Perception
Media usage diminishes memory for experiences
Diana Tamir et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, May 2018, Pages 161-168
Abstract:
People increasingly use social media to record and share their experiences, but it is unclear whether or how social media use changes those experiences. Here we present both naturalistic and controlled studies in which participants engage in an experience while using media to record or share their experiences with others, or not engaging with media. We collected objective measures of participants' experiences (scores on a surprise memory test) as well as subjective measures of participants' experiences (self-reports about their engagement and enjoyment). Across three studies, participants without media consistently remembered their experience more precisely than participants who used media. There is no conclusive evidence that media use impacted subjective measures of experience. Together, these findings suggest that using media may prevent people from remembering the very events they are attempting to preserve.
The impact of coffee-like scent on expectations and performance
Adriana Madzharov et al.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research explores the effect of an ambient coffee-like scent (versus no scent) on expectations regarding performance on an analytical reasoning task as well as on actual performance. We show that people in a coffee-scented (versus unscented) environment perform better on an analytical reasoning task due to heightened performance expectations (Study 1). We further show that people expect that being in a coffee-scented environment will increase their performance because they expect it will increase their physiological arousal level (Study 2). Our results thus demonstrate that a coffee-like scent (which actually contains no caffeine) can elicit a placebo effect.
Visual Darkness Reduces Perceived Risk of Contagious-Disease Transmission From Interpersonal Interaction
Ping Dong & Chen-Bo Zhong
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined the psychological impact of visual darkness on people's perceived risk of contagious-disease transmission. We posited that darkness triggers an abstract construal level and increases perceived social distance from others, rendering threats from others to seem less relevant to the self. We found that participants staying in a dimly lit room (Studies 1 and 3-5) or wearing sunglasses (Study 2) tended to estimate a lower risk of catching contagious diseases from others than did those staying in a brightly lit room or wearing clear glasses. The effect persisted in both laboratory (Studies 1-4) and real-life settings (Study 5). The effect arises because visual darkness elevates perceived social distance from the contagion (Study 3) and is attenuated among abstract (vs. concrete) thinkers (Study 4). These findings delineate a systematic, unconscious influence of visual darkness - a subtle yet pervasive situational factor - on perceived risk of contagion. Theoretical contributions and policy implications are discussed.
Out of debt, out of burden: The physical burdens of debt
Hong-Zhi Liu Shu Li & Li-Lin Rao
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, May 2018, Pages 155-160
Abstract:
Proverbs in different cultures describe being indebted as burdensome or a physical strain. To our knowledge, little research has examined the link between debt and burden. In the present work, we conducted five studies to examine the hypothesis that debt would lead to perceptual judgments of the environment as more forbidding and extreme in much the same manner as a physical burden. In Studies 1-3, we found that compared with the control condition, people in the debt condition threw beanbags farther, estimated the distance to be greater, and estimated the hills to be steeper. In study 4 we found that participants with student loan debt rated their subjective weight as heavier than participants without debt. In Study 5, we replicated the results of Study 3, which we pre-registered using the Open Science Framework. These findings provided the first evidence of the association between debt and physical burden and indicated that debts affect people similarly to physical burdens.
Seeing more and eating less: Effects of portion size granularity on the perception and regulation of food consumption
Neil Lewis & Allison Earl
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, May 2018, Pages 786-803
Abstract:
Overeating and resulting obesity is a public health concern in the United States, and portion size is a factor that contributes to these problems (Zlatevska, Dubelaar, & Holden, 2014). The present research demonstrates that the granularity of labels used to describe portions also influences food consumption, independent of previously documented portion size effects. Across 6 studies and 7 different food items, we find a robust and reliable effect of portion size granularity labels on consumption intentions and food consumption. Having people think about food using fine-grained labels leads them to decrease their consumption intentions (Study 1, n = 80) and ultimately eat less food (Study 2a, n = 79; Study 2b, n = 79). This process operates by shifting people's perceptions of the size of foods (rather than changing levels of construal) whereby portions described with fine-grained labels (e.g., "15 gummy candies") are perceived to be bigger than portions described with gross-grained labels (e.g., "one serving;" Study 3, n = 200). In addition, granularity facilitates self-regulation of consumption for individuals with a weight-loss goal both when self-regulation is measured (Study 4, n = 160) and when we manipulate that mediator (Study 5, n = 300). Finally, a high-powered registered report replicated effects of granularity on consumption via shifts in perception and intentions with a diverse community sample (Study 6, n = 323). Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
A Sweet Romance: Divergent Effects of Romantic Stimuli on the Consumption of Sweets
Xiaojing Yang et al.
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Drawing from research on food consumption, conceptual metaphors, and assimilation and contrast, we examine how exposure to romantic stimuli (e.g., watching a romantic ad, reading a romantic note) affects consumers' subsequent consumption of sweets. Across five experiments, we find that romantic stimuli exposure increases sweet food consumption among abstract thinkers but reduces sweet food intake among concrete thinkers. We also identify the moderating role of metaphor content on this finding such that the effects of romantic exposure on the consumption of sweets occur only when the metaphoric association between love and sweetness is highlighted but dissipate when a competing metaphor is accentuated.
Effects of androstadienone on dominance perception in males with low and high social anxiety
Amir Banner & Simone Shamay-Tsoory
Psychoneuroendocrinology, September 2018, Pages 138-144
Abstract:
Increasing evidence suggests that humans can communicate both trait-dominance and state-dominance via body odor. Androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one), a chemosignal found in human sweat, seems to be a likely candidate for signaling dominance in humans. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of androstadienone on the perception of social dominance. Moreover, we examined whether high levels of social anxiety, a psychopathology involving concerns that specifically pertain to social dominance, are associated with increased sensitivity to androstadienone as a chemical cue of dominance. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design, 64 heterosexual male participants (32 with high social anxiety and 32 with low social anxiety) viewed facial images of males depicting dominant, neutral and submissive postures, and were asked to recognize and rate the dominance expressed in those images. Participants completed the task twice, once under exposure to androstadienone and once under exposure to a control solution. The results indicate that androstadienone increased the perceived dominance of men's faces, specifically among participants with high social anxiety. These findings suggest a direct influence of androstadienone on dominance perception and further highlight the preferential processing of dominance and social threat signals evident in social anxiety.
Visual systemizing preference in children with autism: A randomized controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin
Lane Strathearn et al.
Development and Psychopathology, May 2018, Pages 511-521
Abstract:
Several studies have suggested that the neuropeptide oxytocin may enhance aspects of social communication in autism. Little is known, however, about its effects on nonsocial manifestations, such as restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. In the empathizing-systemizing theory of autism, social deficits are described along the continuum of empathizing ability, whereas nonsocial aspects are characterized in terms of an increased preference for patterned or rule-based systems, called systemizing. We therefore developed an automated eye-tracking task to test whether children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to matched controls display a visual preference for more highly organized and structured (systemized) real-life images. Then, as part of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, we examined the effect of intranasal oxytocin on systemizing preferences in 16 male children with ASD, compared with 16 matched controls. Participants viewed 14 slides, each containing four related pictures (e.g., of people, animals, scenes, or objects) that differed primarily on the degree of systemizing. Visual systemizing preference was defined in terms of the fixation time and count for each image. Unlike control subjects who showed no gaze preference, individuals with ASD preferred to fixate on more highly systemized pictures. Intranasal oxytocin eliminated this preference in ASD participants, who now showed a similar response to control subjects on placebo. In contrast, control participants increased their visual preference for more systemized images after receiving oxytocin versus placebo. These results suggest that, in addition to its effects on social communication, oxytocin may play a role in some of the nonsocial manifestations of autism.