Engaging consumers in prosocial practices can increase their favorable responses toward a company. We suggest that cuteness cues of a third party (i.e., neither beneficiary nor benefactor) spur ...consumer engagement in such practices. It is well-known that a cute X stands a higher chance of being helped than a non-cute Y. This research examines a novel effect of cuteness which we call the “aww effect”: How does an exposure to a cute X influence consumers’ prosociality benefitting a non-cute Y? The results from four studies show that viewing cute images and listening to cute sounds prompt prosocial responses enhancing the welfare of a non-cute target. Moreover, cuteness cues increase the effectiveness of an appeal emphasizing benefits to non-cute targets (vs. benefits to the self). Taken together, our findings lend converging support to the aww effect and inform marketers of an effective use of cuteness cues to engage consumers in prosocial initiatives.
Seeing someone in need may evoke a particular kind of closeness that has been conceptualized as
or
(which is distinct from other
constructs). In other contexts, when people suddenly feel
to others, ...or observe others suddenly feeling closer to each other, this sudden closeness tends to evoke an emotion often labeled in vernacular English as
, or
feelings. Recent theory and empirical work indicates that this is a distinct emotion; the construct is named
. Is empathic concern for people in need simply an expression of the much broader tendency to respond with kama muta to all kinds of situations that afford closeness, such as reunions, kindness, and expressions of love? Across 16 studies sampling 2918 participants, we explored whether empathic concern is associated with kama muta. Meta-analyzing the association between ratings of state being moved and trait empathic concern revealed an effect size of,
= 0.35 95% CI: 0.29, 0.41. In addition, trait empathic concern was also associated with self-reports of the three sensations that have been shown to be reliably indicative of kama muta: weeping, chills, and bodily feelings of warmth. We conclude that empathic concern might actually be a part of the kama muta construct.
Envenomation by the bushmaster snake Lachesis muta muta is considered severe, characterized by local effects including necrosis, the main cause of permanent disability. However, cellular mechanisms ...related to cell death and tissue destruction, triggered by snake venoms, are poorly explored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effect caused by L. m. muta venom in normal human keratinocytes and to identify the cellular processes involved in in cellulo envenomation. In order to investigate venom effect on different cell types, Alamar Blue assay was performed to quantify levels of cellular metabolism as a readout of cell viability. Apoptosis, necrosis and changes in mitochondrial membrane potential were evaluated by flow cytometry, while induction of autophagy was assessed by expression of GFP-LC3 and analyzed using fluorescence microscopy. The cytotoxic potential of the venom is shown by reduced cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner. It was also observed the sequential appearance of cells undergoing autophagy (by 6 hours), apoptosis and necrosis (12 and 24 hours). Morphologically, incubation with L. m. muta venom led to a significant cellular retraction and formation of cellular aggregates. These results indicate that L. m. muta venom is cytotoxic to normal human keratinocytes and other cell lines, and this toxicity involves the integration of distinct modes of cell death. Autophagy as a cell death mechanism, in addition to apoptosis and necrosis, can help to unravel cellular pathways and mechanisms triggered by the venom. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie cellular damage and tissue destruction will be useful in the development of alternative therapies against snakebites.
The popularity of virtual concerts increased as a result of the social distancing requirements of the coronavirus pandemic. We aimed to examine how the characteristics of virtual concerts and the ...characteristics of the participants influenced their experiences of social connection and
kama muta
(often labeled “being moved”). We hypothesized that concert liveness and the salience of the coronavirus would influence social connection and
kama muta
. We collected survey responses on a variety of concert and personal characteristics from 307 participants from 13 countries across 4 continents. We operationalized social connection as a combination of feelings and behaviors and
kama muta
was measured using the short
kama muta
scale (
Zickfeld et al., 2019
). We found that (1) social connection and
kama muta
were related and predicted by empathic concern, (2) live concerts produced more social connection, but not
kama muta
, than pre-recorded concerts, and (3) the salience of the coronavirus during concerts predicted
kama muta
and this effect was completely mediated by social connection. Exploratory analyses also examined the influence of social and physical presence, motivations for concert attendance, and predictors of donations. This research contributes to the understanding of how people can connect socially and emotionally in virtual environments.
Feeling moved or touched can be accompanied by tears, goosebumps, and sensations of warmth in the centre of the chest. The experience has been described frequently, but psychological science knows ...little about it. We propose that labelling one's feeling as being moved or touched is a component of a social-relational emotion that we term kama muta (its Sanskrit label). We hypothesise that it is caused by appraising an intensification of communal sharing relations. Here, we test this by investigating people's moment-to-moment reports of feeling moved and touched while watching six short videos. We compare these to six other sets of participants' moment-to-moment responses watching the same videos: respectively, judgements of closeness (indexing communal sharing), reports of weeping, goosebumps, warmth in the centre of the chest, happiness, and sadness. Our eighth time series is expert ratings of communal sharing. Time series analyses show strong and consistent cross-correlations of feeling moved and touched and closeness with each other and with each of the three physiological variables and expert-rated communal sharing - but distinctiveness from happiness and sadness. These results support our model.
Vernacular lexemes appear self-evident, so we unwittingly reify them. But the words and phrases of natural languages comprise a treacherous basis for identifying valid psychological constructs, as I ...illustrate in emotion research. Like other vernacular lexemes, the emotion labels in natural languages do not have definite, stable, mutually transparent meanings, and any one vernacular word may be used to denote multiple scientifically distinct entities. In addition, the consequential choice of one lexeme to name a scientific construct rather than any of its partial synonyms is often arbitrary. Furthermore, a given vernacular lexeme from any one of the world's 7000 languages rarely maps one-to-one into an exactly corresponding vernacular lexeme in other languages. Words related to anger in different languages illustrate this. Since each language constitutes a distinct taxonomy of things in the world, most or all languages must fail to cut nature at its joints. In short, it is pernicious to use one language's dictionary as the source of psychological constructs. So scientists need to coin new technical names for scientifically derived constructs-names precisely defined in terms of the constellation of features or components that characterize the constructs they denote. The development of the kama muta construct illustrates one way to go about this. Kama muta is the emotion evoked by sudden intensification of communal sharing-universally experienced but not isomorphic with any vernacular lexeme such as heart warming, moving, touching, collective pride, tender, nostalgic, sentimental, Awww-so cute!.
Abundant literature shows the effects of negative emotions on motivations to engage in collective action (i.e., to collectively mobilize personal resources to achieve a common objective), as well as ...their influence on the creation of shared identities. In this proposal, we focus on the possible role of Self-Transcendent Emotions (STEs) defined as positive-valence emotions that have been key in the creation and maintenance of collective identities, as well as in promoting individuals well-being. In detail, we examine their influence in (a) strengthening a global identification, (b) increasing willingness to collectively help others, and (c) improving people’s wellbeing. For this reason, we conducted a preliminary literature review of
k
= 65 independent studies on the effects of STEs on connection to others. Through this review (fully available in
Supplementary Materials
), we selected a sample of STEs (Awe, Elevation, and Kama Muta) and elicitors to conduct a video-base study. In it, 1,064 university students from 3 different cultural regions (from Spain and Ecuador) were randomized to answer one of three STE scales (i.e., each measuring one of the selected STEs), and evaluate three videos in random order (i.e., each prototypical for the selected STEs). Participants also answered a measure of global identification and intentions to collectively help others (after each video), as well as self-transcendent and well-being (at the end of the survey). Results from SEM analyses show these STEs motivated a fusion of identity with all humanity, as well as collective intentions to help others, even controlling for individuals’ value orientations. In addition, the three of them indirectly increased participants’ well-being through a higher global identity. While there are differences among them, these three STEs share common elements and their effects are constant across the different cultural regions. It is concluded that Awe, Elevation, and Kama Muta, even individually experienced, have a significant potential to influence people’s behavior. Specifically, in various forms of collective action aimed at helping others.
Bushmasters (Lachesis spp) and lancehead vipers (Bothrops spp) are two of the most dangerous snakes found in Latin America. Victims of envenoming by these snakes require urgent administration of ...antivenom. Here, we report the identification of a small set of broadly neutralizing human monoclonal single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies targeting key phospholipases A2 from Lachesis and Bothrops spp using phage display technology and demonstrate their in vitro efficacy using a hemolysis assay.
Display omitted
•Human scFvs were selected against Lachesis muta venom using Phage Display.•The discovered scFvs bind conserved sites in PLA2 from different snake species.•The discovered scFvs neutralize the phospholipase activity of laquetic and bothropic venoms.
Snake venom phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) are responsible for numerous pathophysiological effects in snakebites; however, their biochemical properties favour antimicrobial actions against different ...pathogens, thus constituting a true source of potential microbicidal agents. This study describes the isolation of a Lys49 PLA2 homologue from Lachesis muta muta venom using two chromatographic steps: size exclusion and reverse phase. The protein showed a molecular mass of 13,889 Da and was devoid of phospholipase activity on an artificial substrate. The primary structure made it possible to identify an unpublished protein from L. m. muta venom, named LmutTX, that presented high identity with other Lys49 PLA2s from bothropic venoms. Synthetic peptides designed from LmutTX were evaluated for their cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities. LmutTX was cytotoxic against C2C12 myotubes at concentrations of at least 200 μg/mL, whereas the peptides showed a low cytolytic effect. LmutTX showed antibacterial activity against Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria; however, S. aureusATCC 29213 and MRSA strains were more sensitive to the toxin's action. Synthetic peptides were tested on S. aureus, MRSA and P. aeruginosaATCC 27853 strains, showing promising results. This study describes for the first time the isolation of a Lys49 PLA2 from Lachesis snake venom and shows that peptides from specific regions of the sequence may constitute new sources of molecules with biotechnological potential.
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