Humans rely on spatial representations to process both temporal duration and mentally project themselves across time. Yet, it remains unclear whether this spatial-temporal mapping depends on embodied mechanisms or on abstract attentional codes. We investigated whether embodied cues (gaze direction) versus abstract cues optokinetic stimulation (OKS) modulate Mental Time Travel (MTT) and age judgement. Gaze direction induced direction-specific effects in both tasks: in MTT leftward gaze enhanced the perceived likelihood of past events, while rightward gaze enhanced judgements for future events; in the Age Judgement task leftward cues yielded younger estimates and rightward cues older estimates. Conversely, non-embodied OKS biased Age Judgements but induced no direction-specific effects in the MTT task. Overall, these dissociations suggest that embodied cues play a specific role in modulating temporal projection in MTT, whereas non-embodied attentional cues are sufficient to bias age-related temporal estimates. These findings suggest that temporal projection during MTT relies more strongly on embodied perceptual mechanisms, whereas judgements of longer temporal durations can be shaped by domain-general attentional processes.
Low fertility intentions among childless individuals constitute a critical factor underlying the low-fertility crisis. Drawing on an integrated theoretical framework, this study employs four studies to examine the mechanisms through which beliefs about social mobility influence fertility intentions. Results indicate that social mobility beliefs positively predict fertility intentions, though age-stratified analyses reveal that this direct association is driven by post-reproductive adults, consistent with the view that prospective fertility intentions among younger adults require a mediating mechanism (Study 1); experimental evidence confirms the causal effects of social mobility belief on fertility intention and fertility efficacy among reproductive-age childless adults (Studies 2 and 3); fertility efficacy mediates this relationship (Study 3); and a quasi-experimental design provides support for the proposed mediator's role (Study 4). These findings elucidate a 'social mobility beliefs, fertility efficacy, fertility intentions' mechanism, offering a novel perspective for understanding fertility intentions and important implications for enhancing them by fostering positive societal beliefs and strengthening individual efficacy.
Conspiracy mentality - the tendency to view important events as the product of secret plots by powerful groups - is known to arise from collective victimization and discrimination. Yet less is understood about how adversities such as illness, financial loss, or trauma, unrelated to social identity, foster such beliefs. Drawing on social and clinical perspectives, we conducted three preregistered studies (total n = 1284) to test whether lifetime adversity contributes to conspiracy mentality via perceived injustice. Study 1 (n = 275) supported this hypothesis, showing an indirect link between lifetime adversity and conspiracy mentality through injustice perceptions. Study 2 (n = 471) employed a controlled comparison group design, showing that victims of violence (vs. non-victims) reported stronger perceptions of injustice, which were positively associated with conspiracy mentality. Study 3 (n = 538) experimentally manipulated perceptions of justice, demonstrating that perceived injustice (vs. justice) increased conspiracy beliefs. While the effect was not significantly moderated by lifetime adversity, exploratory analyses replicated Study 1's mediation pattern. Additional analyses revealed that adversity predicted institutional distrust via injustice and political conspiracy beliefs. These findings advance interdisciplinary understanding and identify the psychological mechanisms linking adversity to conspiracy beliefs, with relevance for understanding social trust and resilience.
Prior work shows that body shape contributes to first impressions in a Western population; here, we test whether these impressions generalize to an East Asian culture and whether any observed differences are affected by nonperceptual factors. Across two studies, we examined how body shape is mapped onto personality traits among American and Chinese participants. In Study 1, participants rated 3D body models on a shared set of Big Five-derived trait descriptors to map trait spaces within a common measurement framework. Although the primary dimension linking Conscientiousness with valence was shared by both groups, the groups differed more clearly on the secondary dimension. Americans emphasized agency and mapped Extraversion onto thinner bodies, whereas Chinese participants emphasized sociability and linked Extraversion to average/sturdier bodies. Study 2 tested whether these differences were driven by trait associations or weight stereotypes. Results aligned with Dynamic Interactive Theory, finding that culturally and linguistically embedded trait associations mirrored body impressions more closely than weight stereotypes alone. These findings reveal how shared perceptual heuristics and nonperceptual knowledge jointly shape impressions from bodies. This extends classic face-based models of person perception to bodies and underscores the role of sociocultural context in the architecture of first impressions.
Clothing plays an integral role in the formation of first impressions and has been studied within social perception. However, little attention has been paid to the reverse process: whether evaluations of clothing are influenced by the attractiveness of the person wearing it. Across four studies, results consistently revealed a "model effect," whereby attractive faces increased positive ratings of the clothing. This effect was found to be robust, emerging whether participants were explicitly instructed to assess the clothing (Studies 2, 3 and 4) or the whole image (Study 1), and across experimental (Studies 1, 2 and 4) and naturalistic (Study 3) settings. The "model effect" emerged when considering dresses worn by female models (Studies 1, 2 and 3), as well as models varying in ethnicity, age, and gender wearing everyday clothing other than dresses (Study 4). This effect was not moderated by one's experience and attitudes towards the target garment (Study 2) nor general interest and engagement towards fashion (Study 4), suggesting that the effect is a general bias. These findings extend prior work on the "attractiveness halo effect," where the appeal of a model can be transferred to fashion items, highlighting how attractiveness-based biases operate in everyday aesthetic judgements.
Forgivingness, a traditionally moral trait, has been extensively studied from a first-person perspective. However, there is little empirical research that discusses it from a third-person perspective. In the current study, we examined whether body size serves as a cue from which Chinese participants infer others' forgivingness. Across five experiments, we examined the body-size-forgivingness association and, drawing on the Stereotype Content Model and Implicit Personality Theory, tested whether perceived warmth accounted for this association. Results showed that participants perceived higher weight (vs. lower weight) targets as more forgiving in an implicit association test (Experiment 1) and a slider rating task (Experiment 2). In a simulation where participants committed many errors, they preferred to invite higher weight targets rather than lower weight targets for cooperation because they thought that higher weight targets were more forgiving (Experiment 3). Additionally, compared to gluteal higher weight, abdominal higher weight was particularly linked to forgivingness (Experiment 4). Mediation analysis revealed that perceived warmth but not perceived competence mediated the effect of body size on perceived forgivingness (Experiment 5). These findings suggest that, among Chinese participants, body size can shape perceived forgivingness as a specific warmth-related moral inference.
The chronic experience of time poverty is a widespread global phenomenon with detrimental effects on cognition and well-being. However, its impact on individuals' perceptions of their own humanity remains unexplored. We hypothesized that time poverty exacerbates self-dehumanization by undermining belief in free will. Across four studies (N = 994), we tested this hypothesis. Study 1 demonstrated a positive correlation between time poverty and self-dehumanization. Study 2 found that recalling a rushed experience heightened self-dehumanization compared with both the low and the control conditions. Study 3 employed a measurement-of-mediation approach to examine the mediating role of belief in free will, with Study 4 further establishing the causal mediation effect of belief in free will through a manipulation-of-mediator design. Notably, these effects persisted after controlling for potential confounds, including scarcity-related factors (financial poverty, perceived socioeconomic status, objective time poverty and low social connectedness), an individual-difference factor (money prioritization) and an affective factor (general mood). These findings illuminate the unforeseen psychological costs of an accelerated lifestyle, emphasizing the profound impact of time poverty on self-perceptions.
Mood induction serves as a critical experimental framework for investigating affective neural mechanisms. While neurobiological evidence suggests that affective states are inherently dynamic, research on mood induction has paid little attention to the evolving trajectories of induced moods. This study examined how the effect of mood induction unfolds over time in visual and auditory modalities, using both implicit and explicit measures. The results revealed temporal dynamics of affective states following the mood induction in a manner mainly dependent on the induced mood and the measurement type. Specifically, fear induction persistently elevated explicit negative affective states, with this persistence linked to individual depression trait. In contrast, happy induction produced comparable effects on both implicit and explicit positive states, but these effects diminished rapidly within 10 min. These observations demonstrate modality-independent patterns of mood induction across visual and auditory domains and highlight the dissociation between implicit and explicit measures in tracking affective changes over time. The study underscores the importance of analysing these temporal trajectories to better understand the functional output of neural affective regulation circuits, likely contributing to the development of more nuanced frameworks for affective research and of more personalized coping strategies to enhance affective well-being.
Time poverty - the chronic feeling of having insufficient time - has become pervasive in modern life, yet its influence on minimalistic consumption remains unexplored. Drawing on compensatory control theory, we propose that time poverty promotes minimalistic consumption through heightened need for order. Three experimental studies (N = 660) provide evidence. Studies 1 and 2 suggest that time poverty causally increases preference for minimalistic consumption, particularly sparse aesthetics and limited possessions, mediated by need for order (Study 1 and 2) rather than alternative mechanisms such as need for relaxation (Study 2). Study 3 shows that exposure to minimalist environments attenuates the heightened need for order among time-poor consumers, consistent with minimalism's compensatory function. These findings challenge the assumption that resource scarcity uniformly drives acquisition, revealing that temporal scarcity can promote consumption reduction through compensatory control. Our research advances understanding of time poverty's consequences, identifies a novel driver of minimalistic consumption, and reveals need for order as the key mechanism, offering insights for designing products that address the psychological needs of time-poor consumers.
Time poverty - the subjective experience of insufficient time - has become a pervasive phenomenon in contemporary societies, yet its psychological consequences for consumer decision-making remain underexplored. Drawing on scarcity theory, we examine how time poverty shapes preferences for access-based consumption (ABC) - temporary use without ownership - a market-mediated model transforming consumer societies worldwide. Across four studies (N = 831), we show that time poverty significantly increases ABC preferences through dual mechanisms: amplified convenience orientation while attenuated risk perception. Study 1 established the causal effect of experimentally induced time poverty on ABC preference. Study 2 demonstrated that both mediators independently explain this relationship. Studies 3a and 3b provided convergent causal evidence: experimentally enhancing each mediator significantly attenuated the time-poverty effect on ABC preference while controlling for financial scarcity, general sense of scarcity, and construal level. Together, these dual pathways - heightened convenience-seeking coupled with diminished risk sensitivity - indicate that time-poor consumers may systematically trade risk evaluation for efficiency in ABC decisions. These findings illuminate the psychological forces driving major shifts in contemporary consumption practice and carry implications for consumer welfare and public policy in increasingly time-constrained societies.
Most studies examining face recognition have used explicit recognition tasks, ignoring our ability to spontaneously recognize familiar faces when they are unexpected. The current study examined spontaneous recognition of a minor and major actor from the TV show Friends, and the extent to which spontaneous recognition is facilitated by contextual cues. In Experiment 1, we presented images of the minor actor in the context of an ongoing face-rating task. The background scene became increasingly informative across blocks. Only half of the participants spontaneously recognized the minor actor, with no influence of context. In Experiment 2, we primed the minor actor with images of a major actor from the same show. Participants were more likely to recognize the major actor than the minor actor, both spontaneously and when explicitly asked to do so. Neither the major actor prime nor the background context increased spontaneous recognition of the minor actor. We discuss constraints on spontaneous recognition and the implications of our findings for theoretical models.
Self-deception is complex and poses significant challenges for its measurement. The present study developed two measurement tools and explored the associations between self-perceived self-deception and various forms of other-deception. Study 1 (N = 2018) developed and validated the LYin Self-Perceived Self-Deception Tendency Questionnaire (LYin SDT) and LYin Self-Deception Awareness Scale (LYin SDA) to capture accessible self-deceptive responding tendency and subjectively experienced self-deception. The new scales were found to be related to denial coping and showed incremental validity in predicting the avoidance of threatening information and post-threat reflection, respectively. Studies 2-4 investigated how the two scales relate to interpersonal deceptive tendencies. Findings from Studies 2 (N = 301) and 3 (N = 305) showed that participants with higher LYin SDT exhibited greater self-serving dishonesty, including both explicit lies and omissions of truth. Study 4 (N = 300) applied self-relevant and interpersonal scenarios, where participants either processed information privately or decided what to disclose to others. Higher LYin SDT was related to more self-deceptive responses in self-relevant scenarios, as well as maintenance and disengagement coping tendencies in both scenarios. Together, these findings validate the two scales as effective tools for assessing self-perceived self-deception and elucidate the distinct deceiving and coping correlates.
This study aims to explore the self-harming behaviours and emotional regulation mechanisms among university students within the context of their experiences of loneliness. A mixed-methods design was employed. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 university students with a self-harm history or high loneliness levels to investigate their subjective loneliness experiences. In the second phase, an ecological momentary assessment approach was applied over seven consecutive days to collect quantitative data from 120 university students on loneliness, emotional regulation difficulties and self-harm urges, capturing their dynamic interrelations. Findings indicated that loneliness not only directly increased the tendency toward self-harm but also exerted an indirect effect through emotional regulation difficulties. Moreover, active social interactions were found to partially buffer this negative effect. The study deepens the understanding of psychological distress among university students by revealing the complex emotional processes underlying self-harm. The findings of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the screening and management of self-harm risk in university students' psychological outpatient clinics, thereby contributing to the optimisation of mental health service models for university students.
Crises can produce contradictory responses in collectivistic cultures, yielding both solidarity and fragmentation. We propose these paradoxes can be understood by noting multiple ecological levels in collectivistic cultures that reconfigure differentially under stress. Analysing 32,042 Sina Weibo posts from China's early COVID-19 outbreak, we examined collectivistic language and emotional expression across three geographical zones and temporal periods. Results revealed 'proximal concentration' at the epicentre of the outbreak, characterized by heightened family/community expressions and reduced abstract rhetoric. In contrast, 'distal amplification' was found in peripheral regions. Furthermore, we found a psychological typhoon eye effect in people's cultural expressions such that responses in the epicentre showed increasing positive emotion despite the greatest threat. Critically, ecological levels displayed opposing emotional associations such that microsystem pronouns and macrosystem values were positively associated with positive emotions, while exosystem national identity and mesosystem family/community were negatively associated. These findings suggest collectivism reconfigures through level-specific activation with divergent emotional consequences, highlighting potential limitations of unidimensional cultural frameworks, as aggregated collectivism can mask observing these heterogeneous responses.
Studies have shown that non-symbolic numerosity processing can consistently predict arithmetic performance. Visual form perception has been assumed to be fundamental for both processing, but little empirical evidence has been found for the involvement of visual form perception in numerosity processing and arithmetic performance. The current investigation will examine whether individual dependence on visual properties in numerosity processing can account for substantial variation in arithmetic performance. A total of 6329 participants aged 6 to 87 years old were recruited and divided into nine age groups. The results showed that the total contour/perimeter dominates the numerosity processing for participants in each of the nine age groups. At the individual level, the dependence of total contour/perimeter in numerosity processing indexed by the regression coefficient was larger than the dependence of other visual properties. Importantly, the dependence of total contour/perimeter consistently contributed to the arithmetic performance in each age group. The score for figure matching fully accounted for the contribution of the dependence of total contour/perimeter to arithmetic performance. The findings convergently suggest that the extraction of contour information in dot arrays is fundamental for both numerosity processing and arithmetic performance, which may stem from the shared visual form processing.
The formation of social first impressions from voices is a central component of everyday social interactions. While past research has primarily investigated the effect of bottom-up voice acoustic on social voice judgements, here we widen the perspective and investigate how bottom-up acoustic and top-down interpersonal similarity interactively influence social voice judgements. We quantified acoustic distance to an average voice as a measure of acoustic typicality and combined this with interpersonal similarity between each listener-speaker pair derived from Big Five personality traits. 110 listeners rated 30 words spoken by female speakers on attractiveness, likability, trustworthiness, and dominance, and data were analysed using Generalised Additive Mixed Models to capture nonlinear and interactive effects. Across social dimensions, acoustic typicality emerged as the strongest predictor of social judgements, with more typical voices receiving the most positive ratings. However, social judgements were not determined by acoustic cues alone. For attractiveness, likability and trustworthiness, similar personalities between speaker and listener enhanced social evaluations, particularly for acoustically atypical voices. In contrast, dominance judgements were exclusively explained by acoustic typicality without significant modulation by interpersonal similarity. Together, these results show that most social voice judgements arises from a dyadic, context-sensitive integration of acoustic information and interpersonal similarity.
Adopting physical expressions of emotion has feedback effects on individuals' mood and behaviour; for example, adopting the expansive and contractive body language of dominance and submission can affect individuals' feelings of power. However, postural feedback paradigms almost exclusively use deliberate, active posture manipulations, which raise concerns about experimental demand effects and limit the ecological validity of the research. Here, we addressed this issue by creating an incidental manipulation of posture in which the experimental environment encouraged participants to take on either an expansive or contractive posture, and measured the effect of our manipulation on self-report and behavioural outcomes. We find that our manipulation reliably increases risk-taking behaviours (as measured by the balloon analogue risk task), an effect which is robust to confounding variables such as discomfort with the posture or awareness of the manipulation. Furthermore, posture effects on self-reported pride are partially mediated by a measure of participants' posture during the experiment (the angle of their neck), while risk-taking effects are moderated by posture and self-reported mood during the experiment. Our results suggest that aside from deliberate 'power posing', incidental factors which affect posture in the real world (e.g., standing desks or ergonomic setups) may have impacts on individuals' behaviour.
Chronic stress, arising from prolonged exposure to unpredictable challenges, is common in everyday life and may alter cognitive processes. However, few human studies have empirically examined the association between chronic stress and reward learning, which is critical for navigating uncertain environments. This study addressed this gap by examining whether chronic stress is associated with the influence of Pavlovian bias on instrumental reward learning. A total of 111 healthy young adults participated in the study, completing an orthogonalised go/no-go task and a self-reported measure of chronic stress. Participants' chronic stress levels exhibited an inverted-U-shaped relationship with learning accuracy in the Pavlovian-conflict condition, particularly in the reward domain. Between-group analyses supported this pattern, with the moderate-stress group performing best in the Pavlovian-conflict condition of the reward domain. Computational modelling results further revealed that, compared to the moderate-stress group, the low- and high-stress groups exhibited greater reward-related Pavlovian bias and the high-stress group exhibited blunted reward sensitivity. Together, these findings suggest that the association between chronic stress and reward learning may be nonlinear. Moderate levels of chronic stress may be associated with relatively better performance in specific reward-learning contexts.
Health behaviours and decisions are complex and involve different dimensions of individuals' lives. The current study aimed to investigate considerations and their priorities in health decision and behaviour adoption via a risk-benefit framework unifying elements of mainstream models of health behaviour. We aimed to explore the core dimensions of the outcomes being considered by people and individual differences in perceived importance across dimensions. Two studies were conducted among U.S. adult residents. Study 1 (N = 295) involved eliciting qualitative responses of the health decisions or behaviours that participants encounter in their everyday life, and ratings of the associated dimensions. Study 2 (N = 400) assessed participants' ratings of the importance of outcomes and dimensions across various health decisions and behaviours. Both studies revealed that people considered dimensions beyond health risk and benefit. The dimensions varied their priorities, with health and emotional outcomes being the top considerations. Participants also showed asymmetric considerations of benefit and risk within each dimension. The latent profile analyses in Study 2 also revealed two distinct groups of individuals in risk and benefit considerations across dimensions. The findings highlight that acknowledging individual differences in the weighting and evaluation of outcomes across domains is essential for more tailored health communication and interventions.
Whether individual differences in face identification can be predicted by holistic processing, and whether both share a common underlying mechanism, remain open questions. Past studies exploring this association have produced mixed findings, but they have typically examined only a subset of holistic processing measures, focused largely on identification tasks relying heavily on face perception rather than memory, and/or failed to examine whether the relationship between holistic processing and face identification is face-specific. The present study is the first to examine how all three traditional measures of holistic face processing-the face inversion, part-whole, and composite face tasks-relate to individual differences in memory-based face identification, while also exploring whether these relationships are independent of non-face object identification. We found that face memory was associated with the face inversion and part-whole effects, but not the composite face effect. Exploratory factor analyses revealed two mechanisms of holistic face processing. The first component was loaded moderately by face memory, inversion, and part-whole effects, while the second was loaded strongly by the composite face effect. The findings suggest that face recognition is not facilitated by a single, unitary holistic processing mechanism and highlight the need to reconsider how holistic processing is conceptualized and measured.
