People seek high positions not to gain influence over others but to satisfy their need for personal control. Personal control tends to have positive interpersonal consequences. If this is the case, ...does power indeed corrupt? We argue that holding a high position is associated both with perceptions of power (influence over others) and personal control (influence over one’s life). Three studies showed that these two aspects might have opposite consequences: Power over others positively predicted aggressiveness (Study 1, N = 793) and exploitativeness (Study 2, N = 445), whereas personal control predicted these outcomes negatively. In Study 3 (N = 557), conducted among employees at various organizational positions, the effects of holding a high position on exploitativeness and aggressiveness were differentially mediated by power over others and personal control. We discuss these findings in light of contradicting evidence on the corruptive effects of power.
The fact that men and women experience sexual attraction toward their opposite-sex friends has been evidenced in various studies. It has also been shown that there is a close parallel between ...preferences for opposite-sex friends and mate preferences, i.e., that men prioritize physical attractiveness of their OSFs, while women prioritize their male friends’ ability to provide protection and economic resources. Although this mating activation hypothesis has been validated to an extent, there is hardly any research that points to moderating factors which would define the boundary conditions for these effects. We present two studies that involved heterosexual participants who were in a committed relationship and at the same time had a heterosexual opposite-sex friend. We investigated how both the qualities of one’s current partner and the qualities of one’s opposite-sex friend shape sexual interest in opposite-sex friends for men and women. Results mostly support the mating activation hypothesis. We show that within actual cross-sex friendships: 1) physical attractiveness of opposite-sex friends predicts sexual interest toward them, and this effect is stronger for men than women, 2) current partner’s attractiveness, provided support, and relationship satisfaction moderate this effect only for women, and not men, 3) perceived financial resources of opposite-sex friends predict sexual interest toward them for highly sexually unrestricted women, and, surprisingly, for those who are in committed relationships with high-income men. The results reaffirm previous evidence indicating that perceptions of opposite-sex friends can be viewed as a manifestation of evolved human mating strategies.
Social resemblance, like group membership or similar attitudes, increases the mimicry of the observed emotional facial display. In this study, we investigate whether facial self-resemblance ...(manipulated by computer morphing) modulates emotional mimicry in a similar manner. Participants watched dynamic expressions of faces that either did or did not resemble their own, while their facial muscle activity was measured using EMG. Additionally, after each presentation, respondents completed social evaluations of the faces they saw. The results show that self-resemblance evokes convergent facial reactions. More specifically, participants mimicked the happiness and, to a lesser extent, the anger of self-resembling faces. In turn, the happiness of non-resembling faces was less likely mimicked than in the case of self-resembling faces, while anger evoked a more divergent, smile-like response. Finally, we found that social evaluations were in general increased by happiness displays, but not influenced by resemblance. Overall, the study demonstrates an interesting and novel phenomenon, particularly that mimicry can be modified by relatively subtle cues of physical resemblance.
We have shown before that at least one intracellular proteolytic system seems to be at least as abundant in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of centenarians as in the same cells of young individuals ...(with the cells of the elderly population showing a significant dip compared to both young and centenarian cohorts). Despite scarce published data, in this review, we tried to answer the question how do different types of cells of longevous people-nonagenarians to (semi)supercentenarians-maintain the quality and quantity of their structural and functional proteins? Specifically, we asked if more robust proteodynamics participate in longevity. We hypothesized that at least some factors controlling the maintenance of cellular proteomes in centenarians will remain at the "young" level (just performing better than in the average elderly). In our quest, we considered multiple aspects of cellular protein maintenance (proteodynamics), including the quality of transcribed DNA, its epigenetic changes, fidelity and quantitative features of transcription of both mRNA and noncoding RNAs, the process of translation, posttranslational modifications leading to maturation and functionalization of nascent proteins, and, finally, multiple facets of the process of elimination of misfolded, aggregated, and otherwise dysfunctional proteins (autophagy). We also included the status of mitochondria, especially production of ATP necessary for protein synthesis and maintenance. We found that with the exception of the latter and of chaperone function, practically all of the considered aspects did show better performance in centenarians than in the average elderly, and most of them approached the levels/activities seen in the cells of young individuals.
Negative attitudes and stigmatization can originate from the perception of a disease-related threat. Following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is often suggested that incidents of ...discriminatory behavior are the result of defense mechanisms aimed at avoiding pathogens. According to the behavioral immune system theory, people are motivated to distance themselves from individuals who show signs of infection, or who are only heuristically associated with a disease, primarily because of the disgust they evoke. In this paper we focus on negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians who are among social groups that have been persistently framed as “unclean.” In our correlational study (
N
= 500 heterosexual participants; Polish sample data collected during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Poland, in March/April 2020) we tested moderation models derived from the behavioral immune system theory. Specifically, we investigated whether perceived vulnerability to disease and perceived threat of contracting COVID-19 moderate the relation between disgust and homonegativity. We found that sexual disgust (but not pathogen nor moral disgust) predicted homonegative attitudes. This effect was stronger for participants expressing higher levels of perceived vulnerability to disease but was not dependent on the perception of the COVID-19 threat. The results reaffirm previous evidence indicating a pivotal role of disgust in disease-avoidance mechanisms. They also point to functional flexibility of the behavioral immune system by demonstrating the moderating role of perceived vulnerability to disease in shaping homonegative attitudes. Finally, they show that the threat of COVID-19 does not strengthen the relationship between disgust and homonegativity.
In this review, we discuss in detail the most relevant proteolytic systems that together with chaperones contribute to creating the proteostasis network that is kept in dynamic balance to maintain ...overall functionality of cellular proteomes. Data accumulated over decades demonstrate that the effectiveness of elements of the proteostasis network declines with age. In this scenario, failure to degrade misfolded or faulty proteins increases the risk of protein aggregation, chronic inflammation, and the development of age-related diseases. This is especially important in the context of aging-related modification of functions of the immune system.
Clostridioides difficile is a causative agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhea as well as pseudomembranous colitis. So far, all known bacteriophages infecting these bacteria are temperate, which ...means that instead of prompt lysis of host cells, they can integrate into the host genome or replicate episomally. While C. difficile phages are capable of spontaneous induction and entering the lytic pathway, very little is known about the regulation of their maintenance in the state of lysogeny. In this study, we investigated the properties of a putative major repressor of the recently characterized C. difficile phiCDKH01 bacteriophage. A candidate protein belongs to the XRE family and controls the transcription of genes encoding putative phage antirepressors, known to be involved in the regulation of lytic development. Hence, the putative major phage repressor is likely to be responsible for maintenance of the lysogeny.
Many studies have explored the evaluative effects of vertical (up/down) or horizontal (left/right) spatial locations. However, little is known about the role of information that comes from the front ...and back. Basing our investigations on multiple theoretical considerations, we propose that spatial location of sounds is a cue for message valence, such that a message coming from behind is interpreted as more negative than a message presented in front of a listener. Here we show across a variety of manipulations and dependent measures that this effect occurs in the domain of social information. Our data are most compatible with theoretical accounts which propose that social information presented from behind is associated with uncertainty and lack of control, which is amplified in conditions of self‐relevance.
Topics of prejudice, discrimination, and negative attitudes toward outgroups have attracted much attention of social scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the preference for social distancing ...can originate from the perception of threat. One of the theoretical approaches that offers an explanation for avoidance tendencies is the behavioral immune system theory. As a motivational system that aims to identify and avoid pathogens, the behavioral immune system has been shown to be triggered by various cues of a potential disease threat (e.g., the risk of contracting a virus), which further leads to negative social consequences such as xenophobia, negative attitudes toward various social groups, and distancing tendencies. We present a correlational study (N = 588; Polish sample) that was designed to test mediational models derived from the behavioral immune system theory, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a source of natural disease threat. In serial mediation analyses we show that the perceived threat of COVID-19 translates into greater preferred social distance from foreign individuals, and that this occurs in two ways: 1) via pathogen disgust (but not sexual or moral disgust), and 2) via germ aversion (but not perceived infectability). Both pathogen disgust and germ aversion further predict general feelings toward foreign individuals, which finally determine the preferred social distance from these individuals. The results support the behavioral immune system theory as an important concept for understanding social distancing tendencies.
Highlights
According to behavioral immune system theory, preference for social distancing can originate from a perception of threat.
A correlational study (N = 588) tested mediational models derived from behavioral immune system theory, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a source of natural disease threat.
Perceived threat of disease (both the perceived vulnerability to disease and the perception of the COVID-19 threat) is positively associated with specific domains of disgust.
Disgust predicts general feelings toward foreign individuals, and these general feelings determine the preferred social distance from these individuals.
Social thermoregulation theory posits that modern human relationships are pleisiomorphically organized around body temperature regulation. In two studies (N = 1755) designed to test the principles ...from this theory, we used supervised machine learning to identify social and non-social factors that relate to core body temperature. This data-driven analysis found that complex social integration (CSI), defined as the number of high-contact roles one engages in, is a critical predictor of core body temperature. We further used a cross-validation approach to show that colder climates relate to higher levels of CSI, which in turn relates to higher CBT (when climates get colder). These results suggest that despite modern affordances for regulating body temperature, people still rely on social warmth to buffer their bodies against the cold.
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