Publications by authors named "Martha Frias-Armenta"

Article Synopsis
  • Ideal partner preferences shape key insights in human mating research, but recent studies face issues such as inconsistent analysis methods and varying findings across different populations.
  • A large-scale study involving 10,358 participants from 43 countries revealed significant effects of preference matching, particularly when analyzing traits collectively, with some traits showing minimal impact on partner evaluations.
  • The research also highlighted gender differences, where both men and women misjudged the importance of traits like attractiveness and earning potential in their stated preferences compared to actual revealed preferences.
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments.

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The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g.

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Antisocial behavior (AB) is a complex phenomenon, predicted by a wide range of biological, environmental, and personality factors. These have high human and economic costs especially in adolescents, highlighting the importance of investigating factors that may be associated with these behaviors. Among the most potent predictors of AB are early life experiences and personality.

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Violence in schools is a global issue. Approximately 32% of Mexican students have experienced some form of violence in the school setting in their lives. Previous research has tended to focus on the causes of violence and antisocial behaviors in offenders or adolescent samples and has found evidence to suggest the underlying role of environmental and personal factors.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation.

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The first lines of defense during an epidemic are behavioral interventions, including stay-at-home measures or precautionary health training, aimed at reducing contact and disease transmission. Examining the psychosocial variables that may lead to greater adoption of such precautionary behaviors is critical. The present study examines predictors of precautionary practices against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 709 Mexican participants from 24 states.

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Article Synopsis
  • A positive environment (PE) comprises resources that meet human needs, promote healthy behaviors, and address challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The study surveyed 949 Mexicans to explore how PEs influence responsible behaviors such as self-care during COVID-19 and overall wellbeing.
  • Findings indicate that PEs can mitigate the pandemic's negative effects while encouraging individuals to engage in precautionary measures, suggesting their importance in public health strategies.
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Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov's valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions.

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This paper explores the effect of the perception of externalities (PE) on residential water consumption. Externalities occur when individuals make decisions that harm others, without concern for the impact or feeling a need to compensate for the harm. The aim of this study was to investigate whether PE affects people's motivation to conserve water, and, consequently, the practice of residential water consumption.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate long-term effects of parental use of physical and verbal punishment on Mexican women. To study both direct and indirect effects of these phenomena, a structural model was developed and tested.

Method: One hundred and fifty Mexican women were interviewed with regard to their history of child abuse, their level of depression, alcohol use, antisocial behavior, and punishment of their own children.

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