Self-Protection as an Adaptive Female Strategy

Many male traits are well explained by sexual selection theory as adaptations to mating competition and mate choice, whereas no unifying theory explains traits expressed more in females. Anne Campbell's “staying alive” theory proposed that human females produce stronger self-protective reactions than males to aggressive threats because self-protection tends to have higher fitness value for females than males. We examined whether Campbell's theory has more general applicability by considering whether human females respond with greater self-protectiveness than males to other threats beyond aggression. We searched the literature for physiological, behavioral, and emotional responses to major physical and social threats, and found consistent support for females’ responding with greater self-protectiveness than males. Females mount stronger immune responses to many pathogens; experience a lower threshold to detect, and lesser tolerance of, pain; awaken more frequently at night; express greater concern about physically dangerous stimuli; exert more effort to avoid social conflicts; exhibit a personality style more focused on life's dangers; react to threats with greater fear, disgust and sadness; and develop more threat-based clinical conditions than males. Our findings suggest that in relation to threat human females have relatively heightened protective reactions compared to males. The pervasiveness of this result across multiple domains suggests that general mechanisms might exist underlying females’ unique adaptations. An understanding of such processes would enhance knowledge of female health and well-being.

On European Green Deal and Sustainable Development Policy (the Case of Romania)

Reaching the EU climate-neutrality objective in 2050 is very ambitious, especially for the Member States from Central-Eastern Europe. All the Member States will face challenges of transformational changes, but a good preparation of their administrative capacity will be a consistent support. The aim of this article is to analyze Romania’s decision-making process for the implementation of the European Green Deal Strategy, reflected in its administrative capacity. For achieving this goal, an interesting model of analysis was elaborated, which takes into consideration three levels and dimensions: strategic (with executive and legislative dimensions), administrative (national and regional dimensions) and outcomes (assessed from a well-being lens and public opinions surveys). The model will be applied at the European and national levels (Romania). It uses qualitative research strategies and methods. The transversal character of the EGD strategy, the coordination needed for its implementation, and the interdependencies and regional approach are important components that pave the way for the elaboration of the National Green Deal Plan, which becomes compulsory for an adequate design of the sustainable, adaptive, and mature Romanian administrative capacity. In addition, the article proposes a few recommendations at the national and local levels for the preparation of a better implementation of the EGD.

Who is it okay to punch?

A popular contemporary meme involves the social acceptability of “punching Nazis.” This phenomenon raises the question: what characteristics make a group or member of a group more or less “punch-able”? More broadly, what group attributes yield support for physical violence against them? In this study, we build on the extant psychology literature on intergroup processes to look at what leads individuals to find physical violence against a group acceptable, and if the factors that lead to such acceptance differ from those that lead to sheer affective intolerance. We use two experimental tasks to test expectations built on prominent theories. In a “real-world rating task,” participants evaluated a series of real-world groups and individuals with varying characteristics such as race, ideology, intelligence, warmth, and tendency toward violence. Also, in a conjoint experiment, participants chose between two groups in terms of which they would support being punched, as various attributes were manipulated such as race, expressed ideological values, partisanship, income, tendency toward violence, and being described as disgusting or threatening. We find consistent support for effects of political alignment (particularly, expressed ideological values related to dominance) and perceived tendency toward violence, as well as mixed findings for race and several other factors. These findings synthesize theories on intergroup conflict with contemporary findings on affective polarization.

Shape–Trait Consistency: The Matching Effect of Consumer Power State and Shape Preference

Angular and rounded shapes are two important visual elements widely used in the design of product shapes and brand logos. By introducing the power state, a psychological variable that is inherently relevant to consumers' product choices, brand preferences, and decision-making, we propose that consumers' power state influences their shape preference. Specifically, compared to low-power consumers, high-power consumers respond more positively to angular as opposed to rounded shapes, because the angular shape facilitates the expression of competence (as opposed to warmth). Through four studies, we provide consistent support for our main predictions as well as the underlying processes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that consumers experiencing higher power are more likely to prefer an angular shape over a rounded shape than those experiencing lower power through different research methods, research objects, and experimental materials. On this basis, studies 3 and 4 further explore the mechanisms underlying the observed effects. These findings contribute to sensory marketing and power research and provide important implications for visual design and advertisement development.

A close look at change: the role of an instructional-team community on an Instructor’s evolution during instructional reform

In transforming undergraduate STEM education, it is important to understand the personal and contextual factors that impact instructors’ reform efforts. In this study we explored an instructor’s drivers and motivators for change in perspectives and practice, with an emphasis on the impact of an internal community (her ‘instructional team’) comprised of a co-instructor, graduate teaching assistants, and several undergraduate learning assistants (LAs). Data were collected over two semesters through classroom observations, interviews, faculty learning community discussion recordings, and team email communications. We identified pedagogical discontentment as a primary initial trigger for the instructor’s engagement in instructional reform, guided by personal values and beliefs about student learning and the nature of her discipline. The instructional-team community, which was established during a period of instructional distress, provided 1) consistent support in instructional planning, implementation, assessment, and reflection processes, 2) unique access to different perspectives on the nuances of the teaching environment and student challenges, 3) increased space, time, and motivation for the instructor to more critically reflect on her teaching and engage in creative instructional design. This case illustrates the potential effects of instructional team-based communities on instructors as they work to improve their practice and reform their courses.

Nationality Effects on the Allocation of Playing Time in the Chinese Basketball Association: Xenophilia or Xenophobia?

This paper uses 2011–2019 data from the Chinese Basketball Association to assess the determinants of playing time with a focus on the effects of players’ national origin. Playing time is explained by an array of standard performance variables as well as each player's characteristics (such as age, height, and weight). Controlling for these factors, we test for whether there is any evidence of preferential treatment for foreign players over Chinese players. Our findings, using both a fixed effects model and the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach, offer consistent support for discrimination in favor of U.S. players and other foreign nationals. Intriguingly, Chinese coaches discriminate against Chinese players even more than non-Chinese coaches. We argue that foreign players draw attendance and hence receive more playing time than is justified by their performance alone.

USING MODEL-BASED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FOR NEED-BASED AND CONSISTENT SUPPORT OF THE DESIGN PROCESS

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is an efficient approach to support product development in order to meet today's challenges. The MBSE approach includes methods and, above all, modelling approaches of the technical system with the aim of continuous use in development. The objective of this paper is to use the potential of the MBSE models and to show the added value of such models on the system level when used as a single source. With this objective, this paper presents a three-step approach to systematically identify and apply meaningful modelling approaches within MBSE, based on the needs during the development process. Furthermore, an FMEA example is included in this paper to elaborate the use of MBSE in the system failure analysis.

Legitimacy of Authority and Protest Actions in Response to Collective Disadvantages

A wealth of evidence has demonstrated that individuals’ participation in collective actions largely derives from perceived group disadvantages. In the present research, we hypothesized that engagement in protest activities can be attenuated if the disadvantages originate from legitimate figures of authority. Across three experiments based on vignettes describing a hypothetical work setting (total N = 670), we found consistent support for this prediction. In Study 1, we showed that intention to participate in a protest movement in reaction to an unfavourable distribution of outcomes was lower when legitimacy of the group’s authority was high (vs. low). In addition, a reduction in anger was found to play a mediating role. Studies 2 and 3 further demonstrated that these effects only occurred when participants were confronted with a relatively low disadvantage (as opposed to a high disadvantage). In an attempt to identify underlying mechanisms, Study 3 emphasized the moral implications that lie behind responses to high (vs. low) disadvantageous decisions and that shape resistance processes. Taken together, these findings call for more consideration for the role of group authorities in the comprehension of collective action tendencies and give insights to better understand how and when authority legitimacy can serve to perpetuate social disparities and hinders the fight against injustices.

To what extent do erotic images elicit visuospatial versus cognitive attentional processes? Consistent support for a (non-spatial) Sexual Content-Induced Delay

It is almost a cultural truism that erotic images attract our attention, presumably because paying attention to erotic stimuli provided our ancestors with mating benefits. Attention, however, can be narrowly defined as visuospatial attention (keeping such stimuli in view) or more broadly as cognitive attention (such stimuli taking up one’s thoughts). We present four independent studies aiming to test the extent to which erotic images have priority in capturing visuospatial versus cognitive attention. Whereas the former would show in quicker reactions to stimuli presented in locations where erotic images appeared previously, the latter causes delayed responding after erotic images, independent of their location). To this end, we specifically modified spatial cueing tasks to disentangle visuospatial attention capture from general sexual content-induced delay (SCID) effects—a major drawback in the previous literature. Consistently across all studies (total N = 399), we found no evidence in support of visuospatial attention capture but reliably observed an unspecific delay of responding for trials in which erotic images appeared (irrespective of cue location). This SCID is equally large for heterosexual men and women and reliably associated with their self-reported sexual excitability.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Americans’ Attitudes toward China: Does Local Incidence Rate Matter?

Linking local COVID-19 and population statistics to a U.S.-based survey we recently conducted, we study the spatial variation in the impact of COVID-19 on Americans’ attitudes toward China. The research strategy capitalizes on differential local COVID-19 incidence rates as varying dosages of the COVID-19 impact across local contexts in the U.S. Our results reveal negative yet heterogeneous effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Americans’ attitudes toward China. We find that a greater local exposure to COVID-19 is associated with a lower level of trust in Chinese and a less favorable attitude toward China. These findings lend consistent support to behavioral immune system theory by bridging the literature on contextual variations in public opinion, with broader implications for U.S.–China relations.