We aren't especially fearful apes, and fearful apes aren't especially prosocial.

Grossmann posits that heightened fearfulness in humans evolved to facilitate cooperative caregiving. We argue that three of his claims - that children express more fear than other apes, that they are uniquely responsive to fearful expressions, and that expression and perception of fear are linked with prosocial behaviors - are inconsistent with existing literature or require additional supporting evidence.

Interoceptive sensitivity, body image dissatisfaction, and body awareness in healthy individuals.

Relationships among interoceptive sensitivity (IS), body image dissatisfaction, body mass index (BMI), and self-reported body awareness were investigated in a cross-sectional study. Eighty-two Norwegian high school students and 70 Hungarian undergraduate university students participated in the study. Subjects completed two questionnaires (Body Image Ideals Questionnaire - BIQ; Body Awareness Questionnaire - BAQ) followed by the assessment of interoceptive sensitivity using the Mental Tracking Method (MTM). An inverse, medium-level relationship between body image dissatisfaction and IS was found in both the Norwegian and the Hungarian samples. The relationships between IS and self-reported body awareness, and between body image dissatisfaction and BMI were uniformly non-significant in both samples. Predictors of body image dissatisfaction were resting heart rate, gender, and IS in the regression analysis after controlling for BMI, age, and nationality. The negative relationship between IS and body image dissatisfaction described in patients with anorexia nervosa also exists in healthy individuals. There is no direct connection between IS and self-reported body awareness.

There Are no Short-Term Longitudinal Associations Among Interoceptive Accuracy, External Body Orientation, and Body Image Dissatisfaction.

Background: Objectification theory assumes that individuals with low level of interoceptive accuracy may develop an external orientation for information concerning their body. Past research has found associations between interoceptive accuracy and body image concerns. We aimed to explore temporal relationships between the tendency to monitor one's body from a third-party perspective, body image dissatisfaction, and interoceptive accuracy. Method: In a short longitudinal research, 38 Hungarian and 59 Norwegian university students completed the Schandry heartbeat tracking task and filled out baseline and follow-up questionnaires assessing private body consciousness, body surveillance, and body image dissatisfaction 8 weeks apart. Results: Interoceptive accuracy and indicators of external body orientation did not predict body image dissatisfaction after controlling for gender, nationality, and body image dissatisfaction at baseline. Similarly, body surveillance was not predicted by baseline levels of interoceptive accuracy and body image dissatisfaction. Conclusion: Contrary to the tenets of objectification theory, body image dissatisfaction and body surveillance are not predicted by interoceptive accuracy over a short period of time among young individuals.

Parents' Beliefs About Play and the Purpose of Preschool Education, Preschoolers' Home Activity and Executive Functions.

The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend previous findings that depict a link between preschoolers' home experience and EFs. It also examined Hungarian parents' views about the purpose of preschool education and its relationship with their play beliefs. A total of 87 Hungarian preschoolers participated in neuropsychological testing of executive functioning (44 boys, 42 girls, one not reported; mean age = 62.37 months; SD = 8.33 months; age range = 47-80 months) and their parents (8male and 79 females; mean age = 37.73 years; SD = 5.64 years; age range = 22-63 years) filled in questionnaires. The finding from hierarchical regression analyses depicted that the frequency of pretend play the preschoolers engage in and parental play support beliefs were small to medium-sized predictors of children's inhibitory control, after accounting for age and SES. Children's frequency of participation in fine motor activities at home was a small but significant predictor of their visual-spatial working memory, after controlling for age and SES. Furthermore, results indicated that parents hold the belief that the development of social-emotional competence and children enjoying themselves instead of academic skills is the primary purpose of preschool education. To sum up, parental play support and preschoolers' activities at home are important predictors for children's EF skills.

Verbal Cuing Is Not the Path to Enlightenment. Psychological Effects of a 10-Session Hatha Yoga Practice.

Verbal instructions provided during yoga classes can differ substantially. Yoga instructors might choose to focus on the physical aspects of yoga (e.g., by emphasizing the characteristics of the poses), or they might take a more spiritual approach (e.g., by mentioning energy flow and chakras). The present study investigated the effects of verbal cues during yoga practice on various psychological measures. Eighty-four female students (22.0 ± 3.80 years) participated in the study. Two groups attended a beginner level hatha yoga course in which physically identical exercise was accompanied by different verbal cues. The so-called "Sport group" (N = 27) received instructions referring primarily to the physical aspects of yoga practice, while the "Spiritual group" (N = 23) was additionally provided with philosophical and spiritual information. A control group (N = 34) did not receive any intervention. Mindfulness, body awareness, spirituality, and affect were assessed 1 week before and after the training. 2 × 3 mixed (time × intervention) ANOVAs did not show an interaction effect for any of the variables. However, when the two yoga groups were merged and compared to the control group, we found that spirituality increased, and negative affect decreased among yoga participants. In conclusion, yoga practice might influence psychological functioning through its physical components, independent of the style of verbal instructions provided.

Interoceptive accuracy and body awareness - Temporal and longitudinal associations in a non-clinical sample.

OBJECTIVE: Various aspects of interoception are regarded as temporally stable phenomena. This study investigates the temporal stability of and longitudinal associations between interoceptive accuracy (as measured with heartbeat tracking task) and a related concept, body awareness (assessed by self-report). METHODS: In a two-month longitudinal study 103 university students (31% male, 23.34±4.34yrs.; 44 Hungarians; 36.4% male, 21.4±1.67yrs. and 59 Norwegians; 25.4% male, 24.8±5.09yrs) were investigated using Schandry's heartbeat tracking task and the Body Awareness Questionnaire. RESULTS: Both interoceptive accuracy and body awareness showed good test-retest reliability (r=0.60 and r=0.73, respectively; p<0.001 in both cases). The two concepts were independent of each other at baseline (r=0.06, p=0.587), and did not predict each other over an eight weeks period of time. CONCLUSION: Self-reported body awareness and objectively measured interoceptive accuracy are temporally stable and not related to each other.