What prevents people from making friends: The most important factor was “Low trust,” followed by the “Lack of time” and the “Introversion;” significant sex-differences were found for 3 out of the 6 factors

What prevents people from making friends: A taxonomy of reasons. Menelaos Apostolou, Despoina Keramari. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 163, September 1 2020, 110043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110043

Highlights
• Developed an evolutionary theoretical framework for understanding why people face difficulties in making friends
• Identified 40 reasons which prevent people from making friend
• Identified six factors which prevent people from making friends
• Found significant sex and age effect in the factors which prevent people from making friends

Abstract: Friendship constitutes an important aspect of human experience. Yet, it is not always easy to make friends, and the current research aims to understand the reasons which constrain people from doing so. More specifically, using qualitative research methods, we identified 40 reasons which prevented people from making friends. Using quantitative research methods, we classified these reasons in six broader factors. The most important factor was “Low trust,” followed by the “Lack of time” and the “Introversion.” Significant sex-differences were found for three out of the six factors, with the largest one being in the “Low trust,” where women gave higher scores than men. Finally, we found significant age effects for almost all factors.

Keywords: FriendshipEvolution of friendshipsDifficulties in making friendsMaking friendsEvolution of friendship

Those religious (but not secular) that self-enhance saying they have more religious knowledge ("religious overclaiming") show more support for, and willingness to engage in, religious aggression

Religious Overclaiming and Support for Religious Aggression. Daniel N. Jones et al. Social Psychological and Personality Science, April 14, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620912880

Abstract: Agentic self-enhancement consists of self-protective and self-advancing tendencies that can lead to aggression, especially when challenged. Because self-enhancers often endorse aggression to defend or enhance the self-concept, religious self-enhancement should lead to endorsing aggression to defend or enhance one’s religion. We recruited three samples (N = 969) from Mechanical Turk (n = 409), Iran (n = 351), and the U.S.–Mexico border region (n = 209). We found that religious (but not secular) self-enhancement in the form of religious overclaiming predicted support for, and willingness to engage in, religious aggression. In contrast, accuracy in religious knowledge had mostly negative associations with aggression-relevant outcomes. These results emerged across two separate religions (Christianity and Islam) and across three different cultures (the United States, Iran, and the U.S.–Mexico border region). Thus, religious overclaiming is a promising new direction for studying support for religious aggression and identifying those who may become aggressive in the name of God.

Keywords: violence, terrorism, aggression, overclaiming, self-deceptive enhancement

Third- (TPP) and second-party (SPP) punishment share neural patterns & cognitive functions; TPP loads more brain regions associated with social cognition & SPP brain regions associated with affective processing

The Emerging Neuroscience of Social Punishment: Meta-Analytic Evidence. Gabriele Bellucci et al. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, April 14 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.04.011

Highlights
• Third- (TPP) and second-party (SPP) punishment share neural patterns and cognitive functions.
• These neural patterns and cognitive functions are, however, differently engaged by TPP and SPP.
• TPP loads more on brain regions associated with social cognition.
• SPP loads more on brain regions associated with affective processing.
• Functional brain network organization for TPP and SPP shows both commonalities and specificity.

Abstract: Social punishment (SOP)—third-party punishment (TPP) and second-party punishment (SPP)—sanctions norm-deviant behavior. The hierarchical punishment model (HPM) posits that TPP is an extension of SPP and both recruit common processes engaging large-scale domain-general brain networks. Here, we provided meta-analytic evidence to the HPM by combining the activation likelihood estimation approach with connectivity analyses and hierarchical clustering analyses. Although both forms of SOP engaged the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral anterior insula (AI), a functional differentiation also emerged with TPP preferentially engaging social cognitive regions (temporoparietal junction) and SPP affective regions (AI). Further, although both TPP and SPP recruit domain-general networks (salience, default-mode, and central-executive networks), some specificity in network organization was observed. By revealing differences and commonalities of the neural networks consistently activated by different types of SOP, our findings contribute to a better understanding of the neuropsychological mechanisms of social punishment behavior––one of the most peculiar human behaviors.

Keywords: social punishmentsecond-party punishmentthird-party punishmentactivation likelihood estimationmeta-analytic connectivity mappingresting-state functional connectivity

Subjective well-being: Users with a tendency to engage in social comparison are especially likely to be negatively impacted by social networking sites

Social comparison on social networking sites. Philippe Verduyn et al. Current Opinion in Psychology, Apr 14 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.04.002

Abstract: Due to the rise of social networking sites (SNSs), social comparisons take place at an unprecedented rate and scale. There is a growing concern that these online social comparisons negatively impact people’s subjective well-being (SWB). In this paper, we review research on (a) the antecedents of social comparisons on SNSs, (b) the consequences of social comparisons on SNSs for SWB and, (c) social comparison as a mechanism explaining (mediator) or affecting (moderator) the relationship between SNSs and SWB. The occurrence of social comparisons on SNSs depends on who uses the SNS and on how the SNS is being used with passive use in particular resulting in increased levels of social comparison. Moreover, social comparison on SNSs may occasionally result in an increase in SWB but typically negative effects are found as people tend to engage in contrasting upward social comparisons. Finally, several studies show that social comparison is a key mechanism explaining the relationship between use of SNSs and SWB and that users with a tendency to engage in social comparison are especially likely to be negatively impacted by SNSs. The dynamic, cyclical processes that result from this pattern of findings are discussed.

Trigger warnings failed to reduce anxiety to distressing content, reliably causing small increases in anxiety

Bellet, B. W., Jones, P. J., Meyersburg, C. A., Brenneman, M. M., Morehead, K. E., & McNally, R. J. (2020). Trigger warnings and resilience in college students: A preregistered replication and extension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. Apr 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000270

Abstract: Trigger warnings notify people that content they are about to engage with may result in adverse emotional consequences. An experiment by Bellet, Jones, and McNally (2018) indicated that trigger warnings increased the extent to which trauma-naïve crowd-sourced participants see themselves and others as emotionally vulnerable to potential future traumas but did not have a significant main effect on anxiety responses to distressing literature passages. However, they did increase anxiety responses for participants who strongly believed that words can harm. In this article, we present a preregistered replication of this study in a college student sample, using Bayesian statistics to estimate the success of each effect’s replication. We found strong evidence that none of the previously significant effects replicated. However, we found substantial evidence that trigger warnings’ previously nonsignificant main effect of increasing anxiety responses to distressing content was genuine, albeit small. Interpretation of the findings, implications, and future directions are discussed.

Two of the best known phenomena in memory research were carried out as dissertations in the same era at the same university, each supervised by an influential researcher working within the Gestalt framework...

Zeigarnik and von Restorff: The memory effects and the stories behind them. Colin M. MacLeod. Memory & Cognition, Apr 6 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-020-01033-5

Abstract: Two of the best known eponymous phenomena in memory research were carried out as dissertations in the same era at the same university, each supervised by an influential researcher working within the Gestalt framework. Both examined the influence of unexpected events on memory. Bluma Zeigarnik (Psychologische Forschung, 9, 1–85, 1927) first reported that memory is better for interrupted tasks than for completed tasks, a phenomenon long known as the Zeigarnik effect. Hedwig von Restorff (Psychologische Forschung, 18, 299–342, 1933) first reported that memory is better for isolated than for non-isolated pieces of information, a phenomenon long known as the von Restorff effect. In this article, I present: (1) a biographical sketch of the researcher behind each phenomenon, (2) a description of their dissertation research, and (3) an evaluation of the current status of each phenomenon.

Polish sample: Higher level of extraversion and lower level of agreeableness were the best predictors of a higher number of sexual partners

The Relationship of Number of Sexual Partners with Personality Traits, Age, Gender and Sexual Identification. Aleksandra Rogowska, Magdalena Tofel, Barbara Zmaczyńska-Witek & Zofia Kardasz. Psychology & Sexuality, Apr 14 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2020.1752786

Abstract: Although personality has been tested as a predictor of sexual behaviours, little is known about the contribution of personality to the number of sexual partners. This study aimed to examine the models of association between the number of lifetime sexual partners and personality traits in lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual people. A web-based questionnaire was administered to the 768 Polish adults aged between 16 and 42 years old, including 61% women. Of the participants, 61% identified themselves as heterosexual, 22% as bisexual and 17% as homosexual. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted to find the best predictors for the association between Big-Five personality traits and number of lifetime sexual partners. Age, gender, and sexual identification were also included in the analysis. Higher level of extraversion and lower level of agreeableness were the best predictors of a higher number of sexual partners. Sexual identification was a moderator of the relation between emotional stability and the number of sexual partners, whereas age and gender were separate moderators of the association between extraversion and number of sexual partners. Scientists and clinicians may use these predictors to prepare prevention and therapy for people at risk of sexual addiction or STIs.

Keywords: Big Five, personality traits, sexual identification, number of sexual partners

Contrary to 84pct of experts polled, children's delay of gratification times are increasing over the past 50 years in a fifth of a standard deviation increase in ability per decade, mirroring IQ gains seen over decades

Kids These Days! Increasing delay of gratification ability over the past 50 years in children. ohn Protzko. Intelligence, Volume 80, May–June 2020, 101451, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2020.101451

Highlights
• 50 years of administering the ‘Marshmallow Test’ shows children can delay gratification for longer, in over 30 studies
• 260 experts in cognitive development were polled before analysis to predict the result, 84% predicted incorrectly
• The magnitude of increase is 0.18 SDs per decade, nearly identical to secular gains in IQ, suggesting a possible common cause

Abstract: Have children's ability to delay gratification decreased since the past? We analyze the past 50 years of data on the Marshmallow test of delay of gratification; where children must wait to get two preferred treats of their choosing; if they cannot wait, they only get one. Here we provide comprehensive evidence on whether children's ability to delay gratification has truly been decreasing, as theories of technology or a culture of instant gratification have predicted. Before analyzing the data, we polled 260 experts in cognitive development, 84% of who believed children are getting worse or are no different than those of the past. Contrary to this prediction, we show delay of gratification times are increasing over the past 50 years, corresponding to a fifth of a standard deviation increase in ability per decade. This mirrors the magnitude of secular gains in IQ seen over decades.

Keywords: Self-regulationMetasciencePredictionFlynn effects