CD38 genetic variation is associated with increased personal distress to an emotional stimulus.

Genetic variation in CD38-a putative oxytocin pathway gene-has been linked to higher oxytocin levels, empathy, and sensitive parenting, but also to more negative interpersonal outcomes (e.g., alienation from friends and family, poorer romantic relationship quality). To reconcile these seemingly contradictory findings, we drew upon the idea that CD38 variation may heighten social-emotional sensitivity and, consequently, make individuals prone to negative emotions in distressing interpersonal situations. To test this hypothesis, we performed a secondary analysis of a dataset including participants' (n = 171; 94 females) empathic concern ("sympathetic") and distress-related ("anxious") responses to an emotional video. Distress responses were higher for the CD38 rs3796863 AA/AC group vs. the CC group (p = 0.03, η2 = 0.027); however, there was no significant effect of genotype for empathic concern responses to the video or for indices of trait empathy. These findings provide preliminary evidence that, in the face of an interpersonal stressor, CD38 genetic variation may predict more self-focused, aversive emotional reactions. More broadly, this finding highlights the need to adopt a more nuanced perspective in which the influence of oxytocin system variation (assessed by oxytocin-related genetic variation) should be considered in light of the social context.

From memory to motivation: Probing the relationship between episodic simulation, empathy, and helping intentions.

Research has documented a strong link between constructing episodic simulations-vivid imaginations of specific events-and empathy. To date, most studies have used episodic simulations of helping someone to facilitate affective empathy and promote helping intentions, but have not studied how episodic simulations of another's distressing situation affect empathy. Moreover, affective empathy encompasses both personal distress (i.e., an egocentric experience of distress in response to another's circumstances) and empathic concern (i.e., compassion for another), but we do not know how episodic simulations affect each component. To address these questions, we ran three experiments testing how different episodic simulations influenced personal distress and empathic concern, and thereby willingness to help. In Experiment 1 (N = 216), we found that participants who constructed episodic simulations of another's situation reported increased personal distress (but not empathic concern) and increased helping intentions compared to a control group; additional analyses revealed that personal distress mediated the simulation effect on helping. Furthermore, in Experiment 2 (N = 213), we contrasted episodic simulation of helping versus the distressing scenario; we found no differences in personal distress or helping intentions, but simulating helping led to higher empathic concern. Experiment 3 (N = 571) included both simulation conditions and a control condition; we fully replicated our findings, additionally showing that simulating a helping interaction increased personal distress, empathic concern, and helping intentions relative to the control condition, which consisted of prior work. Taken together, our work illustrates how distinct forms of episodic simulation differentially guide empathic responding and highlights the importance of personal distress in motivating helping. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Variability across time in implicit weight-related bias: Random noise or meaningful fluctuations?

Social psychologists have struggled with the vexing problem of variability over time in implicit bias. While many treat such variability as unexplainable error, we posit that some temporal variability, whether within persons or across society at large, reflects meaningful and predictable fluctuation based on shifts in the social-cultural context. We first examined fluctuations at the group-level in a Project Implicit data set of female participants who completed the Weight Implicit Association Test between 2004 and 2018 (N = 259,613). Extending our prior work showing that mass media celebrity fat-shaming increased women's implicit antifat bias, we show that celebrity body positivity events reduced such bias (Study 1a). We then focused on a specific form of body positivity-that is, celebrity "push-back" in response to fat-shaming. Whereas fat-shaming without antibias push-back was associated with spikes in negative weight attitudes, fat-shaming with push-back showed no change in such bias (Study 1b). Critically, however, closer analysis revealed that this apparent stability was due to the canceling out of opposing negative (fat-shaming) and subsequent positive (body positivity) influences-an effect that was obscured when the window of observation was expanded. Finally, in Study 2, we examined parallel effects at the individual level in a daily diary study. Consistent with the group-level, between-subjects data, women's intraindividual fluctuations in implicit attitudes were reliably predicted based on prior-day exposure to fat-shaming and/or body positivity influences. Taken together, our work highlights how both group- and individual-level variability across time can be meaningfully explained rather than treated as unexplainable or left as unexplained. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Shifting the sociometer: opioid receptor blockade lowers self-esteem.

Given the evolutionary importance of social ties for survival, humans are thought to have evolved psychobiological mechanisms to monitor and safeguard the status of their social bonds. At the psychological level, self-esteem is proposed to function as a gauge-'sociometer'-reflecting one's social belongingness status. At the biological level, endogenous opioids appear to be an important substrate for the hedonic signalling needed to regulate social behaviour. We investigated whether endogenous opioids may serve as the biological correlate of the sociometer. We administered 50 mg naltrexone (an opioid receptor antagonist) and placebo in a counterbalanced order to 26 male and female participants on two occasions ∼1 week apart. Participants reported lower levels of self-esteem-particularly self-liking-on the naltrexone (vs placebo) day. We also explored a potential behavioural consequence of naltrexone administration: attentional bias to accepting (smiling) faces-an early-stage perceptual process thought to maximize opportunities to restore social connection. Participants exhibited heightened attentional bias towards accepting faces on the naltrexone (vs placebo) day, which we interpret as an indicator of heightened social need under opioid receptor blockade. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of sociality as well as the relationship between adverse social conditions, low self-esteem and psychopathology.

The association between acute stress & empathy: A systematic literature review.

Empathy is a fundamental component of our social-emotional experience. Over the last decade, there has been increased interest in understanding the effects of acute stress on empathy. We provide a first comprehensive-and systematic-overview identifying emerging patterns and gaps in this literature. Regarding affective empathy, there is abundant evidence for stress contagion-the 'spillover' of stress from a stressed target to an unstressed perceiver. We highlight contextual factors that can facilitate and/or undermine these effects. Fewer studies have investigated the effects of acute stress on affective empathy, revealing a nuanced picture, some evidence suggests acute stress can block contagion of other's emotions; but again contextual differences need to be considered. Regarding cognitive empathy, most studies find no conclusive effects for simplistic measures of emotion recognition; however, studies using more complex empathy tasks find that acute stress might affect cognitive empathy differentially for men and women. This review provides an important first step towards understanding how acute stress can impact social-togetherness, and aims to aid future research by highlighting (in)congruencies and outstanding questions.

Stress and Stress-Induced Glucocorticoids Facilitate Empathic Accuracy in Men but Have No Effects for Women.

Empathy, the ability to understand the feelings of other people, is critical for navigating our social world and maintaining social connections. Given that acute stress, and resulting increased glucocorticoids, triggers a shift in two large-scale brain networks, prioritizing salience over executive control, we predicted that acute psychosocial stress would facilitate empathic accuracy. We also investigated the moderating role of gender, given that men typically show a more robust glucocorticoid response to acute stress than women. As predicted, results from two independent experiments (N = 267 college-age participants; 2,256 observations) showed that acute psychosocial stress facilitated empathic accuracy for men, an effect related to their glucocorticoid response in the stress condition. Conversely, psychosocial stress had no effect on empathic accuracy for women, who also showed a smaller cortisol response to stress than men. Exploratory analyses further revealed that women taking oral contraceptives performed worse on the empathic-accuracy task than regularly cycling women. This research highlights the important, but complex, role of stress in cognitive empathy.

The self and empathy: Lacking a clear and stable sense of self undermines empathy and helping behavior.

Empathy is fundamental to social functioning. Although empathy involves sharing the emotional experience of another, research also highlights the importance of distinguishing the self from the other for optimal empathic responding. Without adequate self-other distinction, sharing another person's emotions can induce personal distress, a self-focused aversive reaction that often leads to withdrawing from the situation, rather than empathic concern, an other-oriented response of care. To date, no work has examined the psychological factors that might facilitate such self-other distinction in the context of empathy. We show that self-concept clarity (SCC), the extent to which the self is clearly defined, coherent, and temporally stable, predicts empathic responding. In Study 1 (N = 453, student sample), we show that low SCC is associated with more dispositional empathic personal distress and less empathic concern. We replicate these dispositional associations in Study 2 (N = 319, community sample) and, using Batson's classic Katie Banks paradigm, show that these associations hold in an actual empathy-inducing situation. Moreover, in Study 2, SCC predicts helping behavior, an effect that is mediated by feelings of personal distress and empathic concern. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 658, community sample), we again use the Katie Banks paradigm but in an experimental framework; consistent with Study 2, state SCC predicts empathic personal distress, empathic concern and helping behavior. Our findings highlight the importance of a clear, coherent and stable self-concept for empathy, and suggest that interventions aimed at increasing empathy may be futile in the presence of a weak and unclear sense of self. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

How culturally unique are pandemic effects? Evaluating cultural similarities and differences in effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on COVID impacts.

Despite being bio-epidemiological phenomena, the causes and effects of pandemics are culturally influenced in ways that go beyond national boundaries. However, they are often studied in isolated pockets, and this fact makes it difficult to parse the unique influence of specific cultural psychologies. To help fill in this gap, the present study applies existing cultural theories via linear mixed modeling to test the influence of unique cultural factors in a multi-national sample (that moves beyond Western nations) on the effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on pandemic outcomes that include adverse financial impacts, adverse resource impacts, adverse psychological impacts, and the health impacts of COVID. Our study spanned 19 nations (participant N = 14,133) and involved translations into 9 languages. Linear mixed models revealed similarities across cultures, with both young persons and women reporting worse outcomes from COVID across the multi-national sample. However, these effects were generally qualified by culture-specific variance, and overall more evidence emerged for effects unique to each culture than effects similar across cultures. Follow-up analyses suggested this cultural variability was consistent with models of pre-existing inequalities and socioecological stressors exacerbating the effects of the pandemic. Collectively, this evidence highlights the importance of developing culturally flexible models for understanding the cross-cultural nature of pandemic psychology beyond typical WEIRD approaches.

Acute Psychosocial Stress Increases Cognitive-Effort Avoidance.

Adverse effects following acute stress are traditionally thought to reflect functional impairments of central executive-dependent cognitive-control processes. However, recent evidence demonstrates that cognitive-control application is perceived as effortful and aversive, indicating that stress-related decrements in cognitive performance could denote decreased motivation to expend effort instead. To investigate this hypothesis, we tested 40 young, healthy individuals (20 female, 20 male) under both stress and control conditions in a 2-day study that had a within-subjects design. Cognitive-effort avoidance was assessed using the demand-selection task, in which participants chose between performing low-demand and high-demand variants of a task-switching paradigm. We found that acute stress indeed increased participants' preference for less demanding behavior, whereas task-switching performance remained intact. Additional Bayesian and multiverse analyses confirmed the robustness of this effect. Our findings provide novel insights into how stressful experiences shape behavior by modulating our motivation to employ cognitive control.

CD38 is associated with bonding-relevant cognitions and relationship satisfaction over the first 3 years of marriage.

Although there are numerous benefits to having a satisfying romantic relationship, maintaining high levels of relationship satisfaction is difficult. Many couples experience declines in relationship satisfaction in the early years of marriage, and such declines predict not only relationship dissolution but also poor mental and physical health. Several recent studies indicate that genetic variation on the CD38 gene (CD38), at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3796863, is associated with cognitions and behaviors related to pair bonding; we thus leveraged longitudinal data from a sample of newlywed couples (N = 139 genotyped individuals; 71 couples) to examine whether rs3796863 is associated with relationship maintenance processes and, in turn, relationship satisfaction in the early years of marriage. Replicating and extending prior research, we found that individuals with the CC genotype (vs. AC/AA) of rs3796863 reported higher levels of gratitude, trust, and forgiveness and that trust mediated the association between rs3796863 and marital satisfaction. Moreover, the benefits conferred to CC individuals lasted over the first 3 years of marriage. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the link between variation in CD38 rs3796863 and marital functioning over time.

Variation in the µ-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) and experiences of felt security in response to a romantic partner's quarrelsome behavior.

Research suggests that endogenous opioids play a key role in the creation and maintenance of attachment bonds. Opioids acting at the µ-opioid receptor mediate reward and analgesia and are thus thought to underlie feelings of comfort and warmth experienced in the presence of close others. Disruption of µ-opioidergic activity increases separation distress in animals, suggesting that low opioid states may contribute to social pain. Accordingly, a functional µ-opioid receptor (OPRM1) polymorphism (C77G in primates, A118G in humans) affecting opioidergic signaling has been associated with separation distress and attachment behavior in nonhuman primates, and social pain sensitivity in humans. However, no research has examined the effects of this polymorphism on socioemotional experience, and specifically felt security, in daily interactions between romantic partners. Using an event-contingent recording method, members of 92 cohabiting romantic couples reported their felt security and quarrelsome behavior in daily interactions with each other for 20 days. Consistent with prior work, findings suggested that, relative to AA homozygotes, G allele carriers were more sensitive to their partners' self-reported quarrelsome behaviors (e.g., criticism), showing a greater decline in felt security when their partners reported higher quarrelsome behavior than usual. This is the first study to link variation in OPRM1 with felt security toward romantic partners in everyday social interactions. More generally, this research supports the theory that the attachment system incorporated evolutionarily primitive pain-regulating opioidergic pathways. We also discuss implications of this work for understanding of differential vulnerability to health risks posed by social stress.

CD38 is associated with communal behavior, partner perceptions, affect and relationship adjustment in romantic relationships.

Given the significance of close relationships for human survival, it is thought that biological mechanisms evolved to support their initiation and maintenance. The neuropeptide oxytocin is one such candidate identified in non-human animal research. We investigated whether variation in CD38, a gene involved in oxytocin secretion and attachment behavior in rodents, predicts romantic relationship dynamics in daily life. Community couples participated in an event-contingent recording (ECR) study in which they reported their social behavior, perception of their partner's behavior, and affect during their interactions with one another over a 20-day period; couples also completed various measures of relationship adjustment. Out of the 111 couples (N = 222 individuals) who provided either ECR and/or relationship adjustment information, we had information on CD38 for 118 individuals. As hypothesized, variation in rs3796863, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) identified in prior work, predicted communal behaviors (e.g., the expression of affection), as well as overall relationship adjustment, such that individuals with the CC (vs. AC/AA) allele reported higher levels of communal behavior across their daily interactions with their romantic partner, as well as higher levels of relationship adjustment. Individuals with the CC (vs. AC/AA) allele of rs3796863 also reported less negative affect and felt insecurity in their interactions with their romantic partner. Notably, we found that variation in the romantic partner's rs3796863 SNP was related to the person's outcomes, independent of the person's rs3796863 genotype. These findings support the role of oxytocin in the interpersonal processes implicated in the maintenance of close relationships.

Stressed connections: cortisol levels following acute psychosocial stress disrupt affiliative mimicry in humans.

Mimicry, and especially spontaneous facial mimicry, is a rudimentary element of social-emotional experience that is well-conserved across numerous species. Although such mimicry is thought to be a relatively automatic process, research indicates that contextual factors can influence mimicry, especially in humans. Here, we extend this work by investigating the effect of acute psychosocial stress on spontaneous facial mimicry. Participants performed a spontaneous facial mimicry task with facial electromyography (fEMG) at baseline and approximately one month later, following an acute psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Results show that the magnitude of the endocrine stress response reduced zygomaticus major reactivity, and specifically spontaneous facial mimicry for positive social stimuli (i.e. smiles). Individuals with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol showed a more blunted fEMG response to smiles, but not to frowns. Conversely, stress had no effect on corrugator supercilii activation (i.e. frowning to frowns). These findings highlight the importance of the biological stress response system in this basic element of social-emotional experience.

Self-Concept Clarity and the Bodily Self: Malleability Across Modalities.

The self has fascinated scholars for centuries. Although theory suggests that the self-concept (cognitive self-understanding) and bodily self (pre-reflective awareness of one's body) are related, little work has examined this notion. To this end, in Study 1, participants reported on self-concept clarity (SCC) and completed the rubber hand illusion (RHI), a paradigm in which synchronous (vs. asynchronous) stimulation between a prosthetic hand and one's own hand leads one to "embody" the prosthetic hand. Whereas participants were equally susceptible to the RHI during synchronous stroking, low-SCC individuals were more vulnerable to the illusion during asynchronous stroking, when the effect is unwarranted. Conceptually replicating and extending this finding, in Study 2, low-SCC individuals were more susceptible to the body-swap illusion-the impression that another person's body is one's own. These findings suggest that a clear sense of self implies clarity and stability of both the self-concept and the bodily self.

Lower digit ratio and higher endogenous testosterone are associated with lower empathic accuracy.

Empathy is a cornerstone of human sociality. It has important consequences for our interpersonal relationships and for navigating our social world more generally. Although research has identified numerous psychological factors that can influence empathy, evidence suggests that empathy may also be rooted in our biology and, in particular, the gonadal steroid hormone testosterone. To date, much of the research linking testosterone and empathy has focused on the 2D:4D ratio (i.e., the ratio of the lengths of the index and ring fingers), and the results have been mixed. These mixed results, however, may be due to reliance on self-report measures to assess empathy, which can be vulnerable to self-presentation, as well as social-cultural norms about gender/sex differences in empathy. Moreover, although some have argued that digit ratio is an indicator of prenatal androgen exposure, the evidence for this to date is weak. Here, we aimed to follow up on this prior work, using a naturalistic empathic accuracy task in which participants dynamically track, in real-time, the emotional state of targets. We show that lower digit ratio (Study 1; N = 107) and higher circulating testosterone (Study 2; N = 76) are associated with poorer empathic accuracy performance; critically, these effects hold when controlling for sex/gender. In neither study, however, did we find effects on self-reported empathy. Our results highlight the limitations of self-report measures and support the notion that endogenous testosterone levels as well as 2D:4D ratio are related to key social-cognitive competencies like empathic accuracy.

Oxytocin Selectively Improves Empathic Accuracy: A Replication in Men and Novel Insights in Women.

BACKGROUND: Previously, oxytocin, a neuropeptide implicated in human social cognition and behavior, was shown to improve people's ability to dynamically track another's emotional state ("empathic accuracy") specifically for less socially proficient individuals-i.e., healthy adults who score higher on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ); conversely, oxytocin had no effect on empathic accuracy for more socially proficient individuals, who performed well following oxytocin and placebo. Here, we aimed to replicate this finding and investigate the effects of oxytocin on empathic accuracy in women. To date, women have been seriously underrepresented in human oxytocin research, and it is not known whether the effects observed in male-only samples apply to women. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial, we administered 24 IU intranasal oxytocin (and, on a separate occasion, a matching placebo) to 31 men and 40 women and then measured empathic accuracy. AQ was assessed at baseline (prior to drug administration). RESULTS: Replicating a 2010 study by Bartz et al., oxytocin selectively improved empathic accuracy for men who scored higher on the AQ, whereas oxytocin did not benefit their lower AQ counterparts. Conversely, we found no effect of oxytocin on empathic accuracy for women (regardless of their AQ score). CONCLUSIONS: In addition to speaking to reliability, this research is important given interest in using oxytocin to augment social functioning in some psychiatric disorders marked by social cognitive impairments. More generally, this research adds to our understanding of the biological systems that support human sociality and provides further evidence for the role of oxytocin therein.

Shaping the Body Politic: Mass Media Fat-Shaming Affects Implicit Anti-Fat Attitudes.

The human psyche is profoundly shaped by its cultural milieu; however, few studies have examined the dynamics of cultural influence in everyday life, especially when it comes to shaping people's automatic, implicit attitudes. In this quasi-experimental field study, we investigated the effect of transient, but salient, cultural messages-the pop-cultural phenomenon of celebrity "fat-shaming"-on implicit anti-fat attitudes in the population. Adopting the "copycat suicide" methodology, we identified 20 fat-shaming events in the media; next, we obtained data from Project Implicit of participants who had completed the Weight Implicit Association Test from 2004 to 2015. As predicted, fat-shaming led to a spike in women's (N=93,239) implicit anti-fat attitudes, with events of greater notoriety producing greater spikes. We also observed a general increase in implicit anti-fat attitudes over time. Although these passing comments may appear harmless, we show that feedback at the cultural level can be registered by the "body politic."

Maternal oxytocin predicts relationship survival during the perinatal transition period: Preliminary evidence.

It is well-known that the neuropeptide oxytocin plays a critical role regulating the formation of adult-adult pairbonds in non-human animals, and recent work suggests oxytocin may similarly play an important role in romantic bonding in humans. Specifically, endogenous oxytocin is predictive of a host of relationship-enhancing behaviors, relationship quality, and even relationship survival amongst newly dating couples. This work suggests that oxytocin can buffer romantic relationships, possibly during especially difficult transition periods. One challenge that many couples face is the birth of a child: a joyous event, but one that is recognized as a major life stressor nonetheless. We aimed to investigate whether maternal oxytocin buffers the parent-partner relationship during the perinatal transition period. To test this, we analyzed data from a longitudinal study of child-bearing women (N = 269) in which endogenous oxytocin was measured in blood plasma during the 1st and 3rd trimesters and at 7-9 weeks postpartum; relationship status was assessed at the outset and 2.5 years postpartum. As predicted, lower maternal oxytocin was associated with greater risk for relationship dissolution by the time the child was a toddler (p < .05). These findings directly replicate research showing that endogenous oxytocin predicts relationship survival in dating couples, but in a novel interpersonal context. That said, only a very small number (N = 7) of couples separated; this, of course, is unsurprising given that the perinatal transition period is not a time when couples typically choose to terminate their relationship. Nonetheless, these findings must be considered preliminary until replicated in future research.

Post-learning stress reduces the misinformation effect: effects of psychosocial stress on memory updating.

Episodic memories can be modified when exposed to new and related information. This phenomenon, known as memory updating, is generally thought to be adaptive but can also lead to incorporating false information into a memory trace. Given the well-known effects of stress on episodic memory, we used a false information paradigm to investigate if acute stress during memory updating (i.e., post-learning stage) affected false memory formation. In a between-subject design, young healthy participants completed the initial phases of the misinformation experiment - they studied an event via a slideshow and then were exposed a related narrative that contained misleading information about that event. After, half of the participants were exposed to acute psychosocial stress and the other half completed a control task. Once stress levels returned to baseline, all of the participants completed the final phase of the experiment, which was a memory test for slideshow that included items containing true facts and misinformation. Participants in the stress condition showed a reduced misinformation effect and were better able to discriminate true from false information compared to control participants. This pattern of results held even when participants were tested on the same memory test after a multiple day delay, illustrating the long-lasting effects of stress on false memory formation specifically, and memory updating generally. We discuss how our results add to the understanding of the time-dependent factors that moderate stress effects on memory, and speculate how stress effects on memory updating can be positive, by limiting intrusions into encoded events, but also negative, by limiting the ability to integrate information with other concepts, harming memory generalization.