Feeling better in the presence of others: It may depend on whether you are a man or a woman

Previous research has suggested that it is good to have other people around us. Indeed, there seems to be a generally positive impact of the presence of others on individuals’ physical and psychological well-being. In the current work, we examine if these positive experiences may be promoted by the mere presence of nonsignificant others in our environment, during a brief period. Specifically, in two experiments, we compared how being in the presence of others (co-action) versus being alone impacts how participants feel at the moment (mood, Experiment 1) and how satisfied they feel about their lives (general well-being, Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, we also manipulated the nature of the task (i.e., demanding/threatening vs. nondemanding). Both experiments revealed that participants feel more positive when in the presence of others. However, important gender differences occurred: mood enhancement for women (vs. men) only occurred when the task was nondemanding. In the case of life satisfaction, only women were sensitive to the presence of others. We discuss how these effects inform the social facilitation literature.

National Culture and Culinary Exploration: Japan Evidence of Heterogenous Moderating Roles of Social Facilitation

This article explores the role of national culture in the culinary consumption behavior of international tourists and the moderating influence of different types of travel companions. Study 1 adopted a text-mining, topical modeling approach to process useful reviews (n = 7,803) posted at TripAdvisor by users from 86 countries. Study 2 develops and tests a conceptual model of the relationships between national culture and culinary choices including culinary types and range of culinary choices, based on a secondary dataset of large-scale surveys from the tourism authority of the destination containing 9,141 responses by tourists from over 60 countries or regions. The results reveal that both Uncertainty Avoidance and Individualism-Collectivism have significant effects on tourist food consumption categories and the range of culinary choices. The study also evaluated the role of the moderating effect of travel companions, and results supported the significant relationship on the range of culinary choices when the tourists were accompanied by different types of travel companions.

Exploration-Avoidance and an Anthropogenic Toxin (Lead Pb) in a Wild Parrot (Kea: Nestor notabilis)

<p><b>The ecological study of personality in animals is a relatively new field of behavioural investigation and of increasing importance to wildlife conservation. Kea (Nestor notabilis), hill country parrots endemic to South Island, New Zealand, are a good model for studying personality in an ecological context because they have a neophilic and explorative nature and are accessible for experimentation in the field. The study of personality is relevant to kea conservation if particular personality types (e.g., explorative) cause increased mortality, especially where kea come into contact with anthropogenic dangers. Its relevance may be even greater if, due to kea's social nature, social facilitation spreads that risk to other personality types. In this study I use experimental presentations of novel objects to investigate individual variation in exploration-avoidance behaviour in kea and apply my findings to the risk of lead exposure and poisoning because lead is present as novel objects in kea habitat. Analyses of blood lead levels and reactions to novel objects indicate that sex and age class, but more specifically personality, underlie a kea's reactions to novel objects and lead objects. Kea with explorative personalities have higher blood lead levels than aversive individuals. My results also indicate that social context, i.e., the presence of conspecifics and group size, are influential. Kea are more inclined to investigate novel objects in the presence of conspecifics, indicating that social facilitation plays a role in the exploration of novelty. Significant relationships between dominance category and behavioural response to novel objects indicates that social rank is related to personality, with dominant individuals being more explorative and subordinate individuals less explorative. These results highlight the potentially heavy cost of explorativity where kea and human habitats overlap. Explorative kea may be subject to an increased risk of injury or death and, if they facilitate exploration in aversive kea, increases the risk to those kea as well. Lead is a known cause of death in kea and as such affects kea survival. Lead has also been shown to have deleterious effects on other species at low levels.</b></p> <p>Kea live in a highly seasonal and periodically severe environment, the dangers of which arecompounded by various anthropogenic hazards including lead exposure. Kea are a longlivedand slowreproducing species at a high risk of decline from even a small reduction in itssurvival rate an imposed reduction in numbers could result in nonrecovery.</p>

Exploration-Avoidance and an Anthropogenic Toxin (Lead Pb) in a Wild Parrot (Kea: Nestor notabilis)

<p><b>The ecological study of personality in animals is a relatively new field of behavioural investigation and of increasing importance to wildlife conservation. Kea (Nestor notabilis), hill country parrots endemic to South Island, New Zealand, are a good model for studying personality in an ecological context because they have a neophilic and explorative nature and are accessible for experimentation in the field. The study of personality is relevant to kea conservation if particular personality types (e.g., explorative) cause increased mortality, especially where kea come into contact with anthropogenic dangers. Its relevance may be even greater if, due to kea's social nature, social facilitation spreads that risk to other personality types. In this study I use experimental presentations of novel objects to investigate individual variation in exploration-avoidance behaviour in kea and apply my findings to the risk of lead exposure and poisoning because lead is present as novel objects in kea habitat. Analyses of blood lead levels and reactions to novel objects indicate that sex and age class, but more specifically personality, underlie a kea's reactions to novel objects and lead objects. Kea with explorative personalities have higher blood lead levels than aversive individuals. My results also indicate that social context, i.e., the presence of conspecifics and group size, are influential. Kea are more inclined to investigate novel objects in the presence of conspecifics, indicating that social facilitation plays a role in the exploration of novelty. Significant relationships between dominance category and behavioural response to novel objects indicates that social rank is related to personality, with dominant individuals being more explorative and subordinate individuals less explorative. These results highlight the potentially heavy cost of explorativity where kea and human habitats overlap. Explorative kea may be subject to an increased risk of injury or death and, if they facilitate exploration in aversive kea, increases the risk to those kea as well. Lead is a known cause of death in kea and as such affects kea survival. Lead has also been shown to have deleterious effects on other species at low levels.</b></p> <p>Kea live in a highly seasonal and periodically severe environment, the dangers of which arecompounded by various anthropogenic hazards including lead exposure. Kea are a longlivedand slowreproducing species at a high risk of decline from even a small reduction in itssurvival rate an imposed reduction in numbers could result in nonrecovery.</p>

Peer Presence Effect on Numerosity and Phonological Comparisons in 4th Graders: When Working with a SchoolMate Makes Children More Adult-like

Little is known about how peers’ mere presence may, in itself, affect academic learning and achievement. The present study addresses this issue by exploring whether and how the presence of a familiar peer affects performance in a task assessing basic numeracy and literacy skills: numerosity and phonological comparisons. We tested 99 fourth-graders either alone or with a classmate. Ninety-seven college-aged young adults were also tested on the same task, either alone or with a familiar peer. Peer presence yielded a reaction time (RT) speedup in children, and this social facilitation was at least as important as that seen in adults. RT distribution analyses indicated that the presence of a familiar peer promotes the emergence of adult-like features in children. This included shorter and less variable reaction times (confirmed by an ex-Gaussian analysis), increased use of an optimal response strategy, and, based on Ratcliff’s diffusion model, speeded up nondecision (memory and/or motor) processes. Peer presence thus allowed children to at least narrow (for demanding phonological comparisons), and at best, virtually fill in (for unchallenging numerosity comparisons) the developmental gap separating them from adult levels of performance. These findings confirm the influence of peer presence on skills relevant to education and lay the groundwork for exploring how the brain mechanisms mediating this fundamental social influence evolve during development.