On the indirect link between virus anthropomorphism and health behavior: Evidence from the pandemic.

Experts and laypeople often describe pathogens and diseases by attributing to these nonhuman entities human-related qualities, mind states, intentions, and emotions (i.e., anthropomorphism). By taking advantage of the last pandemic, the present research was intended to investigate the implications of thinking about a virus in human-like terms for individuals' health-related behaviors. A severity pathway hypothesis (i.e., virus anthropomorphism is linked to higher engagement in preventive behaviors via higher perceived threat of the virus) and an effectiveness pathway hypothesis (i.e., virus anthropomorphism is associated with lower engagement in preventive behaviors via lower perceived effectiveness of such behaviors) were tested. Across two correlational studies (Study 1, N = 392; Study 2, N = 290), we found support only for the latter hypothesis. Study 2 further clarified the link assumed in the effectiveness pathway hypothesis, showing that anthropomorphism was associated with a decrease in the efficacy of preventive behaviors because attributing a mind to the virus diluted the relative sense of personal responsibility for contagion. A similar pattern of results emerged when we considered vaccination intention as the outcome. Contributions and implications of these findings for research on health behavior and anthropomorphism are discussed.

The Sexual OBjectification and EMotion database: A free stimulus set and norming data of sexually objectified and non-objectified female targets expressing multiple emotions.

Sexual objectification - perceiving or treating a woman as a sexual object - is a widespread phenomenon. Studies on sexual objectification and its consequences have grown dramatically over the last decades covering multiple and diverse areas of research. However, research studying sexual objectification might have limited internal and external validity due to the lack of a controlled and standardized picture database. Moreover, there is a need to extend this research to other fields including the study of emotions. Therefore, in this paper we introduce the SOBEM Database, a free tool consisting of 280 high-resolution pictures depicting objectified and non-objectified female models expressing a neutral face and three different emotions (happiness, anger, and sadness) with different intensity. We report the validation of this dataset by analyzing results of 134 participants judging pictures on the six basic emotions and on a range of social judgments related to sexual objectification. Results showed how the SOBEM can constitute an appropriate instrument to study both sexual objectification per se and its relation with emotions. This database could therefore become an important instrument able to improve the experimental control in future studies on sexual objectification and to create new links with different fields of research.

Environmental and psychological variables influencing reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak.

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 outbreak in Italy caused a major health emergency and high uncertainty. We studied how media outlets, risk perception, state anxiety, and emotion regulation impacted peoples' reactions and undertaking of protective behaviours aimed at reducing the spread of the virus. DESIGN: Data were collected in two cross-sectional waves (N = 992 at T1; N = 1031 at T2): at the beginning of the outbreak and once the national lockdown was imposed. METHODS: Participants completed online surveys on their perception of the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, they were asked to self-report on their emotion regulation, state anxiety, and protective behaviours. RESULTS: Media exposure and wave predicted risk perception. An interaction between wave, risk perception, and emotion regulation predicted the number of protective behaviours people undertook. Specifically, in the second wave, the number of protective behaviours was predicted by risk perception only among those who were ineffective at regulating emotions. Instead, effective regulators undertook the same number of behaviours regardless of their level of risk perception. In the second wave, we also found that the risk perception by emotion interaction predicting protective behaviours was mediated by state anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides important insights on how people experienced the early stages of the outbreak. This information could prove valuable in the coming months to understand who might have been more impacted by the stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent restrictive measures.