo et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Human friendship poses an evolutionary puzzle, since people behave more generously toward their friends than the tit-for-tat strategy stipulates. A possible explanation is that people selectively behave in a generous manner toward their true friends, but not toward fair-weather friends. Social psychological studies have suggested that people use a partner's attentiveness toward them as a cue to distinguish these two types of friends. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that people would increase their intimacy with a partner who was attentive to them. This hypothesis was tested by disentangling the frequent confounding between a partner's attention and the benefits provided by the attentive partner in two scenario experiments (Studies 1a and 1b) and three laboratory experiments (Studies 2a to 2c). In Study 1, a partner's attentiveness was manipulated independently of the benefit provided by the partner. In Study 2, the partner's attention was experimentally dissociated from any potential benefit. These studies consistently showed that the participants increased their intimacy with a partner when they received attention from the partner. This result implies that models of the evolution of friendship must incorporate information exchange regarding the valuation of the relationship, as well as the exchange of fitness-related costs and benefits.
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Rebecca Kauten & Christopher Barry
Personality and Individual Differences, April-May 2014, Pages 69-73
Abstract:
The association between narcissism and aggression has been empirically supported in adults and adolescents, but it is unclear whether narcissism might also be related to prosocial behavior. The present study investigated this issue using self- and peer-informants. Participants were 183 adolescents ages 16-19 (159 males, 24 females; 64.5% Caucasian). Of these participants, 126 (104 males, 22 females) also had peer-reported data available. Self-reported pathological narcissism was positively correlated with self-reports of both prosocial behavior and aggression, but it was not associated with peer nominations of either type of behavior. These findings indicate that adolescents with high levels of narcissism may attempt to bolster their social status by reporting engagement in both prosocial behavior and aggression. However, it appears that such individuals are ineffective at being perceived as prosocial by peers.
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Pride attenuates nonconscious mimicry
Leah Dickens & David DeSteno
Emotion, February 2014, Pages 7-11
Abstract:
Positive affect has been associated with increased nonconscious mimicry - an association that is quite logical given ties between positive mood and desires for social bonding. Yet positive emotions vary with respect to function, leading to the prediction that not all positive states might similarly increase mimicry. Pride, due to its association with higher status and self-focus, could be expected to attenuate affiliative behaviors such as mimicry. Participants in the present study were induced to experience one of three affective states (neutral, pride, general positivity), after which they interacted with a confederate who expressed a specific, neutral nonverbal behavior (i.e., foot shaking). Supporting past research, participants experiencing general positive affect evidenced greater mimicry as compared to participants in a neutral mood. In accord with predictions, participants experiencing pride mimicked the confederate's behavior significantly less than did those experiencing general positive affect or a neutral state. Regression analyses also confirmed that increasing intensities of pride predicted decreasing mimicry.
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Julie Lounds Taylor, Leann Smith & Marsha Mailick
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examined the bidirectional relations over time between behavioral functioning (autism symptoms, maladaptive behaviors, activities of daily living) and vocational/educational activities of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Participants were 153 adults with ASD (M age = 30.2 years) who were part of a larger longitudinal study. Data were collected at two time points separated by 5.5 years. Cross-lag models were used, which accounted for stability over time while testing both directions of cross-lagged effects. Results suggested that greater vocational independence and engagement was related to subsequent reductions in autism symptoms and maladaptive behaviors, and improvements in activities of daily living. Relations between earlier behavioral variables (symptoms, behaviors, and activities of daily living) and later vocational independence were not statistically significant.
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OT promotes closer interpersonal distance among highly empathic individuals
Anat Perry, David Mankuta & Simone Shamay-Tsoory
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
The space between people, or interpersonal distance, creates and defines the dynamics of social interactions and is a salient cue signaling responsiveness and feeling comfortable. This distance is implicit yet clearly felt, especially if someone stands closer or farther away than expected. Increasing evidence suggests that Oxytocin (OT) serves as a social hormone in humans, and that one of its roles may be to alter the perceptual salience of social cues. Considering that empathic ability may shape the way individuals process social stimuli, we predicted that OT will differentially affect preferred interpersonal distance depending on individual differences in empathy. Participants took part in two interpersonal distance experiments: In the first, they had to stop a (computer visualized) protagonist when feeling most comfortable; in the second they were asked to choose the room in which they would later discuss intimate topics with another. Both experiments revealed an interaction between the effect of OT and empathy level. Among highly empathic individuals, OT promoted the choice of closer interpersonal distances. Yet OT had an opposite effect on individuals with low empathic traits. We conclude that the enhancement of social cues following OT administration may have opposite effects on individuals with different empathic abilities.
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Matthew Easterbrook & Vivian Vignoles
British Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite its omnipresence, the influence of the built environment on human psychology is not well understood. In a five-wave longitudinal study, we investigated whether physical design features within shared student accommodation predicted the frequency of coincidental meetings between new flatmates, and whether these meetings predicted the strength of their interpersonal bonds and psychological well-being. Multilevel latent growth modelling on responses from 462 new university residents supported our hypotheses: Respondents living in flats with design features that encouraged the use of communal areas - a shared common area and an absence of ensuite toilets - reported unintentionally meeting their flatmates more frequently within their flats. This in turn predicted the initial strength of their interpersonal bonds with their flatmates, which in turn positively predicted their well-being. These effects were maintained throughout the 10-week study. Our findings provide an empirical basis for the development of shared housing designed to foster positive relationships and well-being among residents.