The relationship between college students' belief in a just world and online prosocial behavior.

Previous studies have highlighted the critical role that the belief in a just world (BJW) plays in maintaining and promoting prosocial behaviors within individuals. Considered a stable personality trait, the crux of BJW lies in the conviction that individuals receive what they deserve, and deserve what they receive. Simultaneously, the relationship between BJW and prosocial behavior is impacted by an individual's sense of fairness or unfairness. However, past research has primarily focused on real-life prosocial behavior, with limited exploration into the relationship between BJW and online prosocial behavior. This study, comprising a survey and an experiment, aimed to delve deeper into this relationship. The survey section randomly selected 4212 college students to examine how BJW correlates with online prosocial behavior. Findings predominantly revealed a significant positive correlation between online prosocial behavior and BJW. Additionally, the study explored how gender and place of origin influence these behaviors. Results showed that male students and those from urban areas exhibited significantly higher online prosocial behavior. The experimental research investigated the performance differences in online prosocial behaviors among college students under different fairness scenarios, revealing that the online prosocial behavior in an unfair situation was significantly higher than in fair or neutral situations. Furthermore, in unfair situations, a significant correlation was observed between BJW and online prosocial behavior. The findings from this study significantly advance our understanding of the dynamics between BJW and online prosocial behavior among college students, emphasizing that perceived injustices can markedly enhance prosocial behaviors in virtual settings. This study underscores the profound impact of fairness perceptions and highlights the modulating effects of gender and geographical background on online interactions.

Associations between moral disengagement and prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to summarize the available evidence on the extent of the association between moral disengagement (MD) and prosocial behavior (PB) and antisocial behavior (AB) in sport. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Seven databases were systematically searched and literature screening, and the risk of bias of included studies was evaluated using a quality assessment tool. The CMA Version 3.3 was applied to estimate confidence intervals for the average effect sizes. The Q statistic and I-squared index were used to test for heterogeneity. Funnel plots, fail-safe numbers (Nfs), and Egger's linear regression were used to analyze publication bias. Sensitivity analyses were used to identify outliers, and subgroup analyses and meta-regression were used to test potential moderators. RESULTS: Twenty-nine studies were included, and the results showed the negative correlation between MD and PB in sport was small in size (r = -0.22, 95% CI [-0.30, -0.14]), while the positive correlation between MD and AB in sport was large in size (r = 0.53, 95% CI [0.48, 0.59]). More specifically, MD was negatively correlated with PB toward teammates (r = -0.07, 95% CI [-0.12, -0.01]) and PB toward opponents (r = -0.09, 95% CI [-0.18, -0.01]), with very small effect sizes, but positively correlated with AB toward teammates (r = 0.43, 95% CI [0.35, 0.51]) and AB toward opponents (r = 0.56, 95% CI [0.49, 0.63]), with medium to large effect sizes. Subgroup analyses revealed that individualism-collectivism and sports type moderated the association between MD and AB. DISCUSSION: Mechanisms of moral disengagement were more strongly associated with antisocial behaviors than prosocial behaviors in sport. In the future, there is a necessity to conduct further research on non-contact sports and different subtypes of antisocial behavior using high-quality study designs.

Toddlers' Helping Behavior Is Affected by the Effortful Costs Associated With Helping Others.

Although the presence of early helping behavior has been firmly established, it is unclear to what extent children are willing to adopt costs to help others, as well as how this willingness changes as children get older. Canadian 21- to 36-month-olds (N = 48) participated in four helping tasks varying in the type and degree of effort required to help (lifting force, cognitive load, the number of steps in a task, and pushing force). When costs were lower, toddlers were not only more likely to help but also provided help more readily and helped in ways that prioritized others' needs. Importantly, we found that age and how costly helping was to individual children each uniquely predicted high-cost helping, but not low-cost helping. Overall, we demonstrate that toddlers' helping is sensitive to a variety of effortful costs, while simultaneously demonstrating that maturation and individual costs appear to uniquely influence high-cost helping.

Relations between perceived social support and prosocial behavior among Chinese college students during online learning: Testing mediation and moderation models of meaning in life.

Base the protective role of perceived social support and meaning in life, the function of meaning in life as a mediator and moderator of perceived social support and prosocial behavior among Chinese college students enrolled in online learning was examined in this study. This survey was completed by 459 college students in total (Mean age = 19.65, SD = 1.21). The results shown that Chinese college students' perceived social support and prosocial behavior during online learning were significant lower than normal offline learning, but meaning in life was no significant difference. Perceived social support, prosocial behavior and meaning in life were all positive correlated with each other. The relationship between perceived social support and prosocial behavior was mediated and moderated by meaning in life. These findings enrich the research on prosocial behavior among college students by examining possible pathways linking factors associated to prosocial behavior during online learning. The findings suggest the need to promote prosocial behavior development through cultivate perceived social support and meaning in life among college students.

AI-induced indifference: Unfair AI reduces prosociality.

The growing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) in our lives has brought the impact of AI-based decisions on human judgments to the forefront of academic scholarship and public debate. Despite growth in research on people's receptivity towards AI, little is known about how interacting with AI shapes subsequent interactions among people. We explore this question in the context of unfair decisions determined by AI versus humans and focus on the spillover effects of experiencing such decisions on the propensity to act prosocially. Four experiments (combined N = 2425) show that receiving an unfair allocation by an AI (versus a human) actor leads to lower rates of prosocial behavior towards other humans in a subsequent decision-an effect we term AI-induced indifference. In Experiment 1, after receiving an unfair monetary allocation by an AI (versus a human) actor, people were less likely to act prosocially, defined as punishing an unfair human actor at a personal cost in a subsequent, unrelated decision. Experiments 2a and 2b provide evidence for the underlying mechanism: People blame AI actors less than their human counterparts for unfair behavior, decreasing people's desire to subsequently sanction injustice by punishing the unfair actor. In an incentive-compatible design, Experiment 3 shows that AI-induced indifference manifests even when the initial unfair decision and subsequent interaction occur in different contexts. These findings illustrate the spillover effect of human-AI interaction on human-to-human interactions and suggest that interacting with unfair AI may desensitize people to the bad behavior of others, reducing their likelihood to act prosocially. Implications for future research are discussed. All preregistrations, data, code, statistical outputs, stimuli qsf files, and the Supplementary Appendix are posted on OSF at: https://bit.ly/OSF_unfairAI.

Infant sensitivity to social contingency moderates the predictive link between early maternal reciprocity and infants' emerging social behavior.

The scientific study of love underscores the importance of dyadic reciprocity in laying the foundation for infants' social development. While research establishes links between early reciprocity and children's social capacities, some infants appear to benefit from reciprocity more than others. A central feature of reciprocity is its contingent structure, that is, the extent to which maternal behaviors are temporally associated with and contingent upon infants' dynamically changing cues. As such, infants' sensitivity to social contingencies may define the extent to which an infant benefits from maternal reciprocity. The current study examined the role of infants' sensitivity to social contingency (SC) in moderating associations between early maternal reciprocity and subsequent infants' social behavior. The study followed 157 children (47% females), across the first year of life (4, 10, and 12 months) and at preschool age (48 months). Infants' SC at 4 and 10 months moderated the link between early maternal reciprocity and infants' prosocial behavior observed at 12 months. SC at 10 months moderated the link between early reciprocity and reported peer problems at 48 months. Maternal reciprocity predicted more helping behavior in infancy and fewer peer problems at preschool, but only for infants who displayed high SC. Findings highlight the contingent nature of reciprocal mother-infant interactions revealing that an infant's sensitivity to breaks in social-contingency moderates the developmental benefit of reciprocity. Future research is necessary to directly test the underlying mechanisms of these processes and better understand the individual characteristics of infants' sensitivity to social contingency and its' role in typical and atypical development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Individual differences in infants' sensitivity to breaks in social contingencies may moderate the extent to which infants benefit from contingent reciprocal maternal behavior (i.e., maternal reciprocity). Maternal reciprocity predicted more helping behavior in infancy and fewer peer problems at preschool, but only for infants who displayed high sensitivity to breaks in social contingency. Findings highlight the contingent nature of reciprocal mother-infant interactions revealing that infants' sensitivity to breaks in social-contingency moderates the developmental benefit of reciprocity. Findings emphasize the need to develop measurement methods and direct empirical attention to the important yet understudied individual characteristic of infants' sensitivity to social contingency and its role in shaping social development.

Longitudinal associations between parental psychological control and adolescents' intergroup attitudes to prosocial behaviors towards ethnic outgroups.

INTRODUCTION: While a substantial body of existing literature has examined the negative effects of parental psychological control on adolescents' prosocial behaviors, there is a noticeable gap in whether parental psychological control affects prosocial behaviors towards ethnic outgroup members. This three-wave longitudinal study investigated whether similar relations can be observed between parental psychological control and prosocial behaviors targeted at ethnic outgroup persons, and whether these relations are mediated by adolescents' intergroup attitudes. METHODS: Participants were 412 European American adolescents (42% girls; Mage = 15.63 years at Time 1) and their primary caregivers (52% mothers) residing in the United States. They completed online questionnaires. Parents completed a measure of parental psychological control at Time 1. Adolescents completed measures of intergroup attitudes, public, and altruistic outgroup prosocial behavior at all three time points (T1, T2, T3), each approximately 8 months apart. The retention rate was 38.1% (N = 157; 44% girls) at Time 3. RESULTS: Path analyses revealed a direct negative link between parental psychological control and altruistic prosocial behavior towards ethnic outgroup persons but a direct positive association to public prosocial behavior towards outgroup persons. Importantly, parental psychological control was indirectly related to adolescents' prosocial behavior towards ethnic outgroup persons, via its effect on their intergroup attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: The findings underscore how parental psychological control and adolescents' intergroup attitudes contribute to shaping prosocial behaviors towards ethnic outgroups.

Phubbing Makes the Heart Grow Callous: Effects of Phubbing on Pro-social Behavioral Intentions, Empathy and Self-Control.

Previous research has shown that phubbing (phone snubbing) negatively impacts the quality of social interaction and undermines connectedness between interaction partners. Furthermore, studies indicate that feelings of connection to others are vital to fostering empathy, which in turn is an important facet of prosociality. The current investigation explores whether this effect extends to one's inclination to act in a pro-social manner, as well as the mediating roles of empathy and self-control. Two studies, one correlational (Study 1, N = 220) and one experimental (Study 2, N = 362) show that phubbing negatively predicts empathy, which in turn negatively impacts prosociality. Self-control was a significant mediator in the correlational design, but not in the experimental design, suggesting that repeated occurrences of phubbing, but not momentary ones, are negatively associated with self-control. The findings expand upon existing literature by providing information regarding the effects of phubbing on the person engaging in phubbing, rather than the recipient, as well as provide insights into the underlying mechanism.

Empathy as a Mediator of the Relation between Peer Influence and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescence: A Meta-Analysis.

During adolescence, empathy and prosocial behavior contribute to the establishment of positive interpersonal relationships and social connections, promoting holistic development in youth. A substantial amount of research has provided compelling evidence that there is a relationship between peer relationships and empathy and prosocial behavior. Empathy, as a key mediating factor, links the influence of peers with prosocial behavior in adolescents, yet there is currently a lack of robust meta-analytic evidence regarding this mediating role. This study employed a two-stage structural equation modeling approach to synthesize existing research on peer influence, empathy, and prosocial behavior during adolescence. Systematic searches were conducted across three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO), identifying a total of 49 studies, with a systematic assessment of study quality. The results indicated that empathy plays a mediating role between peer influence and prosocial behavior. Positive peer influence is positively correlated with empathy and prosocial behavior, while negative peer influence is negatively correlated with empathy and prosocial behavior, and empathy is positively correlated with prosocial behavior. This meta-analysis demonstrates that during adolescence, empathy mediates the connection between peer influence and prosocial behavior, representing a potential process that can explain the relationship between peer influence and prosocial behavior.

How people evaluate individuals who act morally prior to acting immorally: An examination of developmental change in moral evaluation, social preference, and prediction of moral behaviors.

Recent studies have enthusiastically examined the developmental origin of moral self-licensing, which is a tendency to act immorally after acting morally. However, it has not been considered enough how children evaluate personality traits of individuals who show moral licensing behavior and whether there is any developmental change in this evaluation. This study examined the developmental change in moral evaluation, social preference, and prediction of moral behaviors for moral licensing characters as well as moral or immoral characters. In total, 36 5- and 6-year-old children, 36 7- and 8-year-old children, and 58 university students participated in the study. The results revealed that 7- and 8-year-olds and adults evaluated moral licensing characters as more moral and likable than those who behave immorally, unlike 5- and 6-year-olds, who did not distinguish between the immoral and moral licensing characters. Importantly, 7- and 8-year-olds judged the moral licensing character as neutral in both moral evaluation and judgment of social preference, suggesting that they thought the immoral behavior was canceled out owing to prior moral behavior in the moral licensing character. However, adults still judged the moral licensing character as immoral and dislikable. Moreover, children's prediction of moral behavior for all characters showed the same tendency as moral evaluation, whereas adults' prediction was slightly different from their moral evaluation. Taken together, our findings revealed that the evaluation of individuals who show moral licensing behavior changed developmentally, and a moral licensing effect was found when evaluating others' moral traits from around 7 or 8 years of age.

Social Media and Adolescents' Prosocial Behavior: Evidence of the Interaction Between Short Videos and Social Value Orientation.

Background/Objective: Social media significantly influences adolescents' prosocial behavior. With smartphones becoming ubiquitous, short videos have emerged as the predominant social media format for adolescents. However, the effects of adolescents' engagement with short videos on their prosocial behavior remain uncertain. This study aims to address the problem of how short videos (content and consequences) affect prosocial behavior in adolescents, and simultaneously explores the differences of this effect among individuals with different social value orientations. Methods: The current study conducted two research laboratory experiments using the between-subject study design of two factors. Study 1 (N=148) reveals that viewing prosocial short videos significantly predicts adolescents' prosocial behavior more so than neutral short videos. The interaction between short video content and social value orientation on prosocial behavior illustrates that the encouraging impact of prosocial content is primarily evident in prosocial individuals, rather than in pro-self individuals. In Study 2 (N=152), we introduce new dimensions by assessing adolescents' response to varying consequences of the same prosocial behavior (ie, reward, punishment) within the short video context. Findings indicate that reward consequences significantly bolster adolescents' prosocial behavior, whereas punitive measures tend to adversely affect it. Furthermore, the interaction between the consequences of prosocial short videos and social value orientation suggests that prosocial individuals exhibit no significant behavioral difference between rewards and punishments; instead, the reward/punishment consequences notably influence the prosocial behavior of pro-self individuals. Conclusion: Short videos (content and consequences) and social value orientations interactively influence adolescents' prosocial behaviors. This study underscores the need to recognize individual differences in adolescents' use of short videos and its impact on their prosocial behavior, particularly highlighting the crucial role of their social value orientations. Practically, the research offers valuable insights for parents and professionals seeking to foster adolescents' prosocial behavior.

The developmental trajectory of prosocial behavior in economically disadvantaged children: General tendencies and heterogeneity.

INTRODUCTION: This study explored the general tendencies and heterogeneous developmental trajectory of prosocial behavior and predictors. METHOD: The present study conducted latent growth model and growth mixture model analyses in a sample of 814 students (Mage = 13.79 years old at baseline; 57% girls) from economically disadvantaged families, classified as being below the local income threshold in China, with four follow-up surveys administered during the following 2 years. RESULTS: The general tendency in the developmental trajectory of prosocial behavior showed a linear decrease. A gender difference in initial levels was observed, with girls showing a higher initial level of prosocial behavior than boys. Family functioning, subjective support, and support utilization significantly affected the intercept, but objective support significantly negatively affected the slope. Heterogeneity in the development of prosocial behavior was best classified with a 3-class solution, including C1 (Rapid-decrease, 10.6%), C2 (Medium-stable, 42.5%), and C3 (High-increase, 46.9%). The patterns of prosocial behavior development in economically disadvantaged children with higher family functioning were more likely to be in the High-increase Class than in the Rapid-decrease Class. CONCLUSION: The present study revealed an average decline in the trajectories of prosocial behavior development in economically disadvantaged children. However, it also captured heterogeneous developmental trajectories. Furthermore, the study revealed that family functioning, subjective support, and support utilization all served as protective factors for prosocial behavior among economically disadvantaged children.

Dyadic social interaction paradigm reveals selective role of ovarian estrogen in the caring behavior and socially transferred pain in female mice.

When a naïve observer meets with a familiar conspecific in pain, mice may have a myriad of social (sniffing, allolicking, allogrooming, huddling) and non-social (self-grooming) behaviors under dyadic social interaction (DSI) paradigm. Unlike male, female observers express more allolicking behavior toward injury site of a familiar female in pain, but with less body allogrooming. In current study, we investigated roles of natural estrus cycle phases and ovarian estrogen in these behaviors and results showed that: (1) there was no changes in above behaviors in terms of latency, time and bouts across different natural estrus cycle phases in intact female. (2) however, ovariectomy (OVX) changed estrus cycle phases, lowered circulating level of ovarian estrogen, reduced time and bouts of allolicking behavior and increased time of self-grooming without affecting other behaviors. Moreover, OVX in observers decreased social buffering effect of DSI on spontaneous pain-related behavior in demonstrator relative to naïve and sham controls. (3) treatment of OVX-female with ß-estradiol (E2) or progesterone (PROG) as replacement therapies, only E2 reversed impairment of allolicking behavior. (4) Additionally, socially transferred pain could be identified in intact female across all estrus cycle phases post-DSI, but disappeared in OVX-female, which could be reversed completely by E2 but not by PROG. (5) Finally, serum levels of estrogen, PROG, oxytocin, arginine vasopressin (AVP), prolactin, norepinephrine and 5-HT were examined by ELISA after E2, results showed only AVP level was significantly increased. These results suggest both injury site-targeted caring behavior and socially transferred pain are selectively dependent on ovarian estrogen.

Relationships between Resilience and Self-Efficacy in the Prosocial Behavior of Chilean Elementary School Teachers.

Teachers' actions go beyond instruction, as their personal traits influence their teaching methods, problem-solving skills, and the quality of their relationships with students. Among these attributes, their prosocial competencies stand out for contributing to school, community, and social coexistence. Furthermore, the connection they have to resilience and self-efficacy promotes increased effectiveness in meeting the demands of an ever-more challenging work environment. This research aimed to analyze the effect of the relationship between self-efficacy and resilience on the prosocial behavior of Chilean elementary school teachers. The sample consisted of 1426 teachers (77.2% women) working in public and subsidized Chilean schools. Structural equation modeling (SEM) explored the relationships between self-efficacy, resilience, and prosocial behavior. The findings indicate that self-efficacy and resilience directly and positively affect the prosocial behavior of elementary school teachers. It is suggested that resilience, self-efficacy, and prosociality among teachers are promoted due to their synergistic effects and, consequently, the benefits for school children, especially those from vulnerable social contexts.

The Association between Emotional Intelligence and Prosocial Behaviors in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior both play an important role in the development of children and adolescents. However, the strength of the association between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents is controversial. Hence, this study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the exact association between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents. Through a literature search, a total of 40 studies and 40 effect sizes were included in this meta-analysis (n = 20621). In this study, the main effect test shows that there is a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents (r = 0.43). Moreover, the present study found a significant moderating effect of age. More specifically, the association between early childhood (0-6 years) emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior is stronger than in middle childhood (7-12 years) and adolescence (13-18 years), and the correlation between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior is stronger in boys than in girls. The culture was also found to be an important moderator, the association was found to be weaker for Western culture than for Eastern culture. Finally, a stronger correlation between the two variables was found when the emotional intelligence measurement tool was LZ (Emotional intelligence questionnaire compiled by Liu Yan and Zou Hong). These results indicated that improving children's and adolescents' emotional intelligence could be an important strategy to enhance children's prosocial behavior.

Understanding of the functions of forgiveness among preschoolers.

Forgiveness plays an important role in restoring and maintaining cooperative relationships. Previous studies have demonstrated that young children could forgive transgressors both as a third party and as a victim. However, the research on young children's understanding of forgiveness is scant. This study focused on the two main functions of forgiveness-the restoration of a damaged relationship between the victim and the transgressor and the positive emotional change in the victim toward the transgressor. In this study, 48 4-year-olds (25 girls), 50 5-year-olds (21 girls), and 50 6-year-olds (21 girls) in Japan heard stories in which a victim either did or did not forgive a transgressor. They answered questions about the relationship between the victim and the transgressor and the victim's feelings toward the transgressor. Regarding the restoration of a damaged relationship, 4- to 6-year-olds understood that the restoration could occur in the presence of forgiveness. Yet, 6-year-olds showed more distinctive belief than 4- and 5-year-olds that the damaged relationship remains unrestored without forgiveness from the victim. For emotional changes, 6-year-olds understood that the forgiving victim would experience positive emotional changes, whereas the unforgiving victim would not. However, 4- and 5-year-olds expected positive emotional changes even without forgiveness, although they anticipated greater changes after forgiveness. The results show that the understanding of the important functions of forgiveness is present at 4 years of age and matures by 6 years of age. Children may develop a sophisticated understanding of the functions of forgiveness later than the actual forgiving behavior.

Age differences in prosociality across the adult lifespan: A meta-analysis.

Lifespan developmental theories and research suggest a positive effect of adult age on prosociality. However, this effect lacks consistency, with many studies excluding the period of midlife. This study summarized cross-sectional studies on adult age and prosociality, combining 120 (independent) samples (n = 103,829) in a lifespan meta-analysis approach. Linear and quadratic age effects on prosociality were analyzed, as well as comparisons between younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Prosociality was assessed via behavioral measures and self-reports. In both these domains, results indicated small linear age effects and higher prosociality in older compared to younger adults, supporting the hypothesis of increased prosociality in older age. Additionally, leveraging open data sets (64/120 independent samples), predominantly unpublished, we found some evidence for potential quadratic age effects on behavioral prosociality: Middle-aged adults exhibited higher behavioral and self-reported prosociality than younger adults, but no differences between middle-aged and older adults were observed. This meta-analysis offers new perspectives on age trajectories of prosociality, suggesting midlife as a potentially important phase of pronounced prosociality.

Basal parasympathetic deficits in C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion carriers relate to smaller frontoinsula and thalamus volume and lower empathy.

Diminished basal parasympathetic nervous system activity is a feature of frontotemporal dementia that relates to left frontoinsula dysfunction and empathy impairment. Individuals with a pathogenic expansion of the hexanucleotide repeat in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), the most common genetic cause of frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, provide a unique opportunity to examine whether parasympathetic activity is disrupted in genetic forms of frontotemporal dementia and to investigate when parasympathetic deficits manifest in the pathophysiological cascade. We measured baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a parasympathetic measure of heart rate variability, over two minutes in a sample of 102 participants that included 19 asymptomatic expansion carriers (C9+ asymp), 14 expansion carriers with mild cognitive impairment (C9+ MCI), 16 symptomatic expansion carriers with frontotemporal dementia (C9+ FTD), and 53 expansion-negative healthy controls (C9- HC) who also underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. In follow-up analyses, we compared baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia in the C9+ FTD group with an independent age-, sex-, and clinical severity-matched group of 26 people with sporadic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. The Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration-modified Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes score was used to quantify behavioral symptom severity, and informant ratings on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index provided measures of participants' current emotional (empathic concern) and cognitive (perspective-taking) empathy. Results indicated that the C9+ FTD group had lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia than the C9+ MCI, C9+ asymp, and C9- HC groups, a deficit that was comparable to that of sporadic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Linear regression analyses indicated that lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia was associated with worse behavioral symptom severity and lower empathic concern and perspective-taking across the C9orf72 expansion carrier clinical spectrum. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analyses in participants with C9orf72 pathogenic expansions found that lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia correlated with smaller gray matter volume in the left frontoinsula and bilateral thalamus, key structures that support parasympathetic function, and in the bilateral parietal lobes, occipital lobes, and cerebellum, regions that are also vulnerable in individuals with C9orf72 expansions. This study provides novel evidence that basal parasympathetic functioning is diminished in FTD due to C9orf72 expansions and suggests that baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia may be a potential non-invasive biomarker that is sensitive to behavioral symptoms in the early stages of disease.

Superhero Films' Impacts on Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of State-Empathy and Violence Justification.

The present research aimed to observe superhero films' impacts on prosocial behavior, mediated by state-empathy (cognitive, affective and associative empathy) and moral justification. To achieve this goal, two online experiments were conducted, each with 200 Brazilian volunteers (Study 1: 70.5% women, mean age = 28.82, SD = 9.22. Study 2: 52.5% men, mean age = 27.63, SD = 9.25). We used a scene from Batman v Superman as the stimulus in the experimental groups. Prosocial behavior was measured using a food allocation task. Data from both studies showed that even when featuring violent elements, superhero films positively impacted prosocial behavior. These effects were indirect, mediated by associative empathy in Study 1 and moral justification in Study 2. Results highlight the complex relationship between prosocial violent media (aggressive content with prosocial goals) and behavior. We also emphasize the research's novelty, as studies that investigate media content that is both negative and positive are still scarce.

Adolescent Peer Relationship Difficulties, Prosociality, and Parental Emotion Socialization: Moderating Roles of Adolescent Gender.

The present study examined longitudinal, transactional associations between youth social adjustment (prosociality, peer relationship difficulties) and parental emotion socialization in early adolescence. Adolescent gender was considered as a potential moderator. Eighty-seven adolescent-parent dyads (50 girls, 37 boys) participated in 8th grade, with follow-up waves in 9th and 10th grade. Adolescents reported their experiences of peer victimization and their parents' emotion socialization responses, and parents reported youth prosocial behavior and peer relation problems. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicated transactional associations between parent supportive/unsupportive responses and adolescent peer relations and prosociality over time, some of which were moderated by adolescent gender. Increases in parental supportive emotion socialization corresponded to decreased experiences of peer victimization over time for girls, but not boys. When peer victimization increased over time, girls reported less parental supportive responses and all adolescents reported receiving more unsupportive responses from parents. For all adolescents, parents' increased supportive responses also corresponded to decreased peer problems and increased prosocial behavior. As prosocial behavior increased, so did parental supportive responses. Increases in parents' unsupportive responses related to decreased prosocial behavior, and increases in adolescent prosocial behavior related to decreases in parents' unsupportive responses. Results suggest that there is mutual influence between parent emotion socialization and adolescent social adjustment. Adolescent girls appear to uniquely benefit from parents' supportive emotional socialization in relation to their experiences of peer victimization. Potential mechanisms and implications are discussed.