scholarly journals The Motivational Power of the Happy Face

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Happy Face ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Time Asymmetry ◽  
Motivational Effect ◽  
Avoidance Reactions

People who are cheerful have better social relationships. This might be the case because happy faces communicate an invitation to interact. Thus, happy faces might have a strong motivational effect on others. We tested this hypothesis in a set of four studies. Study 1 (N = 94) showed that approach reactions to happy faces are faster than other reactions to happy or angry faces. Study 2 (N = 99) found the same effect when comparing reactions to happy faces with reactions to disgusted faces. Supporting the notion that this effect is related to motivation, habitual social approach motivation intensified the motivational effect of happy faces (Study 3, N = 82). Finally, Study 4 (N = 40) showed that the reaction-time asymmetry does not hold for categorization tasks without approach and avoidance movements. These studies demonstrate that happy faces have a strong motivational power. They seem to activate approach reactions more strongly than angry or disgusted faces activate avoidance reactions.

scholarly journals Who Cares? Effects of Social Approach and Avoidance Motivation on Responsiveness to Others

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Relationship Closeness ◽  
Approach And Avoidance Motivation

Responsiveness to others (i.e., our understanding, validation, and support of important aspects of others) significantly contributes to positive social relationships. In the present research, we found evidence that responsiveness has motivational origins. In two experiments, participants who were approaching positive social outcomes had a higher level of responsiveness compared with participants who were avoiding negative social outcomes. A third experiment disentangled the roles of motivation and situation valence. Positive (compared with negative) social situations were associated with higher approach motivation, lower avoidance motivation, and a higher level of responsiveness. However, within a given situation, both approach and avoidance motivation were associated with a higher level of responsiveness. This association was even stronger in negative situations, suggesting that both approach and avoidance motivation might be ways of behaving responsively in potentially difficult social situations. The effects were independent of relationship closeness and partly weaker in older compared with younger adults.

The Effects of Priming-Induced Social Approach and Avoidance Goals on the Exploration of Goal-Relevant Stimuli

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarek Krajewski ◽  
Martin Sauerland ◽  
Michael Muessigmann
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Avoidance Goals ◽  
Avoidance Reactions ◽  
Avoidance Responses

This article presents an experiment testing the assumption that humans show clear avoidance reactions to possible nonbeneficial social contacts, even without conscious awareness. When the potential costs of interpersonal contacts are salient, people quickly respond to and extensively explore those situational configurations that are relevant to experimentally induced goals. A priming procedure was used to activate potential costs or benefits of interpersonal contacts or neutral aspects. To assess the unconscious activation of social approach or avoidance responses we chose three parameters reflecting participants’ eye movements on different pictures that contained (1) social and (2) nonsocial flight- and avoidance-relevant areas (areas of interest, AOI). Participants primed with the costs (benefits) of social contacts explored nonsocial (social) AOI on the presented pictures significantly longer than participants who were primed with the benefits (costs) of interpersonal contacts.

Social Motives Predict Loneliness During a Developmental Transition

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Developmental Transitions ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.

scholarly journals Approach motivation in human cerebral cortex

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20170141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Brookshire ◽  
Daniel Casasanto
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hemispheric Specialization ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Human Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Motor Actions ◽  
The Way

Different regions of the human cerebral cortex are specialized for different emotions, but the principles underlying this specialization have remained unknown. According to thesword and shield hypothesis, hemispheric specialization for affective motivation, a basic dimension of human emotion, varies across individuals according to the way they use their hands to perform approach- and avoidance-related actions. In a test of this hypothesis, here we measured approach motivation before and after five sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation to increase excitation in the left or right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, in healthy adults whose handedness ranged from strongly left-handed to strongly right-handed. The strength and direction of participants' handedness predicted whether electrical stimulation to frontal cortex caused an increase or decrease in their experience of approach-related emotions. The organization of approach motivation in the human cerebral cortex varies across individuals as predicted by the organization of the individuals’ motor systems. These results show that the large-scale cortical organization of abstract concepts corresponds with the way people use their hands to interact with the world. Affective motivation may re-use neural circuits that evolved for performing approach- and avoidance-related motor actions.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.

scholarly journals Effects of intranasal oxytocin administration on empathy and approach motivation in women with borderline personality disorder: a randomized controlled trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Domes ◽  
Nicole Ower ◽  
Bernadette von Dawans ◽  
Franny B. Spengler ◽  
Isabel Dziobek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Dose ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Beneficial Effect ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Approach Motivation ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Social Approach

AbstractBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by severe interpersonal dysfunction with problems in social cognition, empathy and social approach. Although the neuropeptide oxytocin is known to regulate complex social cognition and behavior in healthy individuals and clinical populations, there is still a lack of evidence for a potential beneficial effect of oxytocin administration on social cognition and social approach in BPD. Fifty-one women with BPD and 51 matched healthy controls were randomized to a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject experimental trial. We administered a single dose of 24 IU oxytocin or placebo intranasally prior to a standardized task measuring affective and cognitive empathy and approach motivation. All participants were free of hormonal contraception and tested in the mid-luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. In the placebo condition, patients with BPD showed reduced cognitive and affective empathy, and less approach behavior motivation than healthy controls. Intranasal oxytocin significantly increased affective empathy and approach motivation in both BPD patients and healthy controls compared to placebo. More importantly, oxytocin administration led to similar scores between BPD and healthy controls. These findings provide the first evidence for a beneficial effect of oxytocin on deficits in affective empathy and approach motivation of BPD. Our results indicate a beneficial effect of a single dose of oxytocin on affective empathy and approach motivation in women with BPD adapting their level of social functioning to healthy controls. Future clinical trials will need to investigate the long-term effects and effectiveness of oxytocin as an add-on treatment for social impairments in BPD.

scholarly journals Effects of Facial Skin Smoothness and Blemishes on Trait Impressions

Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 608-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Jaeger ◽  
Fieke M. A. Wagemans ◽  
Anthony M. Evans ◽  
Ilja van Beest
Keyword(s):  
Negative Influence ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Facial Skin ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Smooth Skin ◽  
Trait Inferences ◽  
Trait Impressions ◽  
Positive Effect

People make trait inferences based on facial appearance, and these inferences guide social approach and avoidance. Here, we investigate the effects of textural features on trait impressions from faces. In contrast to previous work, which exclusively manipulated skin smoothness, we manipulated smoothness and the presence of skin blemishes independently (Study 1) and orthogonally (Study 2). We hypothesized that people are particularly sensitive to skin blemishes because blemishes potentially indicate poor health and the presence of an infectious disease. We therefore predicted that the negative effect of blemished skin is stronger than the positive effect of smoothed skin. The results of both studies are in line with this reasoning. Across ratings of trustworthiness, competence, maturity, attractiveness, and health, the negative influence of skin blemishes was stronger and more consistent than the positive influence of skin smoothness (Study 1). Moreover, the presence of skin blemishes diminished the positive effect of skin smoothness on attractiveness ratings (Study 2). In sum, both facial skin blemishes and facial skin smoothness influence trait impression, but the negative effect of blemished skin is larger and more salient than the positive effect of smooth skin.

scholarly journals Effect of Handedness and Footedness on Some Motoric Characteristics in Amateur Soccer Players

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Deniz Özge Yüceloğlu Keskin ◽  
Osman İmamoğlu ◽  
Menderes Kabadayı
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Hand Preference ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Soccer Players ◽  
Time Asymmetry ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Right ◽  
Hands And Feet

The present study aims to compare the strength of right and left legs and reaction times of soccer players depending on their hand and foot preferences. The study included 92 volunteers chosen from amateur soccer players. The measurements conducted on the subjects were anthropometric characteristics, foot reaction times (sound, light) and right and left foot squat parameters. The t-test was used for statistical procedures. Among the amateur soccer players who participated in this study, it was found that 19.57% used left hand and 67.39% used right hand as preferred. Soccer players using both hands equally were found with a rate of 13.4%. In terms of foot preference, it was found that 22.83% of the participants used left foot and 43.48% of the participants used right foot as preferred. The soccer players using both feet equally was found as 33.70%. No significant difference was found between right handers and left handers in reaction time measurements when the soccer players were grouped by hand preference. When compared with left footed players (0.29 sec), only the right foot sound reaction time of right footed players was significantly shorter (0.21 sec) at p<. 05 level. Statistically significant correlation was found between soccer players’ hand and foot preference at a level of p< 0.01. Left footed players had significantly higher left leg mean squat (37.19 kg) when compared with right footed players (32.27 kg). No significant difference was found between right footed (35.36 kg) and left footed (33.98) subjects in terms of mean of right leg squat. Conclusion: According to the hand preference, the proportion of those who use equally two feet increased. Reaction times and force's squat of the dominant hands and feet were better. Training programs for soccer players planned according to individual characteristics including footedness may result in performance increase and decrease in injury as a result of reduced strength and reaction time asymmetry between legs and arms.

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