Interfacial Modification and Bending Performance of 3D Orthogonal Woven Composites with Basalt Filament Yarns.

To improve their interfacial properties, 3D orthogonal woven fabrics with basalt filament yarns were modified with functionalized carboxylated carbon nanotubes (KH570-MWCNTs) and polydopamine (PDA). Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) testing were used. It was demonstrated that both methods could successfully modify basalt fiber (BF) 3D woven fabrics. The 3D orthogonal woven composites (3DOWC) were produced with epoxy resin and 3D orthogonal woven fabrics as raw material by the VARTM molding process. The bending properties of the 3DOWC were tested and analyzed by experimental and finite element analysis methods. The results showed that the bending properties of the 3DOWC modified by KH570-MWCNTs and PDA were significantly improved, and the maximum bending loads were increased by 31.5% and 31.0%. The findings of the finite element simulation and the experiment results were in good agreement, and the simulation error value was 3.37%. The correctness of the finite element simulation results and the model's validity further reveal the material's damage situation and damage mechanism in the bending process.

Effect of attribution on the emotions and behavioral intentions of third-party observers toward intergroup discriminators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 has caused intergroup discrimination associated with the disease to become increasingly prominent. Research demonstrates that the attitudes and behaviors of third-party observers significantly impact the progression of discrimination incidents. This study tested a parallel mediating model in which the attribution tendencies of observers influence their behavioral intentions through the mediating effect of the emotions of anger and contempt. The first two studies confirmed the proposed model with discrimination incidents reported against "returnees from Wuhan" and "returning workers from Hubei." Study 3 further manipulated the attribution tendencies of observers, providing empirical evidence for the causality from attribution tendencies to emotions, confirming the validity of the model. These findings enrich the cognitive (attribution)-emotion-action model, further enhancing our understanding of the role of third parties in intergroup conflicts, with implications for the management of people's emotions and behaviors in social crises.

The Effect of Face-Voice Gender Consistency on Impression Evaluation.

Face and voice are important information cues of interpersonal interaction. Most previous studies have investigated the cross-modal perception of face and voice from the perspective of cognitive psychology, but few empirical studies have focused on the effect of gender consistency of face and voice on the impression evaluation of the target from the perspective of social cognition. Based on the two-stage model of stereotype activation and the stereotype content model, this research examined the effects of face-voice gender consistency on impression evaluation (gender categorization and warmth competence evaluation) by using a cross-modal priming paradigm (Study 1, 20 males and 23 females, Mage = 21.00, SDage = 2.59), a sequential presentation task (Study 2a, 57 males and 70 females, Mage = 18.54, SDage = 1.54; Study 2b, 52 males and 51 females, Mage = 18.54, SDage = 1.36), and a simultaneous presentation task (Study 3, 51 males and 55 females, Mage = 23.58, SDage = 3.20), respectively. The results showed that: (1) there was a face-voice gender consistency preference in gender categorization, and the response of face-voice consistent condition was faster than that of inconsistent condition; (2) compared with the face-voice gender-inconsistent individuals, the participants showed a higher and more stable evaluation of the warmth and competence of the gender-consistent individuals, indicating the effect of matching preference of the face-voice gender consistency on the impression evaluation; (3) people paid more attention to the gender information of faces in the impression evaluation, and the female face could improve people's evaluation on the target's warmth and competence; (4) males were more intolerant of face-voice gender inconsistency when presented sequentially; the "voice needs to match face" effect was stronger for females when presented simultaneously. These findings, on the one hand, enrich and expand previous theories and research on cross-modal processing of face and voice from the perspective of social cognitive impression evaluation; on the other hand, these findings have important practical implications for impression management and decision-making in social interaction.

Social essentialism in the United States and China: How social and cognitive factors predict within- and cross-cultural variation in essentialist thinking.

People intuitively view some social groups (such as Black people, Muslims, and women) as having biological underpinnings and discrete boundaries. Essentialist beliefs about social groups shape how people view themselves and others, leading to a number of negative social consequences. Whereas previous research has demonstrated variations in social essentialism within some Western societies, less is known about how social essentialism manifests in East Asian cultures that have well-documented differences in social values and cognitive styles from Western cultures. The current research investigated cultural variations in social essentialist thinking in the United States and China to reveal how cultural ideologies and social belief systems shape people's basic representations of the social world. Analyses revealed several cultural and social correlates of social essentialism both between and within the cultures and demonstrated the mediating role of collectivistic values in predicting cultural differences in essentialist beliefs about group coherence.

Influence of smartphone use motives on smartphone addiction during the COVID-19 epidemic in China: the moderating effect of age.

With the development of science and technology, the phenomenon of smartphone addiction has become very common. However, smartphone addiction has adverse consequences. To date, few studies have examined psychological crises and smartphone use motives during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic according to age. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the influences of different types of smartphone use motives on smartphone addiction and explore the moderating effect of age on adolescents and adults. A total of 1346 participants (600 adults and 746 adolescents) completed questionnaires on their motives for smartphone use and smartphone addiction. Results indicated significant positive correlations between smartphone use motives and smartphone addiction. In the moderation model, mood regulation, social relations, pastime, and conformity significantly and directly predicted smartphone addiction; however, perceived enjoyment did not. Age played a moderating role in the prediction of smartphone addiction. Teenagers and adults have different motives for smartphone use, and different motives have different effects on adolescents and adults. Adolescents have higher coping motivation and conformity motivation than adults, and for adolescents, perceived pleasure motivation has a significant impact on smartphone addiction. For adults, perceived pleasure and social relationship motivation have a significant impact on smartphone addiction. Therefore, interventions for smartphone addiction can be developed by investigating the motives of use among different people, and age should be considered when developing interventions for smartphone addiction.

Dominance or Integration? Influence of Sexual Dimorphism and Clothing Color on Judgments of Male and Female Targets' Attractiveness, Warmth, and Competence.

The face is an important source of information in social interactions. Prior studies exploring the mechanism of face perception were consistent with either dominance or integration theory. Studies have shown that both sexually dimorphic features and background cues play essential roles in the formation of impressions and the perception of facial attractiveness. In this study, we conducted two experiments to examine 539 participants' appraisal of attractiveness, warmth, and competence of the target faces of masculine and feminine men and women dressed in red, blue, or white. The results showed that: (1) feminized male/female faces were considered to have a higher degree of attractiveness, warmth, and competence, (2) people rated feminine faces wearing red higher in terms of attractiveness perception, while there was no significant effect of red on attractiveness perception of masculine faces, (3) when evaluating the warmth of targets, the promotion effect of red was found for feminine faces but not for masculine faces. This study, conducted in a pathogen disgust environment, provides direct evidence to support the integration theory over the dominance theory. Feminized red preference found in this study matches Chinese collectivism and the red cultural heritage, which has an important value for people's daily impression management and consumption decisions.

Space-Focused Stereotypes About People Living With HIV/AIDS and the Effects on Community-Approaching Willingness.

Targeting people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), this research examined the prevalence of space-focused stereotypes and their underlying mechanism on behavioral inclinations. Study 1 adopted the explicit nomination and implicit Go/No-Go association tests to explore the existence of space-focused stereotypes of people living with HIV/AIDS. The results demonstrated that space-focused stereotypes were only manifested explicitly with characteristics such as messy, dirty, and gloomy. Study 2 demonstrated a more negative evaluation and community-approaching willingness for communities that include people living with HIV/AIDS than those without HIV/AIDS. Additionally, space-focused stereotypes were found to have an indirect influence on community-approaching willingness; the influence was mediated by both emotional (threat perception) and cognitive factors (community evaluation). These results indicate the deviation of explicit and implicit space-focused stereotypes. More importantly, it revealed that space-focused stereotypes decreased community evaluation and influenced behavioral inclination. This research suggested the existence of space-focused stereotypes on another stigmatized social group. Characteristics of space (e.g., geographical segregation) might be the key to forming space-focused stereotypes.

Discovery of a Nur77-mediated cytoplasmic vacuolation and paraptosis inducer (4-PQBH) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Nur77, an orphan nuclear receptor, has antitumor activity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its antitumor mechanisms of action in HCC are complicated and rarely reported. Our recent work demonstrated that certain quinoline-Schiff-base derivatives were good Nur77 mediators that exerted excellent anti-HCC activities in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, these compounds shared similar chemical structures, but they displayed different Nur77-targeted anticancer mechanisms of action. As a continuous work, we synthesized a series of 4-(quinoline-4-amino) benzoylhydrazide derivatives and evaluated their anti-HCC activity and binding affinity to Nur77 in vitro. Compound 4-PQBH emerged as the best Nur77 binder (KD = 1.17 µM) and has potentially selective cytotoxicity to HCC cells. Mechanistically, 4-PQBH extensively induced caspase-independent cytoplasmic vacuolization and paraptosis through Nur77-mediated ER stress and autophagy. Moreover, 4-PQBH exhibited an effective xenograft tumor inhibition by modulating Nur77-dependent cytoplasmic vacuolation and paraptosis. This paper is the first to disclose that chemotherapeutic agents targeting Nur77-mediated cytoplasmic vacuolization and paraptosis may provide a promising strategy to combat HCC that frequently evade the apoptosis program.

The association between insecurity and subjective well-being among youth during the COVID-19 outbreak: A moderated mediation model.

BACKGROUND: Sudden and unpredictable changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have profoundly threatened the psychological well-being and increased insecurity among adolescents worldwide. At a critical developmental stage, the well-being of the youth is more vulnerable to adverse environments. This study constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the buffering factors between insecurity and subjective well-being of the youth during the pandemic. METHODS: During the COVID-19 outbreak in June 2020, data of 5,503 Chinese youth (15-29 years old) were collected via an online questionnaire. Subjective well-being, insecurity, self-control, and hope were measured, and the moderated mediation model was analyzed. RESULTS: Findings from this study showed that with the mediating effect of self-control, insecurity negatively predicted subjective well-being, and hope moderated the association between insecurity and self-control. Specifically, the link between insecurity and self-control was stronger when hope was low but weaker when hope was high. LIMITATIONS: Since this study was mainly conducted in China, and considering the continuous change of the pandemic on a global scale, it is of great significance to conduct cross-cultural and cross-time studies in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that self-control and hope play important roles in buffering the negative effects of insecurity on the subjective well-being of adolescents and young adults. The findings provide implications for reducing the negative impact of insecurity from a positive psychology perspective and for youth mental health interventions during public health crises.

Culture influences the development of children's gender-related peer preferences: Evidence from China and Thailand.

Current understanding of how culture relates to the development of children's gender-related peer preferences is limited. To investigate the role of societal acceptance of gender nonconformity, this study compared children from China and Thailand. Unlike China and other cultures where the conceptualization of gender as binary is broadly accepted, individuals who identify as a nonbinary "third" sex/gender have been highly visible and tolerated in Thai society for at least several decades. Chinese and Thai 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 458) viewed vignettes of four hypothetical peers who varied on gender (i.e., boy vs. girl) and gender-typed toy play behavior (i.e., masculine vs. feminine), and were asked to give a friendship preference rating for each peer. Chinese, compared with Thai, children evidenced gender-related peer preferences that emerged earlier, remained more stable across age groups, and were relatively more biased against gender-nonconforming behavior. The only cultural similarity was in children's preference for peers who were of the same gender and/or displayed same-gender-typed behavior. Thus, while preference for peers who are of the same gender and/or display same-gender-typed behavior is common among children across cultures, the developmental onset and course of these preferences vary by culture. Moreover, societal acceptance of gender nonconformity might be key to limiting children's bias against gender-nonconforming peers.

Fear of Backlash Moderates Female Senior Executives' Communion (but Not Agency) as Compared to Female Lecturers.

Today, many women work in occupational roles that had once been dominated by men (e.g., senior business executives). However, expectations on senior executives to be agentic (e.g., assertive, dominant) may conflict with prescriptive stereotypes about women to be communal (e.g., helpful, warm). According to this double-bind dilemma, female senior executives get criticized for lacking either agency or communion as both dimensions can be perceived as posing a tradeoff. We hypothesize that female senior executives report higher levels of agency and lower levels of communion than women in a more neutral role (e.g., lecturers) due to the perceived requirements of these occupational roles. In Study 1, N = 212 students rated adjectives on their desirability for men vs. women in Chinese society. They rated agentic characteristics as more desirable for men and communal characteristics as more desirable for women. Studies 2 and 3 used this material. Study 2 randomly assigned N = 207 female students to the role of a senior executive vs. lecturer. Study 3 was conducted with N = 202 female role occupants (96 senior executives, 106 lecturers). As expected, female senior executives reported higher levels of agency and lower levels of communion than female lecturers in both studies. Some women may be particularly aware of the above-mentioned double-bind dilemma and may be more worried about the potential backlash than others. They may attempt to reconcile occupational demands (i.e., higher agency, lower communion) with prescriptive gender stereotypes (i.e., lower agency, higher communion). We, therefore, explored whether fear of backlash attenuates the effect of the type of role of women (senior executives vs. lecturers) on agency and communion. Indeed, we found that senior executives who were particularly worried about backlash reported almost as much communion as lecturers did. In contrast, senior executives consistently reported higher levels of agency than lecturers regardless of their fear of backlash. The present study documents prescriptive gender stereotypes in China, how women differ as a function of their occupational roles, and how fear of backlash may motivate female senior executives to reconcile having high levels of both agency and communion.

The relationship of perceived social support to feelings of hopelessness under COVID-19 pandemic: The effects of epidemic risk and meaning in life.

Lockdown orders were issued on January 23, 2020 in Wuhan, China, for the purpose of preventing and controlling COVID-19, which led to severe psychological problems for residents. The present study aimed to investigate the recovery model of hopelessness through interpersonal pathways during the COVID-19 epidemic. An online survey was conducted in 34 provinces (those in autonomous regions and municipalities) of China. This survey investigated residents' hopelessness and the impact of three factors on it, including their perceived social support, meaning in life, and epidemic risk levels. Results showed that both perceived social support and meaning in life negatively predicted hopelessness, while meaning in life played a partial mediating role between perceived social support and hopelessness. Further, epidemic risk level played a moderating role between perceived social support and meaning in life, indicating a "marginal zone effect." Specifically, when comparing other province, perceived social support showed a stronger positive relationship with meaning in life among residents living in other regions of Hubei province. In sum, this study extends the recovery model of hopelessness through interpersonal pathways, and has important implications for public health emergency management.

Corrigendum: Impact of Divergent Thinking Training on Teenagers' Emotion and Self-Efficacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.600533.].

Impact of Divergent Thinking Training on Teenagers' Emotion and Self-Efficacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, young people are experiencing a decrease in self-efficacy and an increase in mental illness. Though previous studies have shown that self-efficacy and divergent thinking training are positively related, little is known about the impact of divergent thinking training on self-efficacy and emotions. Therefore, our study seeks this answer to support teenagers injured psychologically during disastrous periods. We randomly assigned 70 students to a 2 (time: pretest, post-test) × 2 (groups: divergent thinking training, controlled) mixed design. Participants in the experimental group were given a 9-day divergent thinking training with the theme of "writing down 10 novel functions of the mask," while those in the control group spent 10 min each day recording what they ate. The self-efficacy, anxiety, depression, and stress of two groups were measured before and after training. Results showed that, compared to the control group, self-efficacy ceased decreasing while anxiety decreased for the experimental group. These findings confirm the positive effect of divergent thinking on teenagers. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Icing on the Cake: "Amplification Effect" of Innovative Information Form in News Reports About COVID-19.

In the information era, the instant and diversified broadcasting of the COVID-19 pandemic has played an important role in stabilizing the societal mental state and avoiding inter-group conflicts. The presentation of visual graphics was considered as an innovative information form and broadly utilized in news reports. However, its effects on the audiences' cognition and behaviors have received little empirical attention. The current study applied real-time and retrospective priming paradigms to examine the impacts of information framing (positive vs. negative) and form (plain text vs. pie chart) on individuals' risk perception (cognition), positive emotion (emotion), and willingness to help others (behavioral intention) during the outbreak and post-pandemic period in China. The results indicated the "amplification effect" of the innovative form of information in the real-time priming condition, which increased the effect of the information framing on cognition, emotion, and behavioral intention. However, in the retrospective priming condition, the amplification effect on cognition and emotion were weakened, while its effect on behavioral intention disappeared. In conclusion, the study found the "amplification effect" of innovative information forms. Further, the difference in the results in the real-time and retrospective priming paradigms suggested the constraint of the context of the "amplification effect," and indicated the possible deviation of the retrospective paradigm in studies about disaster-related news. This study provides empirical support for how subtle changes in information presentation influence public mental and behavioral responses during a pandemic and has important implications for media psychology and social governance.

Non-Pregnant and Pregnant Women's Femininity Preferences in Male Faces: Tests Based on Within- and Between-Sex Sexual Dimorphism Facial Manipulations.

Past research on women's preferences for male facial masculinity in Western cultures has produced inconsistent results. Some inconsistency may be related to the use of different facial stimulus manipulations (e.g., between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation or within-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation) that do not perfectly avoid non-facial cues, and pregnancy status may also influence women's face preferences. We therefore recruited pregnant and nonpregnant Chinese women and manipulated the sexual dimorphism of male facial stimuli to explore the influences of manipulation methods, non-facial cues, and pregnancy status on face preferences. Results showed that: (1) in contrast with a general masculinity preference observed in Western cultures, both pregnant and nonpregnant Chinese women preferred feminized and neutral male faces generally; (2) pregnant women's preference for feminized male faces was stable across manipulation methods, while nonpregnant women preferred feminized male faces except under between-sex sexual dimorphism manipulation; and (3) manipulation methods, rather than non-facial cues, influenced participants' face preferences. Specifically, women showed the strongest preferences for femininity when face stimuli were manipulated by within-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation, followed by unmanipulated faces and between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation. This effect was stronger for nonpregnant women in the unmanipulated condition and for pregnant women in the between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation. This research provides empirical evidence of women's preferences for sexual dimorphism in male faces in a non-Western culture, as well as the effects of facial manipulation methods, pregnancy status, and the interactions between these factors.

Associations between insecurity and stress among Chinese university students: The mediating effects of hope and self-efficacy.

BACKGROUND: In the context of the pandemic, exploration on the association between insecurity and stress among university students is limited. The current study aims to investigate the parallel mediation role of hope and self-efficacy in the relationship between insecurity and stress among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We employed a cross-sectional research design in a university by distributing questionnaires online. 5286 participants were recruited (mean age = 19.65; SD = 1.13). Items were from the Security Questionnaire, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, and the Positive Psychology Capital (Psycap) Questionnaire (PPQ). Parallel mediation analysis was performed using PROCESS macro in SPSS. RESULTS: The results indicate that insecurity predicted students' stress positively and that students with high-level perceived insecurity are more likely to perceive stress. Moreover, hope and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between insecurity and stress, indicating that hope and self-efficacy could buffer the negative effects of insecurity on stress. LIMITATIONS: This study examines the mediating model between insecurity and stress among Chinese university students. The generalizability of the findings in other regions remains to be explored. Additionally, the roles of other positive self-beliefs including optimism and resilience in relieving stress can be further explored in future research. CONCLUSIONS: This research provides direct evidence of insecurity effects on stress among university students, enriching relevant theories in the field of stress. Moreover, this research suggests that enhancing positive self-beliefs such as hope, and self-efficacy helps to relieve students' stress during COVID-19.

Do We See Masculine Faces as Competent and Feminine Faces as Warm? Effects of Sexual Dimorphism on Facial Perception.

Previous research on non-facial features demonstrated that masculinity and femininity correlated highly with perceived competence and warmth, respectively. Several studies focused on dimorphic facial cues and found an association between masculine faces and competence. However, there's no study exploring the association between facial dimorphism and social judgment both using explicit and implicit experimental paradigms, i.e. Triad Classification Task, Implicit Associate Task. This study examined the association of masculinity/femininity and competence/warmth via explicit and implicit measures in three experiments. The results showed that participants saw feminine/masculine faces as more consistent with warmth/competence for both male and female faces. Besides, it was found that the above associations were more obvious in female participants. The current studies extended research of effects of dimorphic facial cue in social judgment and provided direct evidence linking facial masculinity with perceived competence, and facial femininity with perceived warmth.

The preference for potential in competence, not in morality: Asymmetric biases regarding a group's potential for moral improvement and decline.

The current study examined the effect of a group's potential for improvement and decline in morality and competence on applicants' willingness to join the group. We conducted four experiments with 399 Chinese participants who rated their willingness to join groups with potential for improvement, potential for decline, or stability in terms of morality or competence. The results showed that, compared with groups with stable competence, participants preferred groups with potential for competence improvement and were more averse to groups with potential for competence decline. However, the biases regarding the potential for moral improvement and decline were asymmetric. Specifically, compared with groups with stable morality, participants had no preference for groups with potential for moral improvement, but were more averse to groups with potential for moral decline. Possible explanations for the asymmetric biases regarding the potential for moral improvement and decline and future research directions are discussed.