Three pilot studies ( = 832) revealed that people held more positive attitudes toward targets wearing protective face masks. Therefore, we examined whether knowledge of this self-presentational benefit would increase people's intentions to wear face masks. Participants ( = 997) were randomly assigned to read a passage about the COVID-19 pandemic, the safety benefit of mask-wearing, the self-presentational benefit of mask-wearing, or a combination of the latter two.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new goal-systems model is proposed to help explain when individuals will protect themselves against the risks inherent to social connection. This model assumes that people satisfy the goal to feel included in social connections-connections where they are valued and protected rather than at risk of being harmed-by devaluing rejecting friends, trusting in expectancy-consistent relationships, and avoiding infectious strangers. In the hypothesized goal system, the fundamental goal to feel safe in social connection regulatory systems that afford safety from the risk of being interpersonally rejected (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe height of the COVID-19 pandemic was an exceptionally stressful time for families that offered a unique opportunity to understand how stressful experiences occurring outside the relationship shape behavior occurring inside the relationship. Given the social distancing requirements of the pandemic, however, most research addressing this issue has relied on self-reports of behavior, which are susceptible to bias. In the summer of 2020, we asked a sample of married individuals living in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom to complete online questionnaires assessing neuroticism and attachment insecurity, their levels of chronic stress, and their levels of acute stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior research provides mixed evidence regarding the direction of the association between sexual and marital satisfaction. Whereas some studies suggest a bidirectional association, other studies fail to document one direction or the other. The current investigation used a 12-day diary study of 287 married individuals to clarify the nature of this association.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe behavioral immune system is an evolved adaptation comprised of automatic behavioral, cognitive, and affective reactions that has allowed humans throughout evolutionary history to avoid situations that risk infection by pathogens (e.g., physical proximity to sick people).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDo people realize the evaluative feelings that are spontaneously activated by their partner? If so, do they use those evaluations when judging their romantic relationships? To answer these questions, we investigated the association between automatic partner attitudes and judgments of relationship satisfaction in 7 studies. Study 1 was a meta-analysis of 86 correlations that revealed a very weak association between implicitly and explicitly assessed relationship evaluations, and Studies 2a-2c revealed that people failed to accurately report their automatic partner attitudes even when specifically asked to do so. Consistent with the idea that such inaccuracy emerged in part because motivational factors led people to override their automatic attitudes, Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that automatic partner attitudes better aligned with relationship judgments when people were incentivized with money (Study 3) and had dissolved their relationship (Study 4).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSex presumably facilitates pair bonding, but how do partners remain pair-bonded between sexual acts? Evolutionary perspectives suggest that sexual afterglow serves this purpose. We explored how long sexual satisfaction would remain elevated following sex and predicted that stronger sexual afterglow would characterize more satisfying partnerships. We pooled the data from two independent, longitudinal studies of newlywed couples to examine these issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA strong predisposition to engage in sexual intercourse likely evolved in humans because sex is crucial to reproduction. Given that meeting interpersonal preferences tends to promote positive relationship evaluations, sex within a relationship should be positively associated with relationship satisfaction. Nevertheless, prior research has been inconclusive in demonstrating such a link, with longitudinal and experimental studies showing no association between sexual frequency and relationship satisfaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma (MCAH) is a rare, benign vascular proliferation. Fewer than 80 cases have been reported to date, which may relate to under-recognition of this entity. Lesions are commonly asymptomatic and appear as erythematous to violaceous papules on the lower extremities and dorsal hands of middle-aged to elderly women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: The majority of cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions to exogenous tattoo pigments can be histologically classified as lichenoid or granulomatous. The etiology is still uncertain but is generally accepted to be a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to either the pigment itself or its carrier solution. In this report, we review the literature concerning adverse reactions to tattoos.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Herpes zoster is a common mucocutaneous infection caused by reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus previously introduced during a varicella infection. The epidemiology of the disease has changed since the approval of Zostavax(®) and the risk factors have been studied in depth.
Objectives: To further assess the possibility of family history as a risk factor for herpes zoster, determine the age of herpes zoster onset and the rate of recurrence.
Objective: To assess risk factors for herpes zoster beyond age and immunosuppression, especially the association with a family history of herpes zoster, since a preventative herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia vaccine is now available.
Design: We undertook a case-control study of herpes zoster, which represents reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus residing in dorsal root ganglia following primary infection, involving 504 patients and 523 controls. Interviews were conducted by trained medical investigators using a structured questionnaire.
Genital herpes is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection in the USA. While sometimes mild in severity, it can be a distressing and painful chronic condition. Likewise, herpes labialis and herpes zoster can be both physically and psychologically painful.
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