In this article, I explore the intersections between gender and asexuality, drawing on data collected from in-depth interviews with 30 asexually-identified individuals living in the United States. I ...examine the differential effects that gendered sexual norms have on asexually-identified men and women and begin to explore the relationship between asexuality, gender non-conformity, and trans* identities. Based on these findings, I argue that while white, middle-class asexually-identified men may live in greater conflict with dominant gendered sexual norms than white, middle-class asexually-identified women, the sexual autonomy of these asexually-identified men – specifically their right to refuse sexuality – may be greater than the sexual autonomy of these asexually-identified women.
When we clap our hands in synchrony, feel the sadness of a friend, or match our attitudes to peer norms, we align our behavior with others. We propose here a model that views synchronized movement, ...emotional contagion, and social conformity as interrelated processes that rely on shared neural networks. Building on the predictive coding framework, we suggest that social alignment is mediated by a three-component feedback loop – an error-monitoring system that reacts to misalignment, an alignment system, and a reward system that is activated when alignment is achieved. We describe herding-related syndromes (autism, loneliness) and call for innovative research to investigate the links between the levels of alignment.
Traditionally, the diverse behaviors that involve social alignment have been considered individually.
We synthesize models of collective action across species with an emerging body of neuroscience, neurocomputational, and psychology research to propose that different manifestations of social alignment are actually linked, with motor synchrony, emotional alignment, and conformity influencing one another in a reciprocal manner.
Building on the predictive coding framework, we argue that these different levels of alignment reflect the workings of a prototype feedback-loop model.
The social alignment feedback loop includes three core components. One system is in place to react to alignment, and another system reacts to misalignment. Based on the misalignment detected, a further system is responsible for aligning to the point of perceived alignment.
Yoga has been shown to be effective at promoting physical and mental health. Surveys show that yoga practitioners are primarily women. Interviews with men revealed that traditional masculine gender ...norms may be a barrier to practicing yoga, but this had not been tested quantitatively. In the present study, men aged 18–51 ( M = 21.99) from a Canadian university ( N = 155) completed an online survey to investigate the association between conformity to masculine norms and intent to practice yoga in the future. Higher conformity to masculine norms was associated with lower intent to practice yoga in the future. The specific masculine norm Disdain for Homosexuality/Heterosexual Self-Presentation had the strongest association with a lower intent to practice yoga. Participants also wrote why they, and other men, might be hesitant to practice yoga. Seventy-seven percent of participants wrote that concerns with masculinity and yoga’s femininity might be the reason why other men might be hesitant to practice yoga, but less than 5% stated this concern as their own reason for not practicing yoga. Our results show that men’s concern with Heterosexual Self-Presentation may be a significant barrier to their adoption of yoga. Further, men’s apparent reluctance to cite yoga’s femininity as their reason for not engaging in yoga compared to how frequently they cited this reason as being other men’s suggests a desire for men to not appear concerned with their masculinity in relation to yoga. These results imply that presenting yoga as a masculine activity may promote men’s engagement in this beneficial practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
Social influence—individuals' tendency to conform to the beliefs and attitudes of others—has interested psychologists for decades. However, it has traditionally been difficult to distinguish true ...modification of attitudes from mere public compliance with social norms; this study addressed this challenge using functional neuroimaging. Participants rated the attractiveness of faces and subsequently learned how their peers ostensibly rated each face. Participants were then scanned using functional MRI while they rated each face a second time. The second ratings were influenced by social norms: Participants changed their ratings to conform to those of their peers. This social influence was accompanied by modulated engagement of two brain regions associated with coding subjective value—the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex—a finding suggesting that exposure to social norms affected participants' neural representations of value assigned to stimuli. These findings document the utility of neuroimaging to demonstrate the private acceptance of social norms.
Taking an interactional perspective on creativity, the authors examined the influence of social networks and conformity value on employees' creativity. They theorized and found a curvilinear ...relationship between number of weak ties and creativity such that employees exhibited greater creativity when their number of weak ties was at intermediate levels rather than at lower or higher levels. In addition, employees' conformity value moderated the curvilinear relationship between number of weak ties and creativity such that employees exhibited greater creativity at intermediate levels of number of weak ties when conformity was low than when it was high. A proper match between personal values and network ties is critical for understanding creativity.
Over a decade of research on the Proteus effect in numerous contexts suggests that people conform in behavior and attitudes to their avatars' characteristics. In order to provide clarity about the ...reliability and size of the Proteus effect, a meta-analysis was conducted with 46 quantitative experimental studies in which avatars with specific characteristics were randomly assigned to participants. Results indicate a relatively consistent effect size (between .22 and .26, depending on subset of studies examined) and nearly all variance explained. Unexplained variance differed between studies that used behavioral or attitudinal measures, while studies which examined potential moderators explained all variance. Overall, this research suggests that the Proteus effect is a reliable phenomenon, with a small-but-approaching-medium effect size according to a traditional rule of thumb, but is relatively large compared to other digital media effects examined in previous meta analyses.
The paper presents the memory conformity effect phenomenon, which involves the inclusion in memory accounts concerning a particular event (original information) of incorrect information ...(misinformation) that a witness has obtained as a result of another witness's account of the same event. The research had two goals: (1) to verify the existence of individuals who yield to misinformation yet are aware of discrepancy between the original information and the misinformation; (2) to determine why these individuals choose misinformation despite the correctness of their own memories. In addition, we examined the relationship between susceptibility to social influence, compliance, suggestibility and memory conformity in interaction with awareness of discrepancy. In order to examine the memory conformity effect, we used the MORI technique, which ensures high ecological validity. In this technique, the two members of each pair of participants sit next to each other and each are not aware that the other is watching a different version of the same event. Then, the participants answer related questions and discuss the contradictory details. Subsequently, the subjects complete an individual memory test. Importantly, after the main part of the study (i.e., the MORI procedure), participants were explicitly informed about the different versions of the event, and they were asked to complete awareness of discrepancy questionnaires. It was shown that awareness of the discrepancy between the original information and the misinformation reduced succumbing to misinformation. However, it was demonstrated that, despite being aware of discrepancies, 21.4% participants still succumbed to the misinformation. It was also shown that the main reason for participants being misinformed despite being aware of the discrepancy was distrust of their own memory.
► Contributes to debate over existential authenticity. ► Contradicts understandings of authenticity put forward in recent articles. ► Proposes that tourism is a catalyst not a substitute for ...existential authenticity. ► Draws a comparison between tourism and Heidegger’s Spielraum.
In studies of the relationship between existential authenticity and tourism, it has been postulated that tourism offers a temporary release from the inauthenticity of everyday life. This paper argues that this portrayal of the role of tourism neglects the promise and potential of tourism to act not simply as a substitute, but as a catalyst, for existential authenticity. The paper draws on Heideggerian phenomenology and Sartrean existentialism to reveal the role played by tourism in prompting the adoption of an authentic attitude. A parallel is drawn between tourism and Heidegger’s Spielraum, which offers a reflective space to consider life choices and to prompt change, if necessary, upon tourists’ return home.
A meta-analytic review of past research evaluated the link between religiosity and racism in the United States since the Civil Rights Act. Religious racism partly reflects intergroup dynamics. That ...is, a strong religious in-group identity was associated with derogation of racial out-groups. Other races might be treated as out-groups because religion is practiced largely within race, because training in a religious in-group identity promotes general ethnocentrism, and because different others appear to be in competition for resources. In addition, religious racism is tied to basic life values of social conformity and respect for tradition. In support, individuals who were religious for reasons of conformity and tradition expressed racism that declined in recent years with the decreased societal acceptance of overt racial discrimination. The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant.
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