Life events sometimes alter the trajectory of personality development: Effect sizes for 25 life events estimated using a large, frequently assessed sample.

OBJECTIVE: Personality changes across the life span. Life events, such as marriage, becoming a parent, and retirement, have been proposed as facilitating personality growth via the adoption of novel social roles. However, empirical evidence linking life events with personality development is sparse. Most studies have relied on few assessments separated by long time intervals and have focused on a single life event. In contrast, the content of life is composed of small, recurrent experiences (e.g., getting sick or practicing a hobby), with relatively few major events (e.g., childbirth). Small, frequently experienced life events may play an important and overlooked role in personality development. METHOD: The present study examined the extent to which 25 major and minor life events alter the trajectory of personality development in a large, frequently assessed sample (Nsample = 4904, Nassessments = 47,814, median retest interval = 35 days). RESULTS: Using a flexible analytic strategy to accommodate the repeated occurrence of life events, we found that the trajectory of personality development shifted in response to a single occurrence of some major life events (e.g., divorce), and recurrent, "minor" life experiences (e.g., one's partner doing something special). CONCLUSION: Both stark role changes and frequently reinforced minor experiences can lead to personality change.

Attachment style and attention bias to emotional information: The moderating effect of stress, stimulus characteristics, and attention stage.

OBJECTIVE: We examined whether insecurely attached individuals exhibit an attention bias to emotional information, and further tested the potential moderating role of stress, information valence, information attachment relevance, and attention stage. BACKGROUND: Attachment style can predict people's attention to emotional information. However, the empirical findings are inconsistent, making it difficult to determine the associations between attachment style and attention bias to emotional information. METHOD: We included 68 studies (N = 5417) across 46 published and unpublished articles (the initial pool was 627 articles) in the meta-analysis. RESULTS: People high on attachment avoidance exhibited decreased attention toward emotional stimuli (d = -0.129, p = 0.020), which was not affected by stress, information valence, information attachment relevance, or attention stage. Conversely, people high on attachment anxiety exhibited increased attention toward emotional stimuli, especially under stress, if the information was attachment-related, and during late-stage attentional processing. They exhibited an early bias away from and a late bias toward emotional information, which was intensified under stress. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the proposition that people high on attachment avoidance use deactivating strategies in attentional processing; whereas people high on attachment anxiety use hyperactivating strategies, especially when resources are limited (under stress). When resources are available, and it is relatively early in the process, people high on attachment anxiety respond similarly to those high on attachment avoidance.

How deep is AI's love? Understanding relational AI.

We suggest that as people move to construe robots as social agents, interact with them, and treat them as capable of social ties, they might develop (close) relationships with them. We then ask what kind of relationships can people form with bots, what functions can bots fulfill, and what are the societal and moral implications of such relationships.

Increased Urination Urgency Exacerbates Sexual Risk-Taking Through Heightened Sexual Arousal.

Increased urination urgency has been shown to facilitate impulse control in cognitive domains, but its effects in other areas are unknown. We examined whether inhibitory spillover effects would replicate and extend to close relationships-specifically, influencing decision making related to sexual risk-taking. Across three studies, we either measured (Studies 1 and 3) or manipulated (Study 2) participants' bladder pressure and assessed sexual self-control using a questionnaire of sexual risk-taking intentions (Study 1) or a simulated semi-behavioral sexual risk-taking (Choose Your Own Sexual Adventure) task (Studies 2 and 3). Study 1 (N = 44 men, 59 women) showed greater urination urgency was associated with greater sexual risk-taking. Study 2 (N = 65 men, 91 women) showed that increasing urination urgency led to greater sexual risk-taking, but only among men. Study 3 (N = 86 men, 183 women) showed elevated urination urgency was associated with an increase in sexual arousal, which accounted for the greater sexual risk-taking.

Attachment Security Priming: A Meta-Analysis.

Attachment security priming has important theoretical and practical implications. We review security priming theory and research and the recent concerns raised regarding priming. We then report the results of a meta-analysis of 120 studies (N = 18,949) across 97 published and unpublished articles (initial pool was 1,642 articles) investigating the affective, cognitive, and behavioral effects of security priming. A large overall positive effect size (d = .51, p < .001) was found across all affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains. The largest effect was found for affect-related outcomes (d =.62, p < .001), followed by behavioral (d = .44, p < .001), and cognitive (d = .45, p < .001). Trait attachment anxiety and avoidance moderated the effects of subliminal security priming for behavioral outcomes-security priming effects were larger among people higher on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Assessment of publication bias revealed mixed evidence for the possible presence of asymmetry.

Do masks affect social interaction?

Wearing face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has proved controversial in many countries; conducting new research on the use of masks would be colored by this controversy. In 2012 (pre-COVID), we conducted an experiment on the effects of masks on social interaction. College students (N = 250) were assigned to find a previously unknown student in a lecture hall, converse, and evaluate the interaction. Half were assigned to wear a surgical mask, sunglasses, and a hat (all provided); half wore no extra gear. Mask wearing had no effect on the ease, authenticity, friendliness of the conversation, mood, discomfort, or interestingness of the interaction. There were no discernable consequences of political ideology on the partner selection process or the evaluation of the interaction. Mask-wearing did not disable successful social interaction in this setting.

How food brings us together: The ties between attachment and food behaviors.

Interpersonal food behaviors, such as food sharing and food offering, are associated with closeness between people and thought to facilitate the formation and strengthening of social bonds. Despite the importance of food and food-related behavior in general and for social bonding specifically, there is relatively little research about the psychological underpinnings of food-related behavior within relationship science. To fill this gap, we conducted three studies focusing on food behaviors and attachment style. In Study 1, we found attachment avoidance to be negatively associated with engagement in food sharing behaviors, and with a lower likelihood of dating a potential partner due to the partner's food preferences. In Study 2, we found that enhancing attachment security increased the tendency to offer one's food to a fellow participant. In Study 3, we found that the tendency to accept food from a fellow participant was positively associated with attachment anxiety, but security priming did not affect this tendency. Implications for attachment, close relationships, and food sciences are discussed.

Development and Validation of the Pretending Orgasm Reasons Measure.

Pretending orgasm is a widespread phenomenon, reported by both men and women. We report here on the development of a new measure to assess reasons for pretending. In three studies, using large diverse samples, we obtained a comprehensive list of reasons for pretending orgasms (Study 1; N = 46) and conducted both exploratory (Study 2; N = 416) and confirmatory (Study 3; N = 1010) factor analyses identifying six reasons for pretending an orgasm: feels good, for partner, not into sex, manipulation/power, insecurity, and emotional communication. Sexual dysfunction was correlated with frequency of pretending orgasms for reasons such as insecure, not into sex, for partner, and emotional communication. Usefulness for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

Eye Movements When Looking at Potential Friends and Romantic Partners.

Eye movements of 105 heterosexual undergraduate students (36 males) were monitored while viewing photographs of men and women identified as a potential mate or a potential friend. Results showed that people looked at the head and chest more when assessing potential mates and looked at the legs and feet more when assessing potential friends. Single people looked at the photographs longer and more frequently than coupled people, especially when evaluating potential mates. In addition, eye gaze was a valid indicator of relationship interest. For women, looking at the head corresponded to greater interest in friendship, whereas for men looking at the head corresponded to less interest in friendship. These findings show that relational goals and gender may affect the way people scan their environment and search for relevant information in line with their goals.

Context matters for attractiveness bias.

To fully understand the attractiveness bias, we propose that contextual factors or affordances should be integrated into the mating-based evolutionary account of Maestripieri et al. We review examples highlighting the role of contextual factors in the perception of attractiveness and in attractiveness bias. These suggest contextual factors differentially afford the development of preference for attractive others into observed habits of mind.

Unconscious Desire: The Affective and Motivational Aspects of Subliminal Sexual Priming.

Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of the processing of sexual cues at two levels: conscious and unconscious. Whereas numerous studies have examined the affective and motivational responses to supraliminal (consciously processed) sexual cues, much less is known regarding the responses to subliminal (processed outside of one's awareness) sexual cues. Five studies examined responses to subliminal sexual cues. Studies 1­3 demonstrated increases in adults' positive affect following exposure to subliminal sexual cues compared to control cues. Study 4 demonstrated that the positive affect resulting from exposure to subliminal sexual cues increased motivation to further engage in a neutral task. Study 5 provided evidence suggesting that the affect and motivation found in Studies 1­4 were associated with motivation to engage in sex specifically, rather than a general approach motivation. The implications of these findings for the processing of subliminal sexual cues and for human sexuality are discussed.

The Causal Effects of Relational Security and Insecurity on Condom Use Attitudes and Acquisition Behavior.

Research on attachment and condom use has been limited to correlational studies of self-report measures, yielding inconsistent results. Here, we examined the causal effects of attachment priming on self-reported condom use attitudes and an observational measure of condom acquisition behavior. In three experiments, participants were exposed to one of three attachment primes (security, anxiety, or avoidance) or a control prime. For Study 1, participants in the security and anxiety conditions preferred condom non-use to a greater extent, compared to participants in the avoidance condition. This effect was replicated in Study 2, and was mediated by perceptions of sexual health threat. In Study 3, the effect of security priming on condom acquisition behavior was eliminated through the use of a framing manipulation, though the effect of primed attachment on condom use attitudes was not significant. A meta-analysis, however, revealed that the predicted effects of attachment priming were consistent across the three studies, supporting the role of attachment in evaluations of condom use. Priming attachment security or anxiety leads participants to perceive their sexual partners as less of a sexual health threat, resulting in a devaluation of condom use. Primed security also reduced condom acquisition behavior, though this negative effect eliminated by framing condoms as protecting a partner's sexual health. Overall, these studies suggest that relational factors, such as attachment, require greater consideration when studying sexual health and designing interventions.

Setting Appropriateness and Romantic Relationship Initiation Success.

Does the setting in which a relationship initiation attempt occurs matter to its success? Identical initiations could yield differential success if enacted in different settings. Data from five independent samples highlight the role settings play in the perception of (hypothetical) relationship initiation attempts and (expectations of) their success. Study 1a sourced a wide variety of settings for real-world relationship initiations. A separate sample rated the identified settings on initiation appropriateness (Study 1b). Study 2 tested the appropriateness and associated outcomes of initiation settings while varying aspects of the interpersonal context (initiator attractiveness, Study 2a; initiator familiarity, Study 2b; sexual nature of proposition, Study 2c). Irrespective of initiator attractiveness, familiarity, or type of proposal, perceptions of initiations' success were impacted by the settings' appropriateness. This work is the first to empirically test whether perceptions and outcomes of initiation attempts differ as a function of the setting in which they occur.

Testing the canalization hypothesis of attachment theory: Examining within-subject variation in attachment security.

According to the canalization hypothesis of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973), people's trajectories of attachment security should become increasingly stable and buffered against external pressures as their relationships progress. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis within the context of romantic relationships. We analyzed longitudinal data collected from 1,741 adults who completed between three and 24 survey assessments (average number of waves analyzed = 6.79, SD = 5.31; median test-retest interval = 35 days). We modeled participants' within-person fluctuations in partner-specific security as a function of their romantic relationship length. Additionally, we examined whether attachment-related events (e.g., conflict with one's partner) predict greater within-person fluctuations in security among people involved in newer versus more established romantic relationships. Our results suggest that people in newer romantic relationships demonstrated greater fluctuations in partner-specific attachment anxiety-both generally and in reaction to attachment-related events-compared to those in well-established romantic relationships. However, neither of these trends was observed for partner-specific attachment avoidance. These results provide partial support for the canalization hypothesis but also suggest that canalization processes may be more nuanced than previously assumed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of attachment security priming on women's math performance.

Introduction: Activating people's sense of attachment security can buffer against psychological threats. Here we tested whether security priming can also buffer the adverse effects of stereotype threat among women. Method: Three studies (a pilot study (N = 79 women, 72 men), a laboratory study; N = 474 women, and an online study; N = 827 women) compared security priming to neutral and positive affect priming. Results: The pilot study revealed that women exposed to attachment security primes (e.g., the word "love") had better math performance than women exposed to neutral primes (e.g., "boat"). Men's math performance did not differ across priming conditions. Study 1 revealed that women showed better math performance in the attachment security priming condition than in the neutral or positive (e.g., "luck") priming conditions. The effect was observed among women high on math identification. In Study 2, despite an effect of security priming on the manipulation check [higher State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM) security score], security did not buffer stereotype threat effects. Discussion: Our findings provide partial support to the idea that security priming (an interpersonal process) can buffer stereotype threat (an intergroup process). Theoretical and practical implications related to attachment security priming and stereotype threat are discussed.

Attachment Security Priming Affecting Mating Strategies Endorsement among College Students.

Exposure to environmental cues reflecting potential threats to future survivability is associated with a stronger endorsement of short-term mating strategies. Less is known, however, about the effects of safety and security cues. In four studies, we examined the effects of attachment-related security cues compared to neutral cues on preferences for short- and long-term mating strategies. Preferences were assessed using self-report and behavioral measures. In line with Life History Theory (LHT) and our hypotheses, exposure to attachment-related security cues was mainly associated with a stronger preference for long-term mating strategies and a weaker preference for short-term strategies. Our internal meta-analysis of the experimental security manipulations across studies provided further support for the association between state attachment security and endorsement of mating strategies. We also found some predictable effects of gender and relationship status. Implications for LHT and attachment theory are discussed. (139 words).

Effects of cognitive load and type of object on the visual looming bias.

According to the behavioral urgency hypothesis, organisms have evolved various mechanisms that facilitate their survival by focusing attention and resources on approaching danger. One example of such mechanisms is the looming bias-the tendency for an individual to judge an approaching object's distance as being closer or time-to-collision as being sooner than receding or stationary objects. To date, most research on the looming bias has explored the ways in which human factors and object characteristics influence the strength and direction of the bias. The current study expanded on this field of research in two novels ways by exploring (a) whether cognitive vulnerabilities may influence the strength of the looming bias in the visual domain, and (b) whether the combination of human factors (i.e., cognitive load) and object characteristics (i.e., object threat) interact to create an additive effect on looming bias strength. Findings appear to only partially support the hypotheses that cognitive vulnerabilities can influence looming bias strength in the visual domain, and that factors related to both the individual and the looming object may interact to create a stronger looming bias. These findings help to highlight possible evolutionary advantages of the looming bias and its presence across modalities, as well as add some strength to the claims that the margin of safety theory can be generalized to include psychological factors.

Identifying a Facial Expression of Flirtation and Its Effect on Men.

Internal states may be conveyed to others nonverbally through facial expression. We investigated the existence of a particular facial cue that may be effectively used by women to indicate interest in a man. Across six studies, men generally recognized a female facial expression as representing flirting. Flirtatious expressions receiving low recognition by men differed in morphology from the highly recognized flirting expressions. The discrepancies are indicative of individual differences among women in effectively conveying a flirtatious facial cue and among men in recognizing this cue. The morphology of the highly recognized flirtatious facial expressions, coded using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), included: a head turned to one side and tilted down slightly, a slight smile, and eyes turned forward (toward the implied target). Results from experimental studies showed that flirtatious facial expressions, as compared with happy or neutral expressions, led to faster identification of sex words by men. These findings support the role of flirtatious expression in communication and mating initiation.

Do life events lead to enduring changes in adult attachment styles? A naturalistic longitudinal investigation.

Research has shown that a variety of life events are associated with changes in adult attachment styles. What is unknown, however, is the extent to which those changes are transient or enduring. To investigate this issue, we followed a sample of over 4,000 people in a multiwave longitudinal study in which people naturalistically experienced a variety of life events (e.g., starting new relationships, changing jobs, average n across events = 392). This allowed us to examine people's attachment trajectories before (Mwaves = 6.51) and after (Mwaves = 8.04) specific life events took place, for spans of time ranging from 6 months to 40 (M = 23 months). We found that half of the life events we studied were associated with immediate changes in attachment styles. However, on average, people tended to revert back to levels of security similar to those that would be expected on the basis of their preevent trajectories. Nonetheless, the average person changed in enduring ways in response to a quarter of the events we studied, suggesting that some experiences lead to enduring changes in attachment. Moreover, there were considerable individual differences in the extent to which people changed: Even in cases in which the average person did not show enduring change, there was evidence that some people became more secure and others less so in enduring ways. The ways in which people construed the events (positive vs. negative) were related to the extent to which their attachment styles changed. We discuss the implications of these findings for theoretical models of attachment dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).