A Salutogenic Perspective on Adverse Experiences. The Curvilinear Relationship of Adversity and Well-Being. Jan Höltge et al. European Journal of Health Psychology (2018), 25, pp. 53-69. https://doi.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000011
Abstract. Research has predominantly focused on the negative effects of adversity on health and well-being. However, the salutogenic perspective suggests that adversity may not always be detrimental (Antonovsky, 1996). In fact, under certain circumstances, adversity may have the potential for positive outcomes, such as increased resilience and thriving (Carver, 1998; Rutter, 1987). The “steeling effect” suggests that past experiences of adversity may increase resistance to later adversities. It proposes that moderate adversity may facilitate more adaptive functioning than no adversity or high levels of adversity (Rutter, 2006, 2012). The relationship between adversity and health may be optimally assessed using curvilinear models, yet the majority of previous studies have examined linear associations (Masten & Cicchetti, 2016). It is therefore the aim of this review to determine whether moderate adversity is associated with more adaptive functioning when compared to no and high levels of adversity. Practical implications and future research are also discussed.
Keywords: systematic review, steeling effect, resilience, thriving, curvilinear
Saturday, August 4, 2018
The Status Signals Paradox: When making new friends, people tend to think that displaying high-status markers will make them more attractive to others, but they are found to be less attractive
The Status Signals Paradox. Stephen M. Garcia, Kimberlee Weaver, Patricia Chen.Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618783712
Abstract: Making friends is critical to well-being. We also live in a society where the display of status is ubiquitous and billions of dollars are spent on high-status consumer goods. In the present analysis, we introduce the Status Signals Paradox: When making new friends, people tend to think that displaying high-status markers of themselves (e.g., a BMW, a Tag Heuer watch) will make them more attractive to others than neutral markers (e.g., a Honda, a generic brand watch); however, from the perspective of would-be friends, individuals who display high-status markers are found to be less attractive as new friends than those with neutral status markers. Six studies provide converging evidence of the status signals paradox.
Keywords: social comparison, presenter paradox, decision-making, naive realism
Abstract: Making friends is critical to well-being. We also live in a society where the display of status is ubiquitous and billions of dollars are spent on high-status consumer goods. In the present analysis, we introduce the Status Signals Paradox: When making new friends, people tend to think that displaying high-status markers of themselves (e.g., a BMW, a Tag Heuer watch) will make them more attractive to others than neutral markers (e.g., a Honda, a generic brand watch); however, from the perspective of would-be friends, individuals who display high-status markers are found to be less attractive as new friends than those with neutral status markers. Six studies provide converging evidence of the status signals paradox.
Keywords: social comparison, presenter paradox, decision-making, naive realism
Peripheral Factors Affecting the Evaluation of Artworks: When described as created by famous artists, the works were liked more and judged more interesting & beautiful & participants (n = 309), all art nonexperts, also were willing to pay more to see the works
Peripheral Factors Affecting the Evaluation of Artworks. Stefano Mastandrea, William D. Crano. Empirical Studies of the Arts, https://doi.org/10.1177/0276237418790916
Abstract: The goal of the research was to determine whether artworks said to be created by famous artists were appreciated more than the same artworks attributed to nonfamous artists. Analysis indicated that the works attributed to famous artists were more appreciated than the identical works attributed to nonfamous artists: The works were liked more and judged more interesting and beautiful (all p values < .001). Participants (N = 309), all art nonexperts, also were willing to pay more to see the works if described as created by famous artists (p < .001); importantly, however, no differences were found in ratings of the works’ comprehensibility. This pattern of results suggests that judgmental variations were attributable to participants’ peripheral processing of factors not intrinsic to the work itself. Dual process models of attitudes, popular in social psychology, were invoked to provide a framework for understanding the findings.
Keywords: art, persuasion, liking, comprehension, peripheral judgment processes
Abstract: The goal of the research was to determine whether artworks said to be created by famous artists were appreciated more than the same artworks attributed to nonfamous artists. Analysis indicated that the works attributed to famous artists were more appreciated than the identical works attributed to nonfamous artists: The works were liked more and judged more interesting and beautiful (all p values < .001). Participants (N = 309), all art nonexperts, also were willing to pay more to see the works if described as created by famous artists (p < .001); importantly, however, no differences were found in ratings of the works’ comprehensibility. This pattern of results suggests that judgmental variations were attributable to participants’ peripheral processing of factors not intrinsic to the work itself. Dual process models of attitudes, popular in social psychology, were invoked to provide a framework for understanding the findings.
Keywords: art, persuasion, liking, comprehension, peripheral judgment processes
Male Testosterone Does Not Adapt to the Partner's Menstrual Cycle
Ström JO, Ingberg E, Slezak JK, et al. Male Testosterone Does Not Adapt to the Partner's Menstrual Cycle. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 8, August 2018, Pages 1103-1110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.06.003
Abstract
Background: It has not yet been established whether men in heterosexual relationships adapt their hormone levels to their female partner's menstrual cycle to allocate reproductive resources to the period when the female is actually fertile.
Aim: This prospective observational study tested the hypothesis that some males have peaks in testosterone or acne (a possible biomarker for androgen activity) near their partners' ovulation, whereas other males display the opposite pattern.
Methods: 48 couples supplied menstrual cycle data, male salivary samples, and a protocol of daily activities for 120 days. Daily saliva samples were analyzed for testosterone concentrations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The main hypothesis was tested by analyzing whether each individual male's testosterone/acne response to ovulation (either an increase or a decrease in comparison to the individual's average levels) was stable over time. To do this, we analyzed the Spearman correlation between individually normalized periovulatory testosterone and acne during the first half of the study versus the second half of the study.
Outcomes: Correlation between each male individual's periovulatory testosterone and acne patterns during the first half of the study versus the second half of the study.
Results: No predictability in the male individuals' testosterone (Spearman's rho = −0.018, P = .905) or acne (Spearman's rho = −0.036, P = .862) levels during ovulation was found.
Clinical translation: The study being “negative,” there is no obvious translational potential in the results.
Strengths and limitations: The main strength of this study lies in the excellent compliance of the study participants and the large number of sampling timepoints over several menstrual cycles, thereby allowing each male individual to be his own control subject. A limitation is that samples were only obtained in the morning; however, including later timepoints would have introduced a number of confounders and would also have hampered the study's feasibility.
Conclusions: The current results strongly indicate that male morning testosterone levels neither increase nor decrease in response to the partner's ovulation. This discordance to previous laboratory studies could indicate either that (i) the phenomenon of hormonal adaptation of men to women does not exist and earlier experimental studies should be questioned, (ii) that the phenomenon is short-lived/acute and wanes if the exposure is sustained, or (iii) that the male testosterone response may be directed toward other women than the partner.
Abstract
Background: It has not yet been established whether men in heterosexual relationships adapt their hormone levels to their female partner's menstrual cycle to allocate reproductive resources to the period when the female is actually fertile.
Aim: This prospective observational study tested the hypothesis that some males have peaks in testosterone or acne (a possible biomarker for androgen activity) near their partners' ovulation, whereas other males display the opposite pattern.
Methods: 48 couples supplied menstrual cycle data, male salivary samples, and a protocol of daily activities for 120 days. Daily saliva samples were analyzed for testosterone concentrations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The main hypothesis was tested by analyzing whether each individual male's testosterone/acne response to ovulation (either an increase or a decrease in comparison to the individual's average levels) was stable over time. To do this, we analyzed the Spearman correlation between individually normalized periovulatory testosterone and acne during the first half of the study versus the second half of the study.
Outcomes: Correlation between each male individual's periovulatory testosterone and acne patterns during the first half of the study versus the second half of the study.
Results: No predictability in the male individuals' testosterone (Spearman's rho = −0.018, P = .905) or acne (Spearman's rho = −0.036, P = .862) levels during ovulation was found.
Clinical translation: The study being “negative,” there is no obvious translational potential in the results.
Strengths and limitations: The main strength of this study lies in the excellent compliance of the study participants and the large number of sampling timepoints over several menstrual cycles, thereby allowing each male individual to be his own control subject. A limitation is that samples were only obtained in the morning; however, including later timepoints would have introduced a number of confounders and would also have hampered the study's feasibility.
Conclusions: The current results strongly indicate that male morning testosterone levels neither increase nor decrease in response to the partner's ovulation. This discordance to previous laboratory studies could indicate either that (i) the phenomenon of hormonal adaptation of men to women does not exist and earlier experimental studies should be questioned, (ii) that the phenomenon is short-lived/acute and wanes if the exposure is sustained, or (iii) that the male testosterone response may be directed toward other women than the partner.
Big fires in California are less frequent and area burnt is smaller since at least 1970
Different historical fire–climate patterns in California. Jon E. Keeley and Alexandra D. Syphard. International Journal of Wildland Fire 26(4) 253-268. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF16102
Abstract: The relationship between annual variation in area burned and seasonal temperatures and precipitation was investigated for the major climate divisions in California. Historical analyses showed marked differences in fires on montane and foothill landscapes. Based on roughly a century of data, there are five important lessons on fire–climate relationships in California: (1) seasonal variations in temperature appear to have had minimal influence on area burned in the lower elevation, mostly non-forested, landscapes; (2) temperature has been a significant factor in controlling fire activity in higher elevation montane forests, but this varied greatly with season – winter and autumn temperatures showed no significant effect, whereas spring and summer temperatures were important determinants of area burned; (3) current season precipitation has been a strong controller of fire activity in forests, with drier years resulting in greater area burned on most United States Forest Service (USFS) lands in the state, but the effect of current-year precipitation was decidedly less on lower elevation California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection lands; (4) in largely grass-dominated foothills and valleys the magnitude of prior-year rainfall was positively tied to area burned in the following year, and we hypothesise that this is tied to greater fuel volume in the year following high rainfall. In the southern part of the state this effect has become stronger in recent decades and this likely is due to accelerated type conversion from shrubland to grassland in the latter part of the 20th century; (5) the strongest fire–climate models were on USFS lands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and these explained 42–52% of the variation in area burned; however, the models changed over time, with winter and spring precipitation being the primary drivers in the first half of the 20th century, but replaced by spring and summer temperatures after 1960.
Additional keywords: area burned, chaparral, climate change, forests, grasslands, ignitions, seasonal temperatures.
Abstract: The relationship between annual variation in area burned and seasonal temperatures and precipitation was investigated for the major climate divisions in California. Historical analyses showed marked differences in fires on montane and foothill landscapes. Based on roughly a century of data, there are five important lessons on fire–climate relationships in California: (1) seasonal variations in temperature appear to have had minimal influence on area burned in the lower elevation, mostly non-forested, landscapes; (2) temperature has been a significant factor in controlling fire activity in higher elevation montane forests, but this varied greatly with season – winter and autumn temperatures showed no significant effect, whereas spring and summer temperatures were important determinants of area burned; (3) current season precipitation has been a strong controller of fire activity in forests, with drier years resulting in greater area burned on most United States Forest Service (USFS) lands in the state, but the effect of current-year precipitation was decidedly less on lower elevation California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection lands; (4) in largely grass-dominated foothills and valleys the magnitude of prior-year rainfall was positively tied to area burned in the following year, and we hypothesise that this is tied to greater fuel volume in the year following high rainfall. In the southern part of the state this effect has become stronger in recent decades and this likely is due to accelerated type conversion from shrubland to grassland in the latter part of the 20th century; (5) the strongest fire–climate models were on USFS lands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and these explained 42–52% of the variation in area burned; however, the models changed over time, with winter and spring precipitation being the primary drivers in the first half of the 20th century, but replaced by spring and summer temperatures after 1960.
Additional keywords: area burned, chaparral, climate change, forests, grasslands, ignitions, seasonal temperatures.