Greater Risk Taking in Cosmetic Surgery Acceptance and History: An Experimental and Computational Study.

Cosmetic surgery is ever more affordable and accessible, but carries physical and psychological risks. Yet, no study to date has directly examined risk-taking behaviour under controlled conditions, beyond self-report and in relation to cosmetic surgery attitudes. We used the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and advanced computational modelling to measure decision-making behaviour and identify the latent parameters driving behaviour associated with cosmetic surgery attitudes in women with no cosmetic surgery history (N = 265) and a subsample of women with a cosmetic surgery history (N = 24). Risk taking was higher in women with greater acceptance and history of cosmetic surgery. Computational modelling revealed increased risk taking in women with greater acceptance of cosmetic surgery when decisions were made with greater knowledge of loss (risk) and not when the likelihood of loss was unknown (uncertainty). When women with greater acceptance of cosmetic surgery made decisions, they also placed less emphasis on possible losses (reduced loss aversion). Our findings suggest that women seeking cosmetic procedures may be less sensitive to losses and thus make more risky decisions. Greater emphasis should be placed on communicating potential losses rather than just the associated risks to women considering cosmetic procedures.No Level Assigned This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. This excludes Review Articles, Book Reviews, and manuscripts that concern Basic Science, Animal Studies, Cadaver Studies, and Experimental Studies. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Body appearance values modulate risk aversion in eating restriction.

The understanding of eating disorders is hindered by the lack of integration between existing psychosocial and neurobiological approaches. We address this problem by developing a novel transdiagnostic and computational approach to eating restriction decisions. We first validated a novel paradigm which extends an established monetary risk task to involve body stimuli with psychosocial values. We used advanced behavioral data analysis of a large (total N = 539) sample of women from across the eating restraint spectrum, including those with anorexia nervosa (AN; n = 31), recovered from AN (n = 23), and subclinical women with varying levels of eating restraint (n = 485), obtained from an online experiment, public event, and laboratory-based study. We found that social and motivational values regarding body appearance have a significant effect on value-based, decision making in eating restriction. Subsequently, validated descriptive and predictive advanced computational modeling indicated that these behaviors are driven by an aversion to risk rather than loss, with desirable body outcomes being associated with less risk aversion, and undesirable body outcomes linked to greater risk aversion. These findings indicate that cognitive and social factors influence eating decisions by distinct mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Apps targeting anorexia nervosa in young people: a systematic review of active ingredients.

Evaluating the presence of behavior change techniques (BCTs) in mHealth apps could be used to better understand what "active ingredients" contribute to outcomes. Despite the early onset of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and the increasing use of mobile apps to seek mental healthcare among young people, BCTs underpinning mHealth apps targeting AN have never been systematically examined. This review systematically identified and analyzed BCTs underpinning apps targeted at reducing AN in young people in an attempt to understand their active components. Apps were searched and screened in Apple Store and Google Play. Six apps that met the inclusion criteria and were coded by trained researchers against the BCT Taxonomy V1. Overall, 22 of 93 possible BCTs were identified. The most common were "Information about health consequences," "Social support (unspecified)," and "Information about antecedents". Identified BCTs suggested potential overlaps with traditional clinical treatments for AN, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and family-based therapy. Further investigation is required to evaluate the apps' usability and effectiveness.

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is considered to be one of the most fatal mental disorders and has an early onset in adolescence. More recently, there has been a surge in the development of mobile health (mHealth) apps that young people are beginning to turn toward to for mental healthcare support. However, despite the early onset of AN and the increasing use of mobile apps to seek mental healthcare, the content of such apps has been largely unexplored. The aim of this review was to systematically identify the behavioral change techniques (BCTs) underpinning AN apps for young people. BCTs refer to the "common language" used by researchers to determine the triggers of behavior change. Apps were searched and screened in Apple Store and Google Play. Six apps met the inclusion criteria and were coded by trained researchers against a taxonomy containing a total of 93 distinct BCTs (BCT Taxonomy V1). Overall, 22 of 93 possible BCTs were identified and suggested potential overlaps with traditional clinical treatments for AN, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and family-based therapy. Further investigation is required to evaluate the apps' usability and effectiveness.

Identifying with the beautiful: Facial attractiveness effects on unisensory and multisensory self-other distinction.

People tend to evaluate their own traits and abilities favourably and such favourable self-perceptions extend to attractiveness. However, the exact mechanism underlying this self-enhancement bias remains unclear. One possibility could be the identification with attractive others through blurring of self-other boundaries. Across two experiments, we used the enfacement illusion to investigate the effect of others' attractiveness in the multisensory perception of the self. In Experiment 1 (N = 35), participants received synchronous or asynchronous interpersonal visuo-tactile stimulation with an attractive and non-attractive face. In Experiment 2 (N = 35), two new faces were used and spatial incongruency was introduced as a control condition. The results showed that increased ratings of attractiveness of an unfamiliar face lead to blurring of self-other boundaries, allowing the identification of our psychological self with another's physical self and specifically their face, and this seems to be unrelated to perceived own attractiveness. The effect of facial attractiveness on face ownership showed dissociable mechanisms, with multisensory integration modulating the effect on similarity but not identification, an effect that may be purely based on vision. Overall, our findings suggest that others' attractiveness may lead to positive distortions of the self. This research provides a psychophysical starting point for studying the impact of others' attractiveness on self-face recognition, which can be particularly important for individuals with malleable, embodied self-other boundaries and body image disturbances.

Barriers and facilitators to mood and confidence in pregnancy and early parenthood during COVID-19 in the UK: mixed-methods synthesis survey.

BACKGROUND: Parental well-being during pregnancy and early parenthood is critical for child development. Environmental stressors can significantly challenge parental well-being. AIMS: To investigate how COVID-19 and associated restrictions influence mood and parenting confidence of expectant parents and those in early parenthood, identifying barriers and facilitators. METHOD: We used a cross-sectional online survey to collect data from 590 expectant parents and parents of infants (564 women) during the most restrictive phase of lockdown in the UK. We included a mixture of forced-choice and open-ended questions pertaining to mood, perceived social support, media use, online interactions and parenting expectations. Quantitative data were analysed with multiple linear regression and proportional odds models; an inductive thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. Quantitative and qualitative data were qualitatively synthesised. RESULTS: Since COVID-19, expectant parents and parents of new-borns reported a decrease in mood and parenting confidence. Barriers included practical difficulties (finding essentials, reliable health information), social difficulties (loss of physical contact, decreased support) and uncertainty during pregnancy. Facilitators included support from others and, for first-time parents, loss of child care resulting in greater parenting confidence. Although online resources and communication were not preferable to face-to-face interactions, technology was a helpful tool for communicating, getting support, and finding essentials and information during lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: By mid-May 2020, mood and parenting confidence among expectant and parents of new-borns in the UK were significantly reduced. Consideration of barriers and facilitators in healthcare and psychological support provided is likely important for promoting parental mental health and healthy parent-child relationships.

Behavior change techniques in mobile apps targeting self-harm in young people: a systematic review.

Despite the high prevalence of self-harm among young people, as well as their extensive use of mobile apps for seeking support with their mental healthcare, it is unclear whether the design of mobile apps aimed at targeting self-harm is underpinned by behavior change techniques (BCTs). To systematically analyze and identify (a) what BCTs and (b) what theories are present in self-harm apps for young people in an attempt to understand their active components. Systematic searches in Apple store, followed by thorough screening, were conducted to identify free mobile apps targeting self-harm in young people. Five apps met the inclusion criteria and were used by trained researchers, who coded identified features against the BCT Taxonomy V1. Despite the majority of apps being underpinned by principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), no other information is available about specific theories underpinning these apps. Nineteen of the 93 BCTs were identified across the five apps. The most frequently used BCT was "Distraction" (54.2%), offering ideas for activities to distract users from self-harming. Other techniques that were used often were "Social Support (unspecified)" (27.0%) and "Behavior Substitution" (10.6%). This study provides the first analysis of BCTs present in mental health apps which are designed to target the reduction of self-harm in young people. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the apps, as well as assess the effectiveness of the BCTs present.

Self-other distinction and borderline personality disorder features: Evidence for egocentric and altercentric bias in a self-other facial morphing task.

Self-other distinction (SOD) refers to the ability to distinguish one's own body, actions, and mental representations from those of others. Problems with SOD are considered to be a key feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, empirical studies on SOD in BPD are scarce. Here, we present a study providing preliminary support for the usefulness and validity of a self-other facial morphing task to capture the capacity for SOD in a sample of nonclinical participants high (n = 30) and low (n = 32) in BPD features. Participants had to watch a video sequence in which their own face was gradually morphed into the face of an unfamiliar other (self-to-other) or vice versa (other-to-self), requiring them to indicate at which point they judged the morph to look more like the target face than the starting face. Consistent with predictions, results showed that participants in the high-BPD group judged the morph to look like themselves for longer in the self-to-other direction (suggestive of egocentric bias), but only with a relatively more attractive target face. In the other-to-self direction, the high-BPD group had more difficulty recognizing their own face (i.e., an altercentric bias), but this time only with the relatively less attractive face. Further research is needed to replicate these findings in clinical samples, but overall they suggest that the current task might be suited to investigate SOD problems in BPD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Dissociable sources of erogeneity in social touch: Imagining and perceiving C-Tactile optimal touch in erogenous zones.

Previous research points to two major hypotheses regarding the mechanisms by which touch can be experienced as erotogenic. The first concerns the body part to which touch is applied (erogenous zones) and the second the modality of touch (sensual touch optimal in activating C Tactile afferents). In this study, we explored for the first time the relation between those two mechanisms in actual and imagined social touch. In a first experiment, we randomly assigned "Giver" and "Receiver" roles within 19 romantic couples (20 females, 18 males, age 32.34 ± 8.71SD years) and asked the "Giver" to apply CT-optimal (3 cm/s) vs. CT-suboptimal (18 cm/s) touch on an erogenous (neck) vs. non-erogenous zone (forehead) of their partner. We then obtained ratings of pleasantness and sexual arousal from both "Receivers" and "Givers". In a second experiment, 32 healthy females (age 25.16 ± 5.91SD years) were asked to imagine CT-optimal vs. CT-suboptimal stimulation (stroking vs. patting) and velocity (3 cm/s vs. 18 cm/s) on different erogenous vs. non-erogenous zones and rate pleasantness. While both erogenous body part and CT-optimal, sensual touch were found to increase pleasant and erotic sensations, the results showed a lack of an interaction. Furthermore, pleasantness was induced by mere imagination of touch without any tactile stimulation, and touch that was sexually arousing for the receiver was rated as more sexually arousing for the giver as well, pointing to top-down, learned expectations of sensory pleasure and erogeneity. Taken together, these studies provide the first direct evidence that while both the body location to which touch is applied and the mode of touch contribute to pleasant and erotic sensations, these two factors appear to mediate subjective pleasantness and erogeneity by, at least partly, independent mechanisms.

Affective Touch Enhances Self-Face Recognition During Multisensory Integration.

Multisensory integration is a powerful mechanism for constructing body awareness and key for the sense of selfhood. Recent evidence has shown that the specialised C tactile modality that gives rise to feelings of pleasant, affective touch, can enhance the experience of body ownership during multisensory integration. Nevertheless, no study has examined whether affective touch can also modulate psychological identification with our face, the hallmark of our identity. The current study used the enfacement illusion paradigm to investigate the role of affective touch in the modulation of self-face recognition during multisensory integration. In the first experiment (N = 30), healthy participants were stroked on the cheek while they were looking at another face being stroked on the cheek in synchrony or asynchrony with affective (slow; CT-optimal) vs. neutral (fast; CT-suboptimal) touch. In the second experiment (N = 38) spatial incongruence of touch (cheek vs. forehead) was used as a control condition instead of temporal asynchrony. Overall, our data suggest that CT-optimal, affective touch enhances subjective (but not behavioural) self-face recognition during synchronous and spatially congruent integration of different sensations and possibly reduces deafference during asynchronous multisensory integration. We discuss the role of affective touch in shaping the more social aspects of our self.

Active Interpersonal Touch Gives Rise to the Social Softness Illusion.

Social touch plays a powerful role in human life, with important physical and mental health benefits in development and adulthood. Touch is central in building the foundations of social interaction, attachment, and cognition, and early, social touch has unique, beneficial neurophysiological and epigenetic effects. The recent discovery of a separate neurophysiological system for affectively laden touch in humans has further kindled scientific interest in the area. Remarkably, however, little is known about what motivates and sustains the human tendency to touch others in a pro-social manner. Given the importance of social touch, we hypothesized that active stroking elicits more sensory pleasure when touching others' skin than when touching one's own skin. In a set of six experiments (total N = 133) we found that healthy participants, mostly tested in pairs to account for any objective differences in skin softness, consistently judged another's skin as feeling softer and smoother than their own skin. We further found that this softness illusion appeared selectively when the touch activated a neurophysiological system for affective touch in the receiver. We conclude that this sensory illusion underlies a novel, bodily mechanism of socio-affective bonding and enhances our motivation to touch others.