Perception of men's beauty and attractiveness by women with low sexual desire.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the high prevalence of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), especially among women, this sexual disorder remains poorly understood. Among the multiple factors possibly involved in HSDD, particularities in the cognitive evaluations of social stimuli need to be better characterized. Especially, beauty and attractiveness judgments, two dimensions of interpersonal perception that are related but differ on their underlying motivational aspects, may vary according to the level of sexual desire. AIM: The main goal of this study was to investigate whether women with and without HSDD differ in their evaluations of beauty and attractiveness of men's faces and voices. METHODS: Young women from the general population (controls, n = 16) and with HSDD (patients, n = 16) took part in the study. They were presented with a series of neutral/nonerotic voices and faces of young men from the GEneva Faces And Voices database. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ratings of beauty (i.e., assessments of aesthetic pleasure) and of attractiveness (i.e., assessments of the personal propensity to feel attracted to someone) and the frequency to which the participants pressed a key to see or listen to each stimulus again were the main outcome measures. RESULTS: Ratings of attractiveness were lower than ratings of beauty in both groups of women. The dissociation between beauty and attractiveness was larger in women with HSDD than in control participants. Patients gave lower attractiveness ratings than the controls and replayed the stimuli significantly less often. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that women with HSDD are characterized by specific alterations of the motivational component of men's perception, very early in the process of interpersonal relationships. Our findings have significant implications, both in better understanding the specific cognitive processes underlying hypoactive sexual desire and more largely the evaluative processes involved in human mate choice.

Short mindfulness-based intervention for psychological and academic outcomes among university students.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a short mindfulness intervention on anxiety, stress and depression symptoms, as well as on inhibition of dominant responses and academic performance among university students. Fifty volunteers (M(age) = 23.8; SD = 5.3) with high levels of depression, anxiety or stress were randomly allocated to a mindfulness practice group or an active control group (listening to stories). Students who underwent the mindfulness practice had decreased levels of anxiety, stress and depression compared to the control group. The mindfulness program also had a beneficial impact on the students' academic performance. There was no change in the ability to inhibit dominant responses to neutral stimuli (letters); however, we observed a change in responses to neutral faces. Further research perspectives and the clinical implications of the study are discussed.

Relationship Between Mindfulness, Psychopathological Symptoms, and Academic Performance in University Students.

It has been shown that a mindfulness construct involving five component skills (observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience) is related to well-being and lessens depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. This study investigates the relationship between mindfulness, academic performance, and psychopathological symptoms in a sample of Swiss university students during preparation for examinations. A total sample of 150 university students from the psychology department at the University of Geneva were invited to report their mindfulness skills and academic performance, as well as anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms, through self-report measures. Results indicated that the total mindfulness score and the nonreactivity facet of mindfulness were associated with depression scores. Furthermore, mindfulness skills were positively correlated with students' academic performance. Finally, certain demographic variables, such as gender, were linked to the presence of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in our sample. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.