Fantasy Made Flesh - A Network Analysis of the Reciprocal Relationship between Sexual Fantasies, Pornography Usage, and Sexual Behavior.

Based on different theories in media research (3AM, catalyst model of violent crime, reinforcing spirals model), we further explore the relationship between pornography use, sexual fantasy, and behavior. We suggest that pornography use appears so persistent across time and culture because it is related to a human universal, the ability to fantasize. Consequently, pornography use seems to be an opportunity to acquire media-mediated sexual fantasies, and we believe that pornography use interacts with sexual fantasies and, to a much weaker extent, with sexual behavior. To assess our assumptions, we conducted a network analysis with a large and diverse sample of N = 1338 hetero- and bisexual participants from Germany. Analyses were done separately for men and women. Our network analysis clustered parts of the psychological processes around the interaction of sexual fantasies, pornography use, and behavior into communities of especially strong interacting items. We detected meaningful communities (orgasm-centered intercourse, BDSM) consisting of sexual fantasies and behavior, with some containing pornography. However, pornography use was not part of communities we perceive to account for mainstream/everyday sexuality. Instead, our results show that non-mainstream behavior (e.g., BDSM) is affected by pornography use. Our study highlights the interaction between sexual fantasies, sexual behavior, and (parts of) pornography use. It advocates for a more interactionist view of human sexuality and media use.

Profiles of epistemological beliefs, knowledge about explanation norms, and explanation skills: changes after an intervention.

In this study, we exploratively investigate the relation between students' epistemological beliefs and their declarative knowledge about scientific explanations and their practical skills to explain psychological phenomena drawing on scientific theories before and after a training intervention using a person-centered approach. We theoretically derive profiles of epistemological beliefs that should be beneficial for constructing scientific explanations. We those having higher explanation skills show a profile of epistemological beliefs that is beneficial for explanations skills. Using a latent profile transition analysis and a sample with N = 108 students, we explore which profiles of epistemological beliefs, declarative knowledge about explanations, and explanation skills empirically emerge before and after an intervention that aimed and fostering students' skills to construct scientific explanations. Before the intervention, two profiles emerged that differed in epistemological beliefs and explanation skills, but both did not in declarative knowledge about explanation. The intervention, in general, yielded a gain in declarative knowledge about explanations and explanation skills. After the intervention, again, two profiles emerged. However, these profiles did not differ in their epistemological beliefs but only in declarative knowledge about explanations and explanation skills. Thus, the intervention seems to level out the effects of epistemological beliefs. Additionally, the pattern of change in epistemological beliefs is consistent with theoretical expectations about which epistemological beliefs are beneficial for explanations. We discuss the results and their implications, as well as their limitations. Finally, we provide an outlook of using the person-oriented approach and this study's type of intervention in the research on changing epistemological beliefs.

Evaluating self-reported retrospective average daily fruit, vegetable, and egg intake: Trustworthy-Sometimes!

Retrospective self-reports are commonly used to assess dietary intake. Yet, their use is criticized as it is unclear whether the underlying assumptions for valid self-reports are met: Individuals have to consider the behavior of all days in the retention interval and weigh the behavior of all days equally. This study examines whether these assumptions for retrospective self-reports are met and whether interindividual differences in self-report performance are relevant regarding these assumptions. Ninety-two participants aged 18-61 years participated in seven sequential 24-h recalls and one retrospective 7-day recall concerning their intake of fruit, vegetables, and eggs. A multiple linear regression approach was used to examine the relation between the daily reported dietary intake and the 7-day recall. In the overall sample, the requirements for retrospective self-reports were not tenable. Distinguishing good and poor self-reporters based on a rational criterion showed that the requirements can be taken as given for good self-reporters, whereas poor self-reporters base their retrospective self-reports mostly on recency effects. The underlying requirements for retrospective self-reports appear to be met in two thirds of the sample, supporting the use of retrospective self-reports to capture dietary behavior. Future research should investigate characteristics separating good from poor self-reporters.