Moral-dilemma judgments by individuals and groups:Are many heads really more utilitarian than one?

Moral dilemmas often involve a conflict between action-options that maximize outcomes for the greater good (utilitarianism) and inaction-options that conform to moral norms (deontology). Previous research suggests that, compared to individuals, groups show stronger support for outcome-maximizing actions that violate moral norms. The current study used a computational modeling approach to investigate whether this difference is driven by (1) stronger sensitivity to consequences, (2) weaker sensitivity to moral norms, or (3) weaker action aversion in moral-dilemma judgments made by groups.

Love Components in Free-Choice and Arranged Marriages Among Five Non-Western Populations From Africa, Amazonia, and Himalayas.

Two main ways to enter a marriage are through free choice and through an arrangement between families, known as an arranged marriage. In this study, we compared differences in three dimensions of love (Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment) between spouses in love-based marriages and arranged marriages among five non-Western societies: Bhotiya from the Himalayas, Igbo from Nigeria, Kimeru from Kenya, Meru from Tanzania, and Tsimane' from Bolivia. When considering all data gathered from the five cultures, free choice and arranged marriages did not differ significantly in average love scores.

Perceived vulnerability to disease in pregnancy and parenthood and its impact on newborn health.

Susceptibility to diseases and fear of infections might vary intra-individually, depending on life circumstances. The main aims of the current research were to examine whether perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) is higher in expectant women and their partners as compared to their non-pregnant peers (Study 1), and to test whether a mother's disease aversion during pregnancy relates to health of her newborn (Study 2). In Study 1 we collected cross-sectional data from 412 men and women varying in parenthood status.

Ownership-attributing intuitions are cross-culturally shared.

This study tested intuitions about ownership in children of Dani people, an indigenous Papuan society (N = 79, M = 7, 49.4% females). The results show that similar to studies with children from Western societies, children infer ownership from (1) control of permission, (2) ownership of the territory the object is located in, and (3) manmade versus natural origins of the object.

People Declare Lowered Levels of Sociosexual Desire in the Presence of an Attractive Audience.

Due to social desirability bias, people tend to self-present themselves in the presence of others in a favorable light, which sometimes may lead to deviations from reality. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced when controversial or strictly norm-bounded matters are considered. Here, we tested how a presence of an attractive model-either male or female-influences people's declarations on their sociosexual orientation-the degree of their sexual permissiveness in terms of their past behavior, attitudes toward uncommitted sex, and desire for sexual intercourse with individuals they are not in a relationship with.

Are cooks more disgust sensitive? Preliminary examination of the food preparation hypothesis.

According to the food preparation hypothesis, sex differences in disgust sensitivity may stem from different sex roles that males and females played in our ancestral times. In current times, these differences may be reflected in varying levels of disgust sensitivity between people who frequently versus rarely engage in meal preparation, or who are versus are not professionally responsible for providing meals for others. To test this reasoning, we conducted a preregistered study with 493 individuals (55% female), with 280 of them working in the restaurant industry.

Predictors and motives for mask-wearing behavior and vaccination intention.

Containing a pandemic requires that individuals adhere to measures such as wearing face-masks and getting vaccinated. Therefore, identifying predictors and motives for both behaviors is of importance. Here, we study the decisions made by a cross-national sample in randomized hypothetical scenarios during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world.

Touch is the primary way people communicate intimacy in romantic relationships, and affectionate touch behaviors such as stroking, hugging and kissing are universally observed in partnerships all over the world. Here, we explored the association of love and affectionate touch behaviors in romantic partnerships in two studies comprising 7880 participants. In the first study, we used a cross-cultural survey conducted in 37 countries to test whether love was universally associated with affectionate touch behaviors.

Esports Players Are Less Extroverted and Conscientious than Athletes.

The worldwide status of esports as a sporting phenomenon has been developed in the past decade. However, as the esports industry has grown, it has remained an understudied scientific field. Esports is often contrasted with traditional sports regarding various aspects, including lack of physical activity and the online nature of social interactions.

Odor-based context-dependent memory: influence of olfactory cues on declarative and nondeclarative memory indices.

Reinstating the olfactory learning context can increase access to memory information, but it is not fully clear which memory functions are subject to an enhancing odor context reinstatement effect. Here, we tested whether congruent odor context during encoding and recall positively affected declarative and nondeclarative memory scores using a novel method for manipulation of an odorous environment; namely, intranasal Nosa plugs. Recall of a text and a complex figure as well as performance in a priming task were assessed immediately and 1 wk after encoding.

"May I present you: my disgust!" - Declared disgust sensitivity in the presence of attractive models.

Disgust sensitivity differs among men and women, and this phenomenon has been observed across numerous cultures. It remains unknown why such sex differences occur, but one of the reasons may relate to differences in self-presentation. We tested that hypothesis in an experiment comprising 299 participants (49% women) randomly allocated into three groups.

Securing Your Relationship: Quality of Intimate Relationships During the COVID-19 Pandemic Can Be Predicted by Attachment Style.

The COVID-19 pandemic along with the restrictions that were introduced within Europe starting in spring 2020 allows for the identification of predictors for relationship quality during unstable and stressful times. The present study began as strict measures were enforced in response to the rising spread of the COVID-19 virus within Austria, Poland, Spain and Czech Republic. Here, we investigated quality of romantic relationships among 313 participants as movement restrictions were implemented and subsequently phased out cross-nationally.

Predicting fear and perceived health during the COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning: A cross-national longitudinal study.

During medical pandemics, protective behaviors need to be motivated by effective communication, where finding predictors of fear and perceived health is of critical importance. The varying trajectories of the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries afford the opportunity to assess the unique influence of 'macro-level' environmental factors and 'micro-level' psychological variables on both fear and perceived health. Here, we investigate predictors of fear and perceived health using machine learning as lockdown restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced in Austria, Spain, Poland and Czech Republic.

Global study of variability in olfactory sensitivity.

Variability in human olfactory sensitivity has been attributed to individual-level factors such as genetics, age, sex, medical history of infections and trauma, neurogenerative diseases, and emotional disorders. Scarce evidence exists on the cross-cultural variation in olfactory sensitivity. Hence, we performed 2 studies to estimate the variability in olfactory threshold as a function of location and environment.

It's not you, it's me - disgust sensitivity towards body odor in deaf and blind individuals.

Disgust might be elicited by various sensory channels, including the sense of smell. It has been previously demonstrated that unpleasant odors emitted by an external source are more disgusting than those emitted by oneself (the source effect). As disgust's main purpose is to help organisms avoid potentially dangerous, contaminating objects, individuals with visual or hearing sensory impairment (thus, with an impeded ability to detect cues indicating pathogen threat) might have developed an increased levels of olfactory disgust sensitivity (modality compensation in disgust sensitivity).