While physical attractiveness was less important to blind men, blind women considered physical attractiveness as important as sighted women

The Role of Vision in the Emergence of Mate Preferences. Meike Scheller, Francine Matorres, Anthony Little, Lucy Tompkins, Alexandra de Sousa. Archives of Sexual Behavior, accepted Mar 2 2021. https://abdn.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/the-role-of-vision-in-the-emergence-of-mate-preferences

Open version: Scheller, Meike, Francine Matorres, Lucy Tompkins, Anthony C. Little, and Alexandra A. de Sousa. 2019. “Beauty Is Not Always in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Vision in the Emergence of Mate Preferences.” PsyArXiv. May 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/nt3xj

Abstract: Cross-cultural research has repeatedly demonstrated sex differences in the importance of partner characteristics when choosing a mate. Men typically report higher preferences for younger, more physically attractive women, while women typically place more importance on a partner’s status and wealth. As the assessment of such partner characteristics often relies on visual cues, this raises the question whether visual experience is necessary for sex-specific mate preferences to develop. To shed more light onto the emergence of sex differences in mate choice, the current study assessed how preferences for attractiveness, resources, and personality factors differ between sighted and blind individuals using an online questionnaire. We further investigate the role of social factors and sensory cue selection in these sex differences. Our sample consisted of 94 sighted and blind participants with different ages of blindness-onset: 19 blind/28 sighted males and 19 blind/28 sighted females. Results replicated well-documented findings in the sighted, with men placing more importance on physical attractiveness and women placing more importance on status and resources. However, while physical attractiveness was less important to blind men, blind women considered physical attractiveness as important as sighted women. The importance of a high status and likeable personality was not influenced by sightedness. Blind individuals considered auditory cues more important than visual cues, while sighted males showed the opposite pattern. Further, relationship status and indirect, social influences were related to preferences. Overall, our findings shed light on the availability of visual information for the emergence of sex differences in mate preference.

Animals in Dreams of Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The UK Library Study

Animals in Dreams of Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The UK Library Study. Michael Schredl, Mark Blagrove. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, March 5, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276236620960634

Abstract: Animal dreams have fascinated mankind for ages. Empirical research indicated that children dream more often about animals than adults and dogs, cats, and horses are the most frequent animals that appear within dreams. Moreover, most dreamer-animal interactions are negative. The present study included 4849 participants (6 to 90 yrs. old) reporting 2716 most recent dreams. Overall, 18.30% of these dreams included animals with children reporting more animal dreams that adolescents and adults. The most frequent animals were again dogs, horses, and cats; about 20% of the dream animals were in fact pets of the dreamers. About 30% of the dream animals showed bizarre features, e.g., metamorphosing into humans or other animals, bigger than in real life, or can talk. Taken together, the findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming but also the idea that dreams reflect waking-life emotions in a metaphorical and dramatized way. Future studies should focus on eliciting waking-life experiences with animals, e.g., having a pet, animal-related media consumption, and relating these to experiences with animals in dreams.

Keywords: animal dreams, continuity hypothesis, dreams as metaphors, dream bizarreness

In men, adults and older adults spent almost twice as long on the Internet for sexual purposes than early adolescents and adolescents

Problematic and non-problematic engagement in Online Sexual Activities across the lifespan. Rafael Ballester-Arnal et al. Computers in Human Behavior, March 6 2021, 106774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106774

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1368082215427600384

Highlights

• Few studies have explored differences in the use of the Internet for sexual purposes across the lifespan.

• We analyse the Online Sexual activity (OSA) of 8,040 individuals between 12-85 years old distributed into five age groups.

• OSA was highly prevalent across all the developmental stages (including people older than 60 years old).

• Differences according to the age in the use of the Internet for sexual purposes were small-to-moderate (i.e., smaller than expected).

• Gender was important when it came to understanding these minor age differences.

Abstract: During the last decade, the number of people using the Internet for sexual purposes has increased exponentially. However, most studies conducted so far have analyzed Online Sexual Activity (OSA) of adolescents and young people, meaning that we have few information on how this phenomenon is expressed across the lifespan. The aim of this study was to analyse three aspects of OSA (prevalence of different OSAs, motives to engage in OSA, and excessive and problematic engagement in OSA) in a large sample of individuals in different developmental stages. A self-selected sample of 8,040 individuals between 12-85 years old were recruited and completed an online survey. Participants were distributed into five age groups and compared (<18 years old, between 18-25, between 26-40, between 41-60, and >60). OSA was highly prevalent across all the developmental stages, including people older than 60 years old. Differences according to the age in the use of the Internet for sexual purposes were small-to-moderate, but we identified some age-related trends in different aspects of OSA. Finally, gender was important when it came to understanding these minor age differences. This study provides a preliminary foundation for identifying the unique characteristics of OSA across the lifespan.

Keywords: Online Sexual Activities (OSAs)PrevalenceMotivesProblematic engagementLifespan

Having more money makes people feel more proud, contented, and confident & less sad, afraid, and ashamed, but does not affect whether they feel grateful, caring, & angry

Tong, E. M. W., Reddish, P., Oh, V. Y. S., Ng, W., Sasaki, E., Chin, E. D. A., & Diener, E. (2021). Income robustly predicts self-regard emotions. Emotion, Mar 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000933

Abstract: There is robust evidence that higher income makes people evaluate their lives more favorably, but there is no consistent evidence on whether it makes people feel better. Analyzing data from five large surveys spanning 162 countries, we predicted and found the most comprehensive evidence to date that income reliably predicted greater positive self-regard emotions (e.g., pride) and lower negative self-regard emotions (e.g., anxiety). In contrast, its relationships with other-regard emotions (e.g., gratitude, anger) and global emotions (e.g., happiness) were weaker in magnitude and difficult to replicate. In addition, income predicted higher (lower) levels of positive (negative) self-regard emotions about 10 years later, controlling for the same self-regard emotions at baseline. Sense of control mediated the relationships between income and both positive and negative self-regard emotions. Income predicted self-regard emotions as strongly as it has been known to predict life evaluation. Hence, having more money makes people feel more proud, contented, and confident and less sad, afraid, and ashamed, but does not affect whether they feel grateful, caring, and angry.